Recently I have had the opportunity to speak to some local groups and businesses. The topic of these discussions: office posture and the effects of gravity on our bodies throughout the course of life. The groups I have spoken to have been as little as 10 and as many as 60. The age range of the attendees has been from mid 20’s to mid 50’s, the common denominator has been aches and pains and the symptoms of postural degradation.
Nobody has perfect posture this is a given but it is a little frightening to see how common it is becoming to see prominent signs of this postural deterioration in people at the lesser side of the above age range. I know I have written about and discussed posture before but today I’d like to share with you a fun little exercise that can go a long way in improving our posture and preventing the deterioration of muscle, particularly our core muscles.
The two main areas of our body that show the clear visible signs of deteriorating posture are the hips, the position of the pelvis in particular, and the shoulders. The pelvis often shows signs of rotation this can either be forward giving us the “bubble butt” appearance or backwards giving us the “no butt” appearance. In both cases this rotation is often one of the main contributors to the aches and pains often felt in knees, low back, upper back, and shoulders. Pelvic rotation can also be a contributor to the rounded shoulders seen commonly among our peers. Stand in front of a mirror, slouch the shoulders forward and begin to squat, as you squat deeper you will have an accelerated visual of what gravity is attempting to do to you over the course of your life.
Here is a great exercise that with the aid of a partner can be an excellent exercise warmup or a form of coffee break activity around the office. Picture yourself as a basketball player on the defence. Your opponent is going to try to move around you, you want to be ready to react to their movement in whatever direction they go. You will want a good base of support with your feet positioned a little wider than shoulder width, knees bent in a partial squat and your hands up. We call this athletic ready position. Once you’re set in your best ready position it’s great to be able to look in the mirror and see if your back is flat. For many it won’t be. Try to push the chest, belly button and butt out. It may not be perfect but as things strengthen and loosen it may improve over time.
From your ready position ready, set, brace. This activity means to tighten all your muscles in your ready position while a partner is going to apply random pressure at the shoulder, on the arms, at the hips, above or below the knee, slight pressure mid back, etc. You no doubt get the idea. The random pressure forces us to brace internally using our core muscles to adjust and stabilize to allow us to stand our ground. Bracing is a very simple way that requires no equipment to effectively work your core. Try 3 to 5 sets of 20 pushes you should feel notably warmer and over a 3 to 4 week period it may surprise you how much more force your partner will have to use.
