A Simple Fix

Bad posture can wreak havoc on you. Not only do you look horrible, but you're also setting yourself up for injury. Most neck, shoulder and lower back injuries are posture related. The further you get away from ideal posture, the greater the chance of injury. As a trainer, I find myself trying to undo some clients poor posture with all types of exercises and verbal cues as they're working out. But what good does 20 minutes of posture related work a couple of times per week do, if you go right back to that that caveman posture as soon as you leave the gym It does you no good. But I heard a pretty good tip from another trainer/strength coach the other day. And it's so simple it never even occurred to me.

Sometimes we get so caught uip in elaborate programs or exercises that we forget about the simple stuff. His solution for correcting his clients poor posture was....having them go for a 30 minute walk each day. Doesn't sound brilliant, right? But think about. Why do most people have lousy posture. It's because we've become very sedentary. We went from being upright human beings to human beings who can't get their butts out of the chair. Take a look at the average persons day. They drive or take the train to work. They get to work and sit at their desk. They go to lunch and sit down and stuff their face with Big Macs and French fries (that's another issue) They go back to work and sit behind their desk again with their head down or forward. They get back in their car or sit on the train for the ride home. They get home and sit at the table for dinner. Then they go to the computer and sit down and check their Facebook page (It used to be email, but that's changed also). Then they sit in front of the TV watching "Dancing with the Stars". After dozing off, they get up out of their chair and crawl into bed.

How much of that day was spent in the upright position? Not much. So go get out for a walk. Get upright. Get tall. Pick your head up. Pull your shoulders down and back. And fix those nagging shoulder and back injuries.