Simply put, good posture means that each of your body parts is in the correct spot, relative to other body parts, and relative to the gravitational pull of the earth. Make sense? Can you do that? Great! Then we are done here. Ha! If only it were that easy.
What is your Good Posture?
When you read the words “good posture” you probably instinctively and immediately assumed your version of “good posture.” If you didn’t, then go ahead and straighten up now. What did you do to improve your posture? Did you thrust your chest up or did you pull your shoulders blades together? Perhaps both? Well, doing that may give the impression of good posture but more accurately all you did was lift your rib cage forward by sheering your vertebra and mashing your shoulder blades together. Doesn’t sound good, does it? When you are slouching forward, simply misaligning your ribs like this does not actually create the movement in your (thoracic) spine in the way that you think or feel that it does. All it does is take that slouching forward curve of your upper spine and tilt it into an upward position. The curve is still there, it is simply pointing in a different direction.
You see, many of us stand at least slightly lazily at all times, trying to conserve energy and feel relaxed. To do that we stand with our neck jutted out, our shoulders slumped, our rib cage collapsed, our weight shifted into one hip or the other (or thrust forward into both), and our feet flared out like a duck. Take a look down at your body, are you standing like that right now?
The problem is that when you stand that way on a regular basis, your body gets very used to that posture and you get stuck like that, or at very least this becomes your default stance.
Not only is this an issue of bad geometry, in combination with gravity, creating unhealthy forces on your bones, joints, tendons, and ligaments but when you hit the gym or engage in your favourite sport in this type of misalignment, you are in real trouble. And this trouble will result in lowered performance, fewer strength gains, and an increased risk of injury.
The Right Way to Stand
The easiest way to create a nicely aligned body is to imagine there is a plumb line (like carpenters use) attached to various parts on your body. If each one of the plumb lines is not heading toward, if not directly to, your mid-foot or heels, you are out of alignment.
A nicely aligned body is a nicely stacked body. Ankles over heels, knees over ankles, hips over knees, ribs over hips, shoulders over ribs, neck straight and tall...
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