This Way to Better Posture

Good posture is an interesting idea. Some have it effortlessly, and some don’t. Posture reflects several aspects of who we are, without saying a word. We as humans have not quite perfected the process of walking entirely upright, and often we end up trying way too hard to “walk tall.” Often enough our strides are riddled with forward bending, shoulder slouching and knee buckling as we shuffle our feet across the sidewalk.

An idea we use frequently while training athletes is postural correction beginning with a couple months of pure Foundation training. This first 2 months or so is spent strengthening the deepest muscles of the back, hips, neck and shoulders before ever reaching for a weight. In creating this deep strength we are able to move forward in training with confidence that this athlete has the power and the correct movement to handle what is coming.

The exercises we begin with focus on strengthening the joints that initiate most of our body movements, and we keep a lot of our attention on the muscles responsible for extending the spine and externally rotating the hips and shoulders. In keeping these muscles powerful we are able to quickly see changes in daily posture. As a rule of thumb, the stronger your extension muscles are, the better you are going to feel.

As we introduce a few basic workouts to you please remember that these are to be used as an initial builder, regardless of your fitness level. We call this “Foundation Training” because that is exactly what it is doing. These workouts will set the ground work of what can become a new, powerful, confident way of moving through life’s activities.

Here is a brief beginning workout. Follow along with the video and repeat it 4 times daily whether at home or at work. We will have a number of short videos to share with you over the next several weeks. Add these into your normal workout routines as a warm up as well.

Watch the first video on posture here.

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