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In this video
When Nikkiey Stott worked in the ER, she was on her feet getting 20,000 to 25,000 steps a day and was never this tight. Now that she runs WarriorBabe from home, she spends much more time sitting. Her posture has slipped, and her hips and hamstrings sit in a shortened position for hours. Her body, as she puts it, is paying the consequence.
She also explains why strength training plays a part. Lifting both lengthens and shortens the muscle bellies, but most of the time it shortens them. That is why stretching matters: it lengthens them back out. She admits she doesn't enjoy stretching and is bad at doing it, which is a big reason she is so tight.
She then talks through the imbalance between her legs after two ACL reconstructions. Her left quad is much smaller, and her right leg has spent years overcompensating, even when she is driving or sitting at a desk. If you have an imbalance of your own, her advice is to use single-leg or single-arm movements to build up the weaker side, and to stay consciously aware of which side you lean on.
Key takeaways
- Sitting all day keeps your hips and hamstrings in a shortened position and can make your posture worse, so a more sedentary job can leave you noticeably tighter.
- Being on your feet and moving all day, like Nikkiey's 20,000 to 25,000 steps in the ER, kept her far less tight than desk work does.
- Strength training mostly shortens the muscle bellies, so stretching is important to lengthen them back out.
- If you skip stretching because you don't enjoy it, expect your body to feel tighter over time. Nikkiey names this as the reason she is so tight.
- If one side of your body is weaker, use single-leg or single-arm movements to build strength on the weaker side.
- Pay conscious attention to how you sit, drive and stand, because years of letting your dominant side do the work can reinforce an imbalance.
- After knee surgery the quad can shrink fast. Nikkiey describes almost no quad muscle in the 24 hours after her ACL surgery, and the other leg tends to overcompensate.
Questions answered
Why does sitting all day make my hips and hamstrings tight?
Nikkiey explains that when you sit, your hips and hamstrings stay in a shortened position, and your posture can get worse. She says she became much tighter after moving from a job on her feet in the ER to working from home in a chair.
Does lifting weights make your muscles tight?
Nikkiey explains that strength training both lengthens and shortens the muscle bellies, but most of the time it shortens them. That is why she says stretching matters, because it lengthens the muscle bellies back out.
Should I do single-leg exercises if one leg is weaker?
Yes. Nikkiey says that if you have imbalances in your body, single-leg or single-arm movements are a good way to build strength on the weaker side.
What happens to your quad muscle after ACL surgery?
Nikkiey describes her quad atrophying right away, with almost no quad muscle in the 24 hours after surgery. Her left quad stayed noticeably smaller than her right, and her right leg overcompensated for years.
Why does my dominant side keep doing all the work?
Nikkiey says years of subconsciously letting her dominant right leg do everything, including pushing the gas and brake while driving and taking her weight at the desk, made it a powerhouse compared to her left. She says you have to be consciously aware of it to change it.
Full transcript
Nikkiey: If you had asked me this when I was working in the ER, on my feet and getting, I don't know, 20,000 to 25,000 steps a day, I definitely was never this tight in those years, because I was constantly moving around and constantly on my feet for my work. Nowadays with WarriorBabe, and don't get me wrong, I fucking love working from home and I love what we're doing, but with the working from home aspect, I'm sitting in a chair. My posture has probably gotten a little bit worse. Everything's in a shortened position when I'm sitting: the hips, hamstrings, all that jazz.
So I've become more sedentary with my work life, and my body is definitely paying that consequence. That's why I'm a little bit tighter. Hamstrings are tight, quads are tight, hip flexors are tight. And then, with all the strength training that I've done the last nine years, strength training is both elongating and shortening the muscle bellies, but the majority of the time you're shortening the muscle belly. That's why stretching is so important, so that you can elongate the muscle belly.
I don't stretch. I'm really bad at stretching, and I just don't find enjoyment in stretching. So that's why my body is super tight.
Guest: Do you think you're equal, or do you have a side that's better or less painful?
Nikkiey: Yeah, I know that I have big imbalances between my right and my left leg. They're not equal. My left leg has had two ACL surgeries, reconstructive surgeries.
The first one was just microscopic. They went in through two little holes and repaired it. Clearly it didn't hold, because about 10 years after that, I tore it again. The second time, they went in and used a part of my hamstring to repair the tendon, or the ligament, the ACL ligament, not tendon. Oh my God. Is it? Yeah, ACL ligament. Anterior cruciate ligament, or whatever it's called. Anyway, squirrel brain.
There's an imbalance. Immediately following surgery, your quad atrophies. Literally, in the 24-hour period post-surgery, there is no quad muscle. It's fucking wild. So my left quad muscle is so much smaller compared to my right quad. And throughout the years, my right quad has definitely overcompensated for my left leg. That's where, if you guys have any imbalances in your body, it's really good to do single-leg or single-arm movements to really build up the strength on the weaker body part.
So there are for sure imbalances. My hip flexors and everything around it are just so much tighter. The left leg is way weaker than the right leg. Even when I'm sitting, it's wild. You've got to be consciously aware of it, because there are so many years of subconsciously allowing my right leg to do everything. I'm right-hand dominant, so even just sitting, like driving, all of my weight is on my right leg because it pushes the gas and it pushes the brake. So I'm constantly like this.
And then when I'm sitting at the desk, I'm always dominant to the right leg. So the right leg is a powerhouse compared to my left. It's pretty crazy. Back in the day when I used to compete, you could see the atrophy of the muscle. When I was on stage, you could see how small my left quad muscle was compared to my right quad muscle. It was pretty interesting.
When I tore my ACL for the first time, I was 14 years old. It was going into freshman year of high school, or sophomore year of high school. I played basketball year-round, so I was playing in a summer league and went up to get a rebound and came down on my leg the wrong way. Dude, everyone could hear it. It was one of those things where people were standing up in the crowd.
The second time was about 10 years later, so I was 23 or 24, and it was the same thing. I was playing a pickup game of basketball with some friends, and same thing: rebound, and down the wrong way. Not fun. Not fun. That time I knew it in the moment. I was like, I just tore my ACL.
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