Your Posture Sucks.

(But you can fix it!)

When I ask a new client what their goals are, one of the most common responses I get is “better posture.” Forward rounded shoulders is the most common postural complaint I hear from my clients and it’s no surprise when most of modern society is slumped over their phones and computers! I jokingly tell my daughters if they want job security they should look into becoming neck surgeons. Sadly, the demand for neck and back related surgeries is only going to grow as our phone-addicted youth set into their later years.

To make matters worse, “text neck” (a real term) doesn’t ever exist in isolation. Whether a client knows it or not, a compromised upper body means a compromised lower body. Connections I often see in clients with faulty upper body posture are weak core and weak hips. This is extremely common! The good news is that over time, intelligently programmed strength training can improve and often fully resolve these issues. I have seen clients come to my studio with awful posture and over time, with commitment to training, their bodies will start to un-crumple.

One long-time client of mine came to me in her 60’s with severe kyphosis (a spinal deformity causing upper back rounding.) This was already a genetic predisposition in her family but as she aged and worked a stressful desk job year after year it worsened to the point where she was severely hump-backed. She started taking yoga with me about 6 years ago and soon found she was able to stop her weekly chiropractic sessions as her back pain melted away. Then about 4 years ago we slowly introduced weight training. When she moved to a different state several years ago, she bought weights and we continued our sessions online 2 X/week. Today she was in town and came into my studio for an in-person session. I could see more than ever how straight she was standing! Her humpback was gone. (Maybe she will agree to me posting a before/after pic of this on my Instagram coming up! Either way, I’m sure you can envision it!)

One of the things that sold me on becoming a personal trainer was learning that the nervous system helps us build strength. I thought it was extraordinarily cool that in order to get the right muscle to make the right movement at the right time and in the right plane of motion our nerves must “tell” the muscles what to do. Pretty neat-o that when we strength train we are actually training our nerves! Muscles then respond, build mass and get stronger by engaging in “correct motion” over and over (and over and over.) Thats what “reps” are! (Like Will Ferrel in Anchorman saying “You see how many I did there?” )

Here’s the really cool part: over time, when we do our reps with good form, the newfound neural pathways and muscular strength we achieve begins to literally pull our skeletons into alignment - a.k.a good posture! (This is exemplified with the client I mentioned. She did her exercises and through those years of diligence, her body pulled itself into good posture.) However, if we weight train with bad form, we can really screw ourselves up worse! Bad form in strength training is bad posture with weights attached to it! Bad form can mess up the back, tear a rotator cuff or worse! (Please, please promise me right now you won’t ever train with bad form!)

So we see so far that strength training causes beneficial habits to sink in by way of our mental and physical cooperation. But wait, there’s more! Getting strong physically can make us stronger emotionally too. Poor posture can set in from worry, stress, sadness, feelings of failure and depression. Training up the physical body can have very positive affects on the emotional body as it directly affects our brain chemistry and hormones!  I definitely experienced this when I began to lift weights. My inner and outer perspective shifted in ways I never would have guessed and helped me build a brand new successful business (in my late 40’s.)

A few other things weight training does for us: strengthens bones (which helps with aging related diseases like osteoporosis.) Increases agility. Improves cardiovascular health, metabolism, range of motion, balance and more!

As a last little nugget of info, keep in mind that postural shifts come about by not only strength training but also by mobilizing or stretching certain areas of the body as well. We are a multi-faceted package in which no part of the body is interdependent of another. For example, if the mid-back muscles are slack then the chest musculature is likely tight. That is where yoga, foam rolling and gentle stretching can help balance us out.

Proper training is an ongoing experience as we are not static beings. We get injured, we age, we have emotional upheavals, etc. That’s why I aim to teach people to train for life. It’s not easy to pick up the weights when inspiration is at an all time low, but it’s always worth it.  There is many a day when I don’t want to train, but the benefits are so great, I push through.

FOR YOU: This podcast is an audio video I did some months back with great neck exercises and stretches. Need more strength and mobility related inspiration? That’s exactly what my Yoga + Training Studio is for. Look through past posts and stay tuned for future posts. In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions and stay strong out there. xoxo