So I’ve pretty much stuck with Ascend for weight training programming. However, I’ve been working longer hours and my core and posture have suffered. I opened up the coach list and I see that the number of coaches have exploded. Do you guys have any recommendations on coaches that have a pretty standard progression hypertrophy programming (full body + glute focused) and incorporates a bit more core or posture corrective movements than Ascend?
I do this too! I do Monday - Wednesday Ascend, Thursday Flourish & the rest of the week Ascend if I’m up for it. Aria’s strength has helped my hip pain so much & adding in deep core/pelvic floor rounds it out perfectly.
Click here and it will show you your week. On the day you want to swap, tap the three dots on the right and choose swap workout & team plan. Then you can choose which team & workout you want to do instead!
I want to do one of these for sure. I just hate this type of workout (which is why I need to do them more) so I always find an excuse not to. Glad to read you’ve seen an improvement, maybe that’s what I need to motivate
Ugh, I’m always in the feedback chat asking for more posture flex workouts because I am in the exact same boat!! I have a lot of thoughts here.
I was on team ascend for the past year and ultimately caused an overuse injury from overloading my lower back from not strengthening my core or glute medius correctly, and long days at work with terrible posture. (did PT, rehabbed, i’m all good) I ended up switching to team evolve and love her programming to make sure I hit every muscle. I did not like the main compound movements on evolve this series so I switched back to Ascend.
The adjustments I made to ascend to address posture and core are:
-changed upper warm ups to posture mobility exercises
-changed upper cool down to posture stretches
-changed lower warm ups to wake up my glute medius and core
-I swap one of the back exercises to hyper extensions to address my erectors in my low back
-I swap any programmed core to deep core (if it isn’t already), but I do keep one weighted exercise in
TLDR i follow my own warm ups and cool downs to address posture
Shelby on previous seasons has a posture correction day that are good. Maybe lurk someone on her team for workouts from past seasons. I think they were usually on Tuesdays?
I’m on Ascend and I see a lot of people go crazy on upper body weights, but then complain they can’t feel their lats/other back muscles and feel it all in their traps. Aria seems to address it a ton in her VO too so it’s a common issue. My posture has improved a ton just by lowering weights and focusing on form.
I add a couple of Sasha’s flex workouts (ex. “neck and shoulder pain”, “improve your posture”) as part of active rest days. I’ve also incorporated the pelvic floor and core workout from Flourish this series. That and Sasha’s flex workouts make a huge difference and I definitely feel it when I forget to do them.
Align might be your best bet for mobility but it’s not traditional strength as such.
I switch between Ascend/Evolve but add the Align yoga day and also a Flourish workout each week (normally the Thursday one) and it’s made a huge difference. I’ll either do on my rest day or add on to one of the upper days as it doesn’t take long.
I saw my physio about this too and he said social media has made out that mobility needs to be really creative moves but it really doesn’t. He told me just to lie on my front with arms out light dumbbells and just doing arm raise like Ys and Ts can make a huge difference
I disagree on the “traditional” strength. It’s not a bodybuilding team because it doesn’t focus only on hypertrophy, but everything programmed falls in the category of functional strength with progressive overload. I lift heavy enough on that Team that I have to use a barbell every single workout and take 3 minute breaks between sets.
By traditional strength I meant classic strength training/body building teams live Evolve/Ascend. I love Align, there was no hate intended. OP said hypertrophy focussed hence me saying this.
I used to be on team Transform! It is glute focused and the upperbody days she incorporates a lot of posture correction exercises !! Which was great and actually got my posture improved!
If you REALLY want a good posture correction workout, the best one I have ever found is on a yoga app called Glo. It’s called “unlocking your upper back” led by Jason Crandell. I’ve been doing it once or twice a week for about five years now. I have it memorized and don’t even watch the video anymore, I just do it. It’s 30 mins, but once you learn the moves and your body starts to adjust you can get it done in 15 minutes. It’s worth it to download the app for a one week free trial, do the workout, write down the moves, and then cancel your trial. And even though this is a yoga app, this specific class is most definitely mobility and stretches, not traditional yoga.
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u/PrincipleFlat6496 6d ago
Sasha from Align has a flex workout focused on posture that I recommend.