Why your mother always tells you to stand up straight

Posture matters.

The best posture is the one you can move in and out of freely without pain.

 At rest, we aim to keep our chin level, with the back of the neck elongated; shoulders stacked over your hips and ankles, and relaxed down; hips are even; knees straight but not hyper-extended; and 3 points of contact on your feet (first toe, 5th toe and heel sharing equal load). When we do things like walk or run, our posture should be dynamic and moving through the 3 planes of motions.

Unfortunately, because we are creatures of habit, we get 'stuck' in postures that not so awesome.

Slouched: shoulders rolled forward, neck jutting out

Hyper-lordotic: over extending at lower back

This leads to muscles not in good alignment and when we move out of that posture we risk injury.

I frequently see people in the gym who are so focused on increasing their weight for an exercise that they compromise their form. Yesterday I saw a woman killing it on the pec deck as far as weight goes, but her neck and head was down, and her shoulders were totally rolled forward like this

Chest fly castastrophe waiting to happen

What I see when I look at this is either a Rotator Cuff or Neck injury just waiting to happen.

 To decrease your risk of injury, work toward keeping your alignment when you lift. This is what I like to see when you're lifting.

A simple exercise to create better postural awareness is weight shifting on a physioball. This is a good way to change your position through the day and can help you on your journey toward better posture. 

As with any of my posts, please leave a comment or send me an email (which you can find on my websiteif you have any questions or thoughts.  :)