Long Lazy Loaded - weight vest for increasing trunk stability and hip mobility
Before people get into fitness they need to apply the following to their lifestyle:
1. Stress Management: Sleep/Rest/Recovery
2. Nutrition
3. L3 (Long, Lazy, Loaded)
When I tell people to make these a priority I tend to get 3 main questions:
Everyone has heard they should work out more and eat better. Many people have heard about the benefits of walking. Few people ever hear they should walk every day with a load. Picture the following, I have two new clients whose lifestyles are similar, they sitting on the couch, drinking too much, eating poorly, not sleeping well and drinking soft drinks. The first one is too skinny and the other is too fat. Knowing that my new clients have both decided to make all the interventions I require, which new client do you think would it be easier to help get fit? Surprisingly, the fat person will get fit faster, and the reasons are pretty simple when you think about what each person is bringing to the table.
Fat people are:
Why?
The load they are carrying (in the form of the extra weight on their bodies) requires stabilizers to stabilize and movers to move. The weight is too heavy to allow for bad spinal alignment or it HURTS! Just to get up and down out of a chair/car requires good pelvic floor integration and muscle mass to lift or lower that extra weight. Fat folks have better nervous system organization, meaning that their nervous systems are more efficient at telling everything when, where, and how much to fire.
I’m not recommending that we all get fat. But I DO recommend putting on an even load and then wander around. Try to sit at your desk while wearing a weight vest and watch what happens to your posture. It is very hard to have bad posture with a weight vest on.
Start with a load that is 5% of your body weight and just do a lazy loaded walk for between 30 min and an hour. Ensure the walk is MELLOW, don't get overly motivated and load up with 40-pound weight vest then speed walk or run 5 miles. This concept is a low level of cardio. More importantly, walking lazily with a weight vest fixes posture, trains the pelvic floor and makes the postural muscles of the spine work better. L3 walking is really a “core” exercise that works while moving thorough natural movement patterns. This means you can add a second fitness buzzword, it is a “functional” exercise. Two fancy fitness programs in one easy intervention.
The first question I get, “why not just carry the weight?”
Carrying weight with poor shoulder and thoracic control means the spine will not evenly load. The spine is a column and the goal is to strengthen the spine evenly. This can be accomplished by loading the front and the back of the body evenly and at the same time. Carrying something with hands is more likely cause the shoulders to be held in a way that is not natural for walking. The goal is to have more load on the spine than on the arms. Most people don’t load the body top down enough to build poor movement patterns. This is one reason it is important to load the spine father up the chain/trunk. It supports the body in learning a healthier pattern sooner without having to override a preexisting bad habit.
Q2: “Why can’t I wear a backpack?”
A backpack loads the system on one side. We want to build an integrated system that is being taught to load evenly by loading both sides. Both carrying a backpack and carrying weight are important skills but they serve different purposes. L3 supports the spine in becoming stable, strong, and supple and teaches it how to protect itself by evenly compressing.
Q3: “Why walk lazily, why can’t I run?”
First off when most people who say they are running are actually jogging. If someone is fit enough to RUN then RUN but if jogging is involved, it is better to walk. When walking, a pelvis should move in a figure-eight pattern. Jogging has far less pelvis movement. Walking under load does increase the pelvic strength, mobility, stability, through the entire range of motion as well as increasing bone density of the hip and pelvis.
When you have the opportunity, I want you to watch an old person shuffle instead of walk. That shuffle is because they can not hike their hip, which is the same movement of sitting on a toilet and picking up a butt cheek. Walking ensures the pelvis makes that necessary figure-eight pattern. Walking with a load helps to preserve the hip hike movement which is critical to both wiping your butt and walking upright instead of shuffling.
If running is your form of stress management and brain relaxation, trail run with no load. Try to keep it to a maximum of 4 weeks on and then a minimum of 4 weeks off.
Lastly, look at the spines of people that have to walk carrying a load every day. Look at someone who carries a backpack and then look at some person carrying a load on top of their head. People carrying loads on their heads have better spines and hips. This doesn’t mean you have to start wearing a weighted head basket or helmet, a weight vest will do just fine.
Where to get weight vests
High price versions:
I have found lower cost versions like the one below at Ross for $20.
My weight vest is from weightvest.com, I am 6'3” 210 lbs and I stole my woman's petit weight vest. Even though it is small I can still put my hands overhead without weight vest material getting in the way of my shoulders.
Here is a list of some other reasons that you should walk every day:
All of the reasons above are magnified by walking with a load.
In summary, I witness a lot of PTs, trainers, chiropractors, MDs, yoga teachers, massage therapists tell people to stand up straight, tuck your pelvis in a certain way, etc.These practitioners are all commenting on seeing society's inability to control hips/pelvic floor, spinal deviation and thoracic integration/mobility/stability. The L3, Long-Lazy-Loaded, walk helps solve all of these problems.
