Focusing on Posture in your Workout and in Daily Life

Do you ever come home from a long day sitting at work and you are particularly sore in your back or neck? As you probably know, this can most often be attributed to poor posture, something that many are aware of but not entirely sure how to fix. At the gym, poor posture often translates into exercises and reinforces the bad habits.

The key to fixing posture is organization and stabilization of the spine. Simply, this means putting your spine in a neutral position (so not hunched forward or extended back), and maintaining this position through your exercises as well as throughout the day. Doing this not only prevents injury to you back (and shoulders, hips and knees!), but also ensures you are mechanically effective in how you use your muscles. This means more power, force, and stability in your exercises.

While most people are aware of their bad posture habits, they don’t have a systematic approach to fixing the problem. Below is a modified version of Dr. Kelly Starrett’s step-by-step guide on how to organize your spine to help maintain proper form during your exercises as well as good posture throughout the day.

Start in a standing position with your feet directly under your hips

1)      Squeeze your butt.

Notice when you do this it pushes your hips forward slightly, aligning them underneath your shoulders

2)      Tuck your ribcage down.

In doing this you are aligning your ribcage with your hips, like you are stacking one right on top of the other.

3)      Get your belly tight.

When you flex your abs, you are essentially “locking” your hips and ribcage into the positions you just put them. You are not flexing your abs, but rather pulling your bellybutton into your spine. Keeping this position requires about 20% tension in your core muscles, so just enough to maintain the position.

4)      Tuck chin back slightly.

Not tilting your head down, but staying in a neutral position looking straight forward. Think about aligning your ears over your shoulders, hips, and ankles.

5)      Rotate your shoulders back.

This doesn’t mean squeezing your shoulder blades together, but rather turning your hand out until they face forward, and then maintain the position that puts your shoulders in, even when your hands return to their normal position.

At first this may be a little fatiguing. If you are at your desk, stand up and go through the steps every time your feel your posture slipping. At the gym, go through the steps before every exercise. The key is to program the steps into a movement pattern so eventually you are organizing your spine without realizing it. Hopefully this is good start for those who are looking to improve their posture, or those who are looking to get that little extra power in their lifts.

Let me know if you want to know more!!