This week's topic is the best approach to core balance training, and we're going to be talking specifically about the mindset that I recommend as you go through the program, as you start the program and continue to progress through the program, what is the mindset that I recommend? As we know, I believe that mindset is a huge factor, probably the largest factor in the big picture process of getting out of the back pain spiral. So we're going to be talking about that today. And this topic came up because we had an inquiry. It was actually a student who took the trial, the free week one of the program, and emailed us to cancel her trial. And her reason was because she had learned so much different techniques and different methods from Pilates, and I forget the other discipline she named. I think she named two disciplines, and it was hard for her to apply the concepts of core balance training. She was finding herself applying Pilates to the lessons that we were teaching. And so this reminded me of how when I used to have, you know, in the beginning years of this program, there used to be very few students in the program, and I would speak to every student on the phone, and I would always tell them that the best thing they can do, especially if they're educated in the body and in physical therapy or in certain disciplines, the best thing you can do is go into this program with a baby's mindset with a blank slate. And so it's kind of like it's the curse of knowledge. The more that you know, the more that we've learned and been educated about the body, the more it kind of clouds and just kind of distracts our abilities to learn pure movement. Because this program is based on human development, the way that we originally developed our core when we were infants and babies. And what that means is when we learned to move and when we first learned core connection, we didn't know words. We didn't know what muscles were. We didn't know anatomy, we didn't know physics or muscle contraction. And so we were in the most pure state of mind. And we were learning through experience, through our interaction with gravity, our body, the floor, and gravity was what taught us how to move. And it turns out that I believe anyway, that's the best way to have a core centered movement. And so that's my recommendation is to and this is the hardest thing to do really, is to unknow what you know, but to try and come into the program and go through the program with as little distracting knowledge that might be pulling you away from the pure nature of what these lessons are supposed to be, which is to feel your body and act on pure intention. So I am going to go into the questions, but yeah, just to kind of conclude on the topic, you know, it seems unnatural to to say, well, like knowing nothing is the best thing you can do for back pain. And that's not really what I'm saying. It's important to educate yourself. and that's the best way you can get out of chronic pain in general is to learn and empower yourself to heal yourself. So I'm not saying don't educate yourself and don't learn. It's just a mindset, a mind frame that you put yourself into before you go into the lesson, before you get down on the floor and connect to your core, is to try and not apply the things that you've learned in the past from. Maybe it's Pilates, or maybe you're a physical therapist. We have a lot of physical therapists and physical therapy assistants that go through this program, and those are the people that sometimes have the hardest time doing this because they know so much. And for people that have done, you know, a lot of people trying to get out of the back pain cycle have tried everything. They've been to Many different professionals who have taught them so many different things and and learning how to contract your transverse abdominus and learning how to, you know, brace. And I think what ends up happening is we kind of develop this artificial way of moving and relating to our body because we're going by instruction to flex this muscle, and we learn the name of this muscle, and we single out this muscle, and we have this impression that it's all so important to connect with the transverse abdominus or the multifidi, when in reality the body works synergistically and all the movement muscles work together. And so it can feel a little artificial when you're trying to isolate a certain muscle. And that's where I'm going with this is try to remember that when you first learned how to move, and it was the healthiest way you ever moved up until the age of four, when you had perfect posture. If you were a healthy baby, healthy, developing child, by the age of four, you had perfect posture and healthy movement to get to that point, you never needed to learn what a muscle was or what its name was, or how to contract it, or which one was that. It was all through experience with your body gravity and the floor or the ground. So that's the point. I want to kind of like push on all of the students in the program. And it's especially applicable to core balance training, not so much to other disciplines, but this is based on natural human development from birth. So I'm going to go ahead and get into the live Q&A portion. So this first one isn't actually a question. I believe it's just a share from a student in week two. Module two. No wait, week three, module three from Matthew. And he says, I've noticed that I'm starting to have more control over my lower back muscles when they tighten up. It's the strangest thing. I can't really keep them from tensing up, which is frustrating, but I'm starting to develop the ability to relax them. Even as I'm regaining control over my core. I can be driving, sitting down, or even out on a walk. If I take a moment and concentrate on those muscles, I can actually feel the tension go out of them while other muscles engage to take up the slack. Now this is really important. I wanted to share this because this is what's happening is we are not actively saying, hey, you muscle, relax, we're just engaging more healthy muscles around it to help support that muscle. And we are. And that muscle is then able to relax because the other muscles are taking up the slack. Or in other words, they're doing the job that they should be doing so that those overly tight muscles don't have to compensate. Okay. And so that's the way I see it anyway. Matthew says. It's uncanny. On the other hand, I can't believe I let my core get so weak on the one hand. And now he says, on the other hand, I'm encouraged to be regaining control I didn't even realize I had before. I'm reserving judgment, but I think this is all a good sign. I still have lower back pain, and it still requires a high level of intentionality to keep my core engaged. Nonetheless, I'm hoping eventually both the pain and the level of effort will diminish. Another observation I genuinely appreciate the daily small doses. I'm a big believer that little things done consistently over a long period of time bring lasting results. It's the consistency that matters, and the daily email plus lesson go a long way to building better habits. Just wanted to offer a note of appreciation. So however this plays out for me. Thank you for the forethought to map this out gradually over time. And uh, I agree and that's why the program is laid out this way. Thank you, Matthew, for sharing. I'm a firm believer that it's about the daily consistency that makes the big, you know, monumental change. It's not about doing the craziest, best workout you've ever done in your life for three hours in one day. That's going to turn your life around. It's about just doing a little bit each day, and that's how the program is designed. And I'm glad you appreciate that, Matthew. So thank you for sharing and keep it up. You're doing great and I've been enjoying watching your progress through the program. Let's get into the next question. This one is from Gerald on Integration Day. So I'm guessing this is week one. Like after the fifth lesson, it says, although I have not been progressing through the lessons daily, I have been performing the back, anchor and bridge every day and realizing good relief from them. Moving on now, Gerald, I just wanted to talk about this on the stream because what you're doing is the right thing, even if you're not doing the lessons daily. The daily small dose, the daily commitment to getting down on the floor and connecting with your core is the solution. The core balance training is just the recipe. And so you are performing the recipe and on your own time. You'll make it through the lessons, and you should continue to progress as you feel confident with each lesson. But you're doing the really important thing which is actually committing to daily. So just want to honor you for that. Good job. Keep it up. And you know it doesn't matter when you learn the new lessons. It could be weeks from now or it could be tomorrow as long as you learn it, because this is lifetime stuff. And so over the period of a lifetime, what really matters is putting in the work a little bit each day and gradually making progress over time. So thank you for sharing. And yeah, just want to commend you for sticking to it. We've got our next question is in module one assessment. So the end of week one al says not sure if there is progression though. My lower back feels tight and sore. Is that normal. So I wanted to address this on the stream and, you know, really get into this because it's important. It's not normal to feel, you know, tightness and soreness after doing these lessons in the program, al. But it's okay. And what the reason it's okay and even could be in the long run a good thing is because you can learn from this experience. There's some reason why your back is tightening up and feels sore. And so without seeing you do the movement or knowing about your frequency and duration and stuff, it would be hard for me to know exactly what that is. But for example, it's possible that, you know, you might be overdoing it, maybe a little bit too much intensity, and so maybe it would be a good idea to just turn down the intensity a little bit. And the effectiveness of these exercises is More at lower intensities because we're, as you'll learn in week two. In module two, we're targeting the tiny little deep stabilizer muscles on the inside of your core, and they are best targeted at low intensity. And when we really turn up the intensity, even though it's our human nature to want to do more and go harder to get more benefits, in this case, that is, it's counterproductive. So it's a hard thing because it's also it's counterintuitive to say do less and go lighter. But that's really one of the things I have to say most often is the probably the number one piece of advice that I give y'all. And so if that's the case, just try turning down the intensity and maybe that will help. Another thing could be with the bridge. If you are allowing your pelvis to go into anterior tilt, that could be causing a excessive backward bending in your lower back, and that can cause soreness and muscles tighten up when they feel unsafe, when when they feel like the body is unsafe. And so the tightness could be a protective mechanism because of excessive backward bending. Or it could be the situation that I said earlier, which is they're tight and sore from overdoing it, like working them out too hard. And so that would be my advice without knowing exactly the situation, is those would be two of the most common situations. And then back to the original question is it normal? So it's not expected to have that after doing core balance training, especially module one, module two, or very gentle low intensity, almost meditations on the body. And so what I do expect is for you to actually Feel better after doing the exercises. So you get down on the floor, you do your fifteen minutes or your five minutes or whatever, and after you do it, you should feel improvement. And I believe that should be the case for any therapy and solution. You know, this is not a no pain, no gain situation. That's for building performance, improving performance and getting, you know, once you get past the line of pain free in chronic pain and you want to get stronger and perform better, then you can apply no pain, no gain, but to get to the line of pain free when you are doing rehab for chronic pain, we're not after you do whatever therapy you're doing. Imagine a massage or you know, a proper adjustment manipulation of the spine. You should feel better afterwards and that should be the case for core balance training as well. So the way this could be a learning experience is just to listen to your body. Try it a little differently next time after you get up, feel your body and then you can reflect back and go, okay, well, that first week I did it this way and it made me tight and sore. And now this week I've done it this way and I feel better. So. So it teaches me how to relate to my body a little more. So that's my advice and I hope you do stick with it and try a different approach and have the expectation that you should feel better after doing the exercises. And if you don't, then we need to adjust something. So yeah, thank you for sharing and for your question. Let's get on to the next one. This is from module two assessment. So one week later there's an assessment after both module one and module two. So this is a whole week later in the program. So as I feel profound improvement in everything I do already after just the first two modules. And that's from Dylan. Not a whole lot to give advice about. I'm just proud of you, Dylan, and it sounds like you've been sticking with it with the daily commitment. And that's the only way that that you can make progress like this is to do the work. So honoring you for that. And it's always challenging to stick with something every day, especially in our modern society. So I'm always impressed and proud when people can stick with the program and make progress. And like I always say, this is really just the recipe and it's only half the solution. The other half is you actually doing it. And and so this is what can happen. Good job Dylan. Thank you for sharing. And we'll move on to the next question. This one is from Marcus. It's in the lesson. Foundational concept the ten percent rule. This is in module two I believe it's day two of module two. And it says this video resonates with me. My troubles began quite a while back. And so time to hit the gym. I believe that was his previous mindset. This is going to really relate to what I was talking about earlier. I never understood why I could be strong and yet hurt so much. Limb dominance and speaking about intention resonates as well. It is a feeling understanding that I have had for some time that I am not using my body correctly. You have given it a name. It gives me some hope that I am on the right track. So definitely Marcus, I think you are on the right track. I really appreciate this share because I think a lot of other students can relate to it. It definitely ties into what I was talking about earlier with this. My response to al in that, you know, common reason that the back muscles can become sore and tight is from this mindset. Time to hit the gym and time to hit it hard and do hard work to get lots of benefits. And that is our natural human instinct to work harder, to get more benefit. It makes sense, but I have to preach about approaching core balance training with a little bit of a counterintuitive mindset of go light and do less and connect with the deepest part of your core. And once you have a strong connection there, then you can expand outward core out. And that is the best approach to core balance training, which is the topic of today's stream. You know, the real topic I was talking about earlier was to come in with a baby's mindset. And if I were to add another best approach, it is start in the center and move out. Build the foundation first. So we're moving quick today. And so we're going to be moving on to the next question here. This one is from Christine and posted in the back anchor progression lesson. So that is three of the first week. Module one says Hi Ryan, I noticed that it's hard for me not to engage my glutes and hamstrings when I do this. I can activate my core, but only barely get the pelvis off the ground. I'm guessing this will improve with time. Absolutely. And that's the whole point in this entire process is gradual improvement over time. And I don't expect that everyone, and I don't even expect most students to be able to do the challenge of the day immediately, to do the lesson of the day. Immediately. What I expect is some people will be able to and other students will have a hard time. And that's actually a good thing because it means there's room for improvement. And so Christine with the goal is to work on this, and you will notice that you gain the ability rather quickly because we're training more your neuromuscular system, the nervous system, connection to the muscles, not so much building bigger muscles or, you know, body building type, which takes longer. The nervous system learns pretty quickly. And so it might be just a couple sessions where you'll be able to get more connection to those muscles that to lift your pelvis off the ground. So yes, it will improve with time. It's okay that it's challenging. It's actually good that it's challenging because you want to challenge yourself in order to progress. And I'm glad that you are prioritizing doing it right. The good form, prioritizing using your core and your abdominals, because that's how you're going to build the strongest foundation. So we're going to go to the next part of her question. It says also, what are your thoughts on the types of exercises we should do during this program? I'd love to walk, bike, do Pilates, yoga, lightweight training, etc. but my mobility has been so limited it's been hard. I generally try to warm up and push through. What are the best ways to stay active while working through this program? Another point I want to address is tying into kind of a little bit of a theme with all these questions is I don't recommend pushing through at this point in the program. When you get to the point where you have built the strong foundation, which does come with the daily commitment, that little bit each day of going, tuning into your core, connecting, doing the low intensity stuff, you will build that connection. After that, after you have that foundation, then you can start pushing through because you can build anything you want on a strong foundation. But when we are doing this early stuff and we're trying to change movement patterns, it's best if we do it low intensity so we have more control over the muscles that we're focusing on, and we want to focus on those deep, small, tiny spinal support muscles. So to get to your actual question, what can we do while we're in the program? Walking is definitely number one recommendation. If you can walk and it feels good, then it's like the best thing you could be doing. So walk, hike, get out in nature. There's a lot of benefits, but besides the mental benefits, it's one of the most healthy, natural human movements you can do. And it helps just naturally balance the muscles in the body, which makes sense. You know, we're meant to walk. It's not really I don't consider walking exercise. I consider it our it's human locomotion. It's the way that we were designed to move from point A to point B, and we've because of technology and inventions, we've done a lot less of human locomotion the way we were designed to be, but now we have to put it into our schedule and fit it in. And I think that kind of necessary. So high recommendation biking. Biking is kind of exercising in a closed down posture, and it does tend to promote a little bit of the muscle imbalances that we're trying to reverse. So I don't tell people who are cyclists to stop cycling. But I do say, you know, if you're going to do it, make sure you do some bridging afterwards to open your up your hips back up. And even before too. So yeah, biking isn't something like I would go out and recommend if I had a few options I would choose walking. I do like yoga, except I would just go light and don't go put yourself into a pretzel. It's totally okay and recommended to sit out of certain poses. And also just to do partial poses, you just don't want to be taking your spine to the end range of motion right now while we're building stability. Once we get the stability. Then you can start progressing into your more high level activities like, you know, full blown yoga, Pilates, not so much. Pilates is very heavy on the hip flexors. And I know that there are Pilates gurus out there, and I love Pilates, and it is a wonderful thing. And it also is very heavy on the hip flexors. And that is a muscle group that we're really trying to lengthen, and Pilates tends to shorten them. If you think about hundreds, what they call hundreds is really training the hip flexors in a shortened position and is not promoting what we're trying to do here. So so far we have walking light yoga or just like, you know, use your judgment. If you go to a yoga class on how far to go into the stretches. And then. Yeah. Lightweight training. Totally fine. Try to apply what you're learning in core balance training to the weight training. And we're going to get to more of that in phase two, which is modules five through eight. And uh, yeah, we'll get there. It's just a matter of time. You know, three months is really, really quick to make the progress that a lot of people are hoping to make. But I think it's about the fastest we can do that and get you to the point where we are, you know, going from not being able to do activities to being able to do them and them being healthy for you. So weight training is going to be good for your core. Yoga is going to be good for your spine and for your back. Once you learn this movement, retraining this relationship that we're developing with our body, let's see, did you name anything else? And. Yeah. So if I were to add anything, it would probably be if you live near water. Paddle boarding, if you have the ability, is one of the most healthy human movements. It's like is good for you as walking, but you're using your arms instead of your legs. Very healthy activity. It's kind of high level, but that's one of the things that I do for just general fitness. And like hiking up hills is really good exercise too. So yeah, and we'll go to the next question. Hey, Sherry, how's it going? Good to see you here, Sherry. You say I am stuck at module two for many weeks now, and whenever I try to engage the push away on upper and lower anchor, even with going just ten percent, I tend to have soreness afterwards and not the good kind. When do I know if I can proceed to the next step? It is frustrating not to be able to continue on. Sherry, I believe that you've spent enough time on these front and back anchor awareness lessons that that you can move on now. And module three is not going to be even as extreme of a body position as module two. The module three is the front anchor challenge. And so we are going to be building strength. And a little bit of, you know, the challenges, your ability to stay connected to the front anchors while adding more amplitude of arm and leg movements. The focus is your core, but we are challenging that connection with the arm and leg movements. But the body is actually in a safer position than in in week two. In module two, it's in the quadruped position. So on the hands and knees. So if you can be in that position comfortably. I think you'll really like module three. From what I know of your history and your situation, I think module three will be a safe and powerful module for you to be able to build, you know, build a different type of strength in your core than what you've been doing. And yeah, definitely, I'll say it again, it's a safe position for the spine, for the pelvis. And and I think that will be comfortable for you and all the students. So, uh, I would recommend to go forward and depending on how you do in module three, you could potentially go on to module four after that and just keep moving, because I think you've been in the first two modules long enough to know and have grasped what the anchors are, and the connections are probably there. And it just might be that the front anchors awareness position is a little too extreme for you. And so that might be what's going on. And that's the case for some people. Next question is from Kenneth. This is an anchor triad marching. This is in module five. And he says most interesting. Before I saw this I went to the golf course driving range. I found myself using these techniques to engage my core before each swing. I had success not only hitting well, but no back pain after the fairly short driving range session. About fifty balls. Looking forward to more lessons. That is awesome, Kenneth. I feel like you were the one that also started experimenting with the anchor triad before you got to the lesson, so you're like one step ahead of the course. And yeah, it's funny, the way that the anchor triad marching came to me was from a student. You know, this version of Core Balance training is actually two point oh. And the original program, Core Balance Training one point zero didn't have Anchor Triad Marching. It went straight from anchor triad to the hip hinge, which is your next lesson if you haven't gotten there. And I had a student who was very interactive. He told me that he was able to feel the anchor triad a little better just by lifting his legs a little bit. And so naturally, I tried it and I said, yeah. Adding that little movement actually helps to feel and you can help get make you better at just the anchor triad in standing. And so it's kind of like a little biofeedback, a little tactile cue for the connection. And so that's where it came from. And it's great that you Experimented with this too. And it works. And so here it is. It's in the program. So thank you for sharing. And I'm really happy to hear, Kenneth, that you are back on the golf course and being able to swing a golf club, drive a golf club without pain is really impressive. I'm very impressed. And yeah, just thank you for sharing. I'm proud of you for the progress you've made and the work you've put in to get to this point. I see Sherry, you responded and said, thank you. That is a relief to hear. You're very welcome, Sherry. I'm glad it's a relief and I'm glad you show up and you asked the questions. Take advantage of this. You know, the live portion of the live stream so that I can just continue to offer you guidance and get you the best outcome that we can get you. So, yeah, thanks for being here. And thanks for having the courage to show up and ask the questions. So let's get on to the next question. And this one's from Shane. Front anchors progression. So that is day four of module two. This made me break a sweat. When you're raising one leg, how much of the opposite leg is touching the ground? Okay. Good question. First I want to change your intention. And it may not be your intention that is being described here, but the way that you wrote this is raising one leg. And I want to switch. We want to have the intention of pushing away. And the leg elevates as a result of the pushing away. And so we're not intentionally lifting or raising the leg, and we're pushing away from the pubic bone. And also in this exercise you can be using your opposite leg to help a little bit push away. Almost like walking when one leg is moving back. The other leg is moving forward. And so to answer your question, the entire leg of the opposite leg is touching, the ground is connected to the floor, and you don't really need to think about unweighting it or elevating it. Just almost think like you're walking. And the that motion, that natural human motion will help the back leg to elevate as well as the pushing away from the pubic bone. So good question Shane. The next one is are your shoes and knee touching the ground on the leg that isn't being raised? Oh, this is pretty much the same question. If you look in the video, Shane, I think what you'll see is that my feet are actually turned out slightly, and that's how an infant or a baby would lay in tummy time or belly time. And so that we're mimicking that. And so it's kind of the inside of your feet touching the ground and like your big toe side of the feet. And I don't think like the pinky toes would be touching the ground and then the knee, it's kind of similar. It's a little bit of the inside of the knee. Not you don't really want that kind of pressure straight onto your kneecap. So it's just slightly, you know, the leg is turned out not from the feet but actually the hip. So if my shoulder is my hip, the that's where the rotation comes from. And it kind of rotates the whole leg out. And so yeah, definitely on the leg that is not being raised, there's contact with the floor throughout the entire leg. Yevgeny, glad to see you showing up and Chris showing up too. Chris has a question. Says could I submit in the coaching hub a video of myself running on a treadmill for your review. I think I'm maintaining connection with my anchors, but it would be great to receive feedback. Yes, Chris. Absolutely. You can submit any video of yourself doing a movement or activity that you want to get better at, and I'll do whatever I can to provide, you know, my analysis and give you feedback on it. Yeah, there's no restrictions. The reason that I kind of focus on the bridge is because it allows me to break down movement to the smallest level and really focus in on the finer things. And when we get into complex movements like running, it's a lot harder for my feedback to be applied. But since you're through most of the program and I have seen your bridge, then we're all good. Yeah, I would love to see that. And by the way, there was a question. Maybe it was last week or the week before about treadmills. I do prefer walking and running on the ground versus a treadmill, but I understand that for the video purposes, it will be much easier to film yourself running on a treadmill. There is a chapter labeled in one of the previous recent live streams about the treadmill, and my thoughts on that. I think it's a good thing. It just kind of has a little bit of an effect on the neuromuscular system. All right. So great question Chris. Great to see you here. You have Jenny. Thank you for the kind words. Let's get into the next question. This is a question from Mary and it was posted in back anchor awareness. So that's day one of the program. It says as I start started to lower my rib cage, a problem spot in my right mid lower back. Flared up for a moment and then went away. So right mid lower back okay. I can kind of your flank on the right side. So that's interesting that it flared up and for a moment and then went away. I kind of would imagine that I would I feel like that would be a good sign that we're targeting the right area. We something lit up in our body that we're trying to address, but then it went away. And so who knows. But it feels to me intuitively like that's a good thing. Made me wonder if I'll discover that there's a root cause of my bad posture as I continue this training. Mary, that is a fantastic share. I'm. I'm glad that you are along that line of thinking. I do believe there's a root cause and one of the main goals of this program, and one of my main purposes in life, is to help people discover that about themselves and understand that and know how to what's causing it and how to reverse it, which is to do less of what's causing it and do more of the things that help get us back into balance. So thank you for sharing, Mary, and I'm excited for you to go through more of the program and hear about your progress. So keep sharing. All right. And then we're going to get to the last question. This is this is going to be kind of like our featured student for today. We didn't really have a featured student, but if we did it would be Bridget. So it's a little bit longer of a message. And so I'll be reading. Bridget says, hi Doctor Ryan, life got complicated, but I've been focusing on running man, typewriter squats and bridge and progressions hinging at the hip. Got news that after seven months using Algaecal, my spine bone density increased by five point nine percent. Wow, that's really impressive. I don't know about Algaecal. I think that's how you would say it, Bridget, but it sounds like it's very effective. But no change in my hips. So I was exploring ways to increase exercises at hip joint along with core balance training. Okay. Increase exercises at hip joint. Okay. Any ideas you might have would be appreciated. I do have ideas. The exercises in the in phase three of the program are primarily targeted at the hips. And I really love running man airplane deep hip rotation. The motor control exercise just Running man and airplane are incredible for hip stability. The entire chain, the entire leg and chain all the way up for developing stability. So I really do recommend those. If you want to get more intense, you can start getting into, you know, I'm assuming you've been doing some squats and you said you've been doing typewriter squats, but I'm not sure how your leg strength is, but you can start doing single leg sit to stand squats. So start sitting on a chair and go ahead and stand up. And if you can't, you get a higher chair like a stool. Stand up from the chair, sit back down, controlled on one leg, and then get stronger to the point where you can do it from a low seat height and then get stronger to the point where you can do it without the chair. And that would be called a single leg squat. And that's one of the best things you can do for your hip. Of all I'm talking about, of everything. So that's my recommendation. And then if you're talking about hip mobility then we want to get the motor control. So go back to that lesson. Deep hip motor control deep hip rotation I think we call it. and then get deeper into the typewriter squats and get more control and be able to go lower and farther laterally. And I would be curious to know, Bridget, how is your active stretch for the hip? So kind of like the butterfly stretch or in the program. We do like hip internal rotation and external rotation. If your goal is range of motion, then that's kind of the direction I would point. If your goal is more strength, which I think it's more strength than I would start working towards single leg sit to stand squats. So let's let's go on with Bridget's. I see a question come through in chat, but we'll get to that after we finish with Bridget. So it says here we are also tried to send feedback for back sleeping on beds. I'm sure my mattress is older and more firm as my husband needs a firm mattress. We're exploring options. I'm more a back sleeper, but that's because of my earlier back pain. I was sleeping on my side, made my hips numb. And yes, I've heard of this before. People that their hips go numb when they sleep on their side. And so that would be increased on a firm mattress, and potentially less so on a soft mattress. Yes, always propped up legs with pillows or folded pillows, but even that didn't work. Thanks for suggestions. I always have to tell people legs propped up with pillows. If it's not working, prop them up even higher. Get those legs so high that they're propped up on a tower of pillows, because a lot of the times that's really what it is, is they're just not propped up high enough. So I would recommend just putting a big pile of pillows or clothes or whatever you can find. Your mattress comforter is too hot to need a comforter right now. So prop it, you know, pile it under your legs and get those legs as high as you can. And often that really does the trick. But ultimately you want to get to the point where you want to. You can sleep comfortably on a normal bed and then so that's what doing the stuff in the program is for. The goal is to be able to sleep comfortably, and it sounds like you have a firm mattress in your back sleeper. So you are doing what I suggest already, Bridget. And so thank you for sharing and we'll keep moving on through your question. It says another thing I'm exploring is glutes on the right side, but could also be tight hamstrings as my leg doesn't seem to want to lift forward when running. Interesting. I don't think that would be tight hamstrings. Bridget. It could be more of a joint thing. A hip joint thing. I think this is still left over to issues from the undiagnosed appendicitis. Could be anyway, trying to repair damage by exploring exercises here as well, while exploring, running again, engaging the core as you've trained me and trying to propel forward rather than lift forward. That's huge. Bridget. Um, glad you are integrating that into your running. And I think that in itself can lead to huge progress if you do it consistently. But yeah, with the leg not wanting to lift forward when running, that wouldn't make sense to me to be hamstrings. It would be more local to the hip. It could be a number of things, but I think it would be something closer to the hip joint rather than the hamstrings. So keep exploring. And yeah, I'm a little curious what you mean by exploring glutes on the right side, just strengthening them or, you know, exploring what aspect about them. And Bridget says, here we go. Thought I'd share. I'm still here. And yes, life for crazy as student are starting up with school. So they have music auditions. Oh, okay. I think that it makes sense now. You were helping other students while I was live streaming. Okay, I get it. And they need extra help. And I'm there. Help. Which brings me to multiple hours of staying in sitting standing positions. So take breaks to do the running man typewriter squats and bridges. So those are my current challenges. I'll open program to move on shortly. Thank you again for your core balanced program. It has given me hope and new freedom. Bridget, thank you for sharing. Bridget. It sounds like you know, you're dealing with a lot of life stuff, and the most commendable thing is that you're sticking with it and trying to learn about your body and empower yourself with new tools. So hopefully some of the tips and exercises I gave you can help. And I'd be, you know, I'd be interested to hear back from you on any response you have or any feedback you have on how those went. So thank you for sharing and I just want to honor you for staying committed. Bridget. So good on you. So let's get back to the chat. We have a question or share from Yevgeni. It says I've heard that with lower back pain the following exercises shall be excluded. Active hip flexion I kind of agree with that, especially in the beginning you have Jenny. If you've noticed, we don't do any active hip flexion resistance training. The first time we do it is in module four. And that's for the back anchor challenge. But it's not for hip training. It's for core training. And so yeah I do agree with you there. Lumbar extension. Yeah. For most cases I'd say close to eighty percent of cases I would say we're going to try and reduce lumbar extension just for a little while and relearn how to do it in a healthier way. And there are some cases where lumbar extension can be beneficial for acute alleviation of sciatic symptoms. And that's the McKenzie technique. But it's a very specific situation and it's only for short term. It's not it doesn't have a long term benefit. It can help take pressure off a nerve really. Or lateral flexion. Yeah I kind of agree with that too. Yeah. We're just at this point there's no real reason to train different spinal end ranges. You know before you get into lateral flexion like this that's not a highly functional movement. We have to learn how to master the basics of human movement. And that's more in this plane front to back. Then you know once you get that down and you build that foundation, then you can move on to more complex and, you know, a little bit abstract. There's not a very common motion that we do even with our neck. Like we we don't really need to do that to go through a normal, average life. So yeah, thanks for sharing, Yevgeny. I agree with that. And whoever told you that. So I think this is gonna be it. And thank you for showing up. And I'm gonna go walk a little bit. And then I have this appointment. After my appointment, I'm gonna get down on the floor and connect to my core, because I've been doing a lot of research the last two days. And so I just want to share with you guys that I still do, that I still get down on my yoga mat, and I still do core balance training and get the benefits from it. So encouraging you to do the same. And until next time, connect to your core. Take care.
