The weight of the equipment should be < or = 10-15% of body weight. What's the point?
To improve posture, after a certain period of training, you may need to add weight (dumbbells, resistance bands, medicine balls). However, for someone with posture problems, weight should be strictly limited to the upper permissible limit and should not exceed 10-15% of total body weight.
Let's look at some examples:
EXAMPLE 1
A woman weighing 60 kg should use weights in posture correction training, with a total maximum weight of 6-9 kg.
In this specific case, these could be:
Elastic bands with a 5-7 kg rating
2 dumbbells weighing from 0.5 kg to 4 kg each
Wrist and ankle weights weighing from 0.5 kg to 2 kg each
Medicine balls and kettlebells with handles weighing from 2 to 8 kg
EXAMPLE 2
A 90 kg man should use weights in posture correction training, with a total maximum weight of 9-14 kg.
In this particular case, these could be:
Elastic bands with a weight rating of 5.0-7.0 kg and 10.0-15.0 kg
2 dumbbells weighing from 2.5 kg to 7.0 kg each
Wrist and ankle weights weighing 2.0 kg each
Medicine balls and kettlebells with handles weighing from 4.0 to 14.0 kg
Progressing in weights should also be done carefully and gradually, starting with the specified lower weight limits.
VERY IMPORTANT:
The specified weights have limitations.
For example, for some exercises, even men should not use dumbbells heavier than 1.0-2.5 kg, and women should not use dumbbells heavier than 1.0 kg. This depends on the specific exercise and the muscles it targets. Therefore, the recommendation for a total equipment weight of 10-15% is the upper limit for some exercises; it's not applicable to all exercises and is far from always appropriate (in general, always refer to the weight chart (picture below)).
In most exercises, the weight will be much less than 10-15% of body weight, or no weight at all. This means that, although the maximum allowable equipment weight for a 60 kg woman is 6-9 kg, she will perform most exercises with 1- and 1.5-kg dumbbells, and only a few with 2.5-9-kg dumbbells. The 9 kg refers to the weight of the elastic bands, not the dumbbells, which the muscles perceive quite differently when working on posture correction.
The Course program will indicate equipment weight ranges for each exercise (in the training blocks for new exercises and in the workouts).
Why don't we work with medium and heavy weights?
IMPORTANT:
Using weights outside the specified range in strength training for postural problems will, at best, result in no progress and, at worst, worsen the situation.
Using light weights is the most important method in the IRENA ROST posture correction system. Why? Heavy weights "activate" only the large superficial muscles. Plus, when you use heavy weights, your leg muscles automatically "activate" to relieve excessive strain on your back, acting as levers and elevators. This doesn't include working the deep and middle muscles—the spinal stabilisers that support and extend the spinal column. They "turn off" when working with heavy weights and aren't involved in this work at all, because they're often inactive. We simply can't do the exercises we need with medium and heavy weights.
