Why sitting down destroys you | Roger Frampton | TEDxLeamingtonSpa

Male fashion model Roger Frampton discusses how our current ways of measuring progress in fitness (weight, sets, reps, speed, distance) are flawed, and suggests an alternative measure.

Roger Frampton has been modelling for over a decade appearing in ad campaigns for Jean Paul Gaultier, Ralph Lauren & Aquascutum. With over 15 seasons of catwalks in Milan, New York, Paris & London, Roger realised the importance of posture in exercise and created ‘The Frampton Method’. ‘The Frampton Method’ is a combination of bodyweight exercises based upon gymnastics, yoga and calisthenics with a pure focus on posture and technique.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Thank you.

So, the other day, I was giving a talk
to a bunch of young models

on having a career
in the fashion industry.

And, I really wanted to tell them
about my upcoming TED talk.

So I go, "Hey guys,
has anyone here heard of TED?"

And in typical model fashion,
this is the reply I get:

"Yeah, I've seen them both,
and their teddy bear's hilarious."

(Laughter)

Like, what?!

The youth of today,
it made me laugh so much.

I mean, I can't really say much.

When I was 15, I wanted
to be a bodybuilder.

Not just any bodybuilder though,
the number one: Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I actually remember day one
on my attempt to get a body like this guy.

There was this local
old school gym in East London,

and it looked like something
you might see in a "Rocky" movie.

It was this converted garage space
with ripped black benches,

rusting bar bells,

and these posters of ex-bodybuilding
champions on the wall,

including Schwarzenegger himself
as a goal to aspire to.

Now, the day I walked in there,
I met the owner,

this proper Cockney guy called Dave.

I described to him my health and fitness
goals in great, lengthy detail,

you know, just like
an adolescent kid does:

"I want to get massive."

(Laughter)

But he nodded, you know,
he really understood what I wanted.

He pointed to the squat rack,

and he says,

"That over there, son,
[that's how] you get big legs.

And that over there,
pull into the bench press.

that's how you get a big chest.

And these dumb bells
- here - for big arms.

And that's about it.

Now off you go, son."

So off I did go, dad.

I mean, it was a pretty
simple concept, really.

If you can get from A to B
in eight repetitions,

you just add more weight.

Now, at this time in my life,
I hadn't yet studied sports science,

so little did I know,
but this A to B method I was using,

we refer to as "overload."

Now, the overload theory works like this:

If I push my body to failure,

meaning I no longer have the capability
to do any more repetitions,

then when I'm resting, my body
simply produces more muscle,

and that allows me to lift more next time.

I can then work around the body
using this method on each muscle group,

and, Hey, presto, (Arnold voice)
one day you have body like Arnie.

Well, I obviously do not have
a body like Arnie. (Laughs)

In fact, I have a body
like a fashion model.

That's because
I was scouted in the street

and was forced to give up
on my bodybuilding dream.

This is one of my first shows.

This is me strutting down
the catwalk for Calvin Klein.

The casting director - thank you -
was back stage before the show

teaching us how to walk
in a strong posture.

Feet straight, belly button in,
shoulders back and down.

But why in my early 20s
was I being taught how to walk?

More importantly, why did walking
this way feel so alien?

But yet, on the outside, to the audience,
it looked quite powerful.

I mean, all they were asking me to do
was walk like I was supposed to walk.

So I decided to go to a place
where just being in strong posture

was common practice.

And I was about to meet
the person face to face

that would destroy my aspiration
of Schwarzenegger forever.

I was attempting an exercise
called a "bridge":

an adult gymnastics class.

And I just couldn't get my arms straight,

let alone my body off the ground.

So the coach calls somebody over

who demonstrates
this movement effortlessly.

She was a six-year-old girl.

This is actually her.

Her name is Grace.

Amazing...

Grace.

(Laughs)

(Laughter)

How sweet.

(Laughter)

But what I really began to see

is the principles being used
in gymnastics class

were identical to the posture cues
I'd been given back stage

during Fashion Week.

It's the language of gymnastics
that's not based on individual muscles

but based on movements
of the joints and the skeleton.

For example, they use shoulder
instead of biceps, triceps;

hips instead of quads, hamstrings.

Completely the opposite to what
the fitness industry prioritizes.

Fitness talks muscles before spine.

You see, gymnasts focus
on how they are moving their body.

And they also just happen
to have awesome posture

and a really strong core.

It's really no coincidence.

This is a byproduct
of working with the body.

In fact, prioritization of the spine
is a much smarter approach.

If you happen to damage your spinal cord,

you can actually lose the ability
to move any part of your body.

And this is something
we've been reminded of our whole lives.

"Stop slouching."

"Sit up straight."

"Engage your core!"

"Get your elbows off the table."

They all mean the same thing.

All your parents were saying was:

prioritize your spine.

You see, the thing is, as humans,
we were born with full range of motion.

Biochemist Esther Gokhale
spent time traveling the world

and researched places
where back pain hardly exists.

What she noticed was people's spines
with a flatter lumbar curvature

didn't suffer from back pain.

She referred to this as a J-shaped spine,

and you can see the difference
in the images here

between the S-shaped spine
taught in the Western world

and the J-shaped spine in people
where back pain doesn't exist.

Gokhale states the J-shaped spine
is what you see in Greek statues

and in young children universally.

What she's saying is,
we're all born with a J-shaped spine.

Now, you may have noticed,

when young children
pick things up from the ground,

they drop down into this perfect squat.

This kid, unlike myself,
did not need a casting director,

nor a six-year-old amazing Grace
to teach him this move.

In fact, nobody taught him.

And no, guys, he's not exercising.

This is, in fact, a pre-chair,
resting human position.

But unfortunately, as a consequence
of our current human conditioning,

or our culture,

this natural resting position
is about to be taken away from this child.

He's about to be taught
a resting position is, in fact, a chair.

And when he's due to start school,

seven hours of his day, every day,

he will be asked to sit
in this - quite frankly weird

and unhuman - position.

Now, I didn't even take into account
the amount of hours

this kid spends watching Peppa Pig.

(Laughter)

According to the British
Chiropractic Association,

the total number of people
off sick from work with back pain

increased last year by 29 percent.

From the survey, the reason for back pain
was sitting too long in one position.

So I tried to find a survey totaling
the number of four-year-olds

off sick from school with back pain.

But would you believe it,
I just couldn't find one.

You see, we are more than well aware.

We are a generation
of sitting-on-our-backside human beings.

But, the specific point I would like
to bring to your attention today

is the fitness industry's
ignorance of the spine,

to have us hooked on task completion.

Time, weight, and distance.

This is, for most people,
measures of improvement and progress.

How long can you run for?

How fast can you run?

How much can you lift?

How many repetitions can you do?

How many calories can you burn?

This list is endless.

But they're flawed.

None of these take into account
how you're moving,

or more importantly, how you once could.

You see, nothing can ever compare,
or will measure up against,

the exquisite movement
you had as a three-year-old.

A study in 2012 found
that musculoskeletal conditions

were the second greatest
cause of disability in the world,

affecting over 1.7 billion
people worldwide.

Professor Wolfe,
a world leader in healthcare,

describes suffering
from musculoskeletal disorders

as being like a Ferrari without wheels.

If you don't have mobility and dexterity,

it doesn't matter how healthy
the rest of your body is.

So surely the access
to a healthy physicality

is working back towards
full range of motion,

to understand how your body moves,

and to be able to function like a human.

Said simply, the ability to move
like you once could

when you were a three year old.

We can and should
start re-learning how to move

from the examples of children,

ditching these current measures
of time, weight, and distance,

and spend time unravelling restrictions,

getting back the movement
we actually once had.

All that's left
is an aspiration of ourselves

in the school playground as a child,

able to play and move

without fear of injury
and using our body's full potential.

And those other results we're aiming for

such as: slimmer physique,

toned muscles,

do come,

but as a byproduct of moving the body
as it's designed to function best.

There's a famous Chinese proverb:

"You are as old as your spine."

In all honesty, I'll have more chance
teaching penguins how to fly

than humans a better way
to sit on a chair.

We're just not designed to do it.

Today, I'm going to leave you
with a powerful standing posture.

In cultures where
the J-shaped spine exists,

people's butt muscles engage
every time they take a step.

It's one reason they have
these strong butt muscles

that support their lower back.

To demonstrate how
this standing posture works,

I will need a bit
of audience participation.

So I need you all to be standing.

Sorry.

Please stand with your feet together

and facing forwards.

Now push the heels of the feet
against each other -

not the toes but the heels.

Keep pushing.

Keep pushing.

Now hold.

Hold this tension.

Squeeze.

I want you to just notice,

just notice,

what happened to the glute muscles

as a consequence
of pushing the heels together.

We didn't focus on these muscles,

we focused on a movement.

This is movement-first philosophy,
which I spoke of earlier.

Focus on a movement;
muscles follow suit.

We move efficiently.

The body recruits
the right muscles for the job.

Standing here with your heels
pushed together

is now your new stance.

Actually, if I can get you guys
to hold this while I finish

you might just have
to give me a standing ovation.

(Laughter)

By taking a lesson from my kid self.

It took me two years at the age of 30
to finally get back my resting position.

No, no.

My resting position. (Laughs)

Maybe we should all take a lesson
from our kid selves.

We should stop teaching kids
how to sit on their ass,

we should lead by example,

and move like them.

Thank you.

(Applause)