u/ChubbyMutt

I've had back pain and anterior pelvic tilt for most of my life due to excessive sitting playing video games and just general life. The past year or so I have been trying to reverse the effects of all this sitting on my body by doing barbell rdls for posterior chain strength and stretching my hip flexors. I have also been doing core work like hollow body holds and hanging knee raises. I have seen pretty good results and have had a very noticeable decrease in back pain - it used to hurt if I stood or walked slowly for too long - to where it's not something I notice at all really anymore.

Although my apt has improved and my posture in general is not as curved as it used to be, I recently began to think that although I feel like my core is relatively strong, I feel like my superficial ab muscles are overcompensating for my weak transverse abdominis and are not letting me properly develop this muscle.

I have watched some videos and read about it but I can't seem to really activate my ta without my rectus abdominis taking over and not allowing me to properly work the deeper core muscles.

What are some of the most basic exercises I can start with and cues to help me activate my ta?

I've been trying to increase my flexibility in side splits and just my adductors in general. My adductors are very tight, especially the gracilis muscle which I can feel is very tight when I am trying to do the side splits. Even after warming up, when I try to lock out my knees I feel a clicking on the inside of my knee that doesn't hurt but does happen consistently when I lockout my legs in my end range split. Is this something that should go away the more I stretch or is it more likely to be a form problem that is causing this?