Posture really is the key to the kind of training I am promoting here. Without being able to correct posture in a range of different positions you are going to struggle to move in an efficient manner which places the minimum amount of stress on your joints. Sooner or later bad posture is going to catch up with you, and many people start suffering from the results of bad posture in middle age with chronic pain of some kind. Some are less fortunate and it sets in earlier, some are more fortunate and it waits until old age. It is a lottery of genetics, luck, and lifestyle that ultimately decides where on the spectrum any of us sits.

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What does the Perfect Standing Posture Look Like?

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Simply put, everything should stack in a straight line; the head should be over the shoulders, the shoulders over the hips, the hips over the knees, and the knees over the ankles. This is best seen from a side view.  This isn't the end of the analysis, however. Front and back views can also show asymmetrical dysfunctions, such as hip hikes, and the tell-tale sign of pronated shoulders, the palm of the hand facing backwards instead of side-on, malalignment of the knees, etc, etc.

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Getting your standing posture correct is the first step in your training. It is likely that you will naturally sink into an imperfect alignment when relaxed, however it is important to know how - and to feel how - to find the proper standing neutral position. It is from this anchor that efficient movement comes.

 

Surprisingly, not many people know what an ideal standing posture looks like, and even less know what it feels like. This takes time and practice. Once you can consciously find a good standing posture, then we work on drilling it so it becomes unconscious.

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Thoracic Rotation 

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How much rotational exercise do you do in the gym? Not much, I'm guessing, but why is this? After all, almost everything we do in nature involves upper body (thoracic) rotation; walking, running, throwing, punching, kicking, swinging tools, clubs, rackets, etc. Most of these exercises involve one sided or oppositional movements, but in the gym everyone lifts bilaterally with almost no rotation.

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There is a good reason for this; with the wrong posture and form, rotational exercises are not from the upper body, but the lower body, with rotation occurring at the lumbar spine and hips. Rotating the body in this way is potentially very dangerous, especially for the average person, so most trainers and physios won't touch rotational exercises for fear of injuring their clients.

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Unfortunately, thoracic rotation is a vitally important aspect of how we are evolved to move. To be functionally fit and to move freely and without pain, we need to learn to rotate properly. Good posture is absolute vital in order to safely train thoracic rotation.

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There are obviously other important aspects to movement, but we'll leave it here for now and I will probably need a personal session with you all to explain.

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