Ahh, the good 'ol kids car seat. A Google search involving this in vurtualy any way will guarantee a plethora of websites dedicated to making sure that you can properly istall the seat into your car. Funny thing is, unless the car seat is really old (in which case you shouldn't even be using it) then it's about the simplest thing to install (at least in cars newer than fifteen years old). So if you're driving an antique car and wanting to install an expired car seat then you may need some help with that. But that's not what this post is about.
Some types of movement are pretty much unavoidable. If you want to empty your bowels then you'll need to sit or squat unless you're hospitalized). If you want to put dishes in the dishwasher then you need to bend over. And if you want to put your kid in their car seat then you will need to not only bend over, but you'll also have most all of the weight at the ends of your arms with arms at least partially (if not fully) outstretched. This is arguably a bad way to position the body and goes against the advice of about every physical therapist and trainer. And yet...there is no real way around it. If you could see my car and setup (correctly installed) there is virtually no way around it.
So what can you do? If you must endure something unavoidable then the soluton is to prepare the body and also heal the body.
First consider from the above picture, that the longest duration for holding a 20 kg weight with outstretched arms is 1 min 26.14 sec and was achieved by Patrik Baboumian (Germany) on the set of Guinness World Records -- Wir Holen Den Rekord Nach Deutschland, in Europa Park, Rust, Germany, on 17 July 2012. A long way of saying that some guy held a 44 pound weight with outstretched arms for a minute and a half. Now also consider that a puny old guy like myself needs to hold a 15kg weight with outstretched arms AND with back hunched over and extended into the back of a car for as long as four seconds. You have a potential recipe for back pain disaster there if you don't stay mindful of your body.
There is a lot to be said for putting your body into compromising positions and I am a big fan of off axis loading, however I highly recommend that you approach these movements gently and slowly over time. I've written about this before with regard to ankle movements but the principle applies to other parts of the body.
So when you must move the body into potentially painful positions, then prepare the body properly and also take time to rest and heal it. You can also just walk everywhere and avoid car seats altogether. That would be really nice.
Some types of movement are pretty much unavoidable. If you want to empty your bowels then you'll need to sit or squat unless you're hospitalized). If you want to put dishes in the dishwasher then you need to bend over. And if you want to put your kid in their car seat then you will need to not only bend over, but you'll also have most all of the weight at the ends of your arms with arms at least partially (if not fully) outstretched. This is arguably a bad way to position the body and goes against the advice of about every physical therapist and trainer. And yet...there is no real way around it. If you could see my car and setup (correctly installed) there is virtually no way around it.
So what can you do? If you must endure something unavoidable then the soluton is to prepare the body and also heal the body.
First consider from the above picture, that the longest duration for holding a 20 kg weight with outstretched arms is 1 min 26.14 sec and was achieved by Patrik Baboumian (Germany) on the set of Guinness World Records -- Wir Holen Den Rekord Nach Deutschland, in Europa Park, Rust, Germany, on 17 July 2012. A long way of saying that some guy held a 44 pound weight with outstretched arms for a minute and a half. Now also consider that a puny old guy like myself needs to hold a 15kg weight with outstretched arms AND with back hunched over and extended into the back of a car for as long as four seconds. You have a potential recipe for back pain disaster there if you don't stay mindful of your body.
There is a lot to be said for putting your body into compromising positions and I am a big fan of off axis loading, however I highly recommend that you approach these movements gently and slowly over time. I've written about this before with regard to ankle movements but the principle applies to other parts of the body.
So when you must move the body into potentially painful positions, then prepare the body properly and also take time to rest and heal it. You can also just walk everywhere and avoid car seats altogether. That would be really nice.
This post first appeared on My Convict Conditioning Journey - A Blog Of Progress, please read the originial post: here
