have better posture

I had an ergonomic assesment at work. The guy adjusted my chair so that the seat pan is tilted forward. I did’t like it at first, and felt like I was falling out of my chair. But I agreed to keep in for a while. Its working great. It is impossible to slump forward with the seat tilted forward. This is exactly the oposite of what I had been doing – tilting the seat back to encourage myself to recline was resulting in my leaning forward to get near enough to the monitor. This website shows examples.

I’m going to adjust my chair at home to this arrangement too.

I am still crossing my legs too much.

I finally talked to my boss about getting my desk lowered. Hopefully this will help.

This is from The Natural Year by Jane Alexander.

“Ted sent me out into the street to walk around with my shoulders back and my whole chest area open. It was one of the scariest things I have ever done-I felt so unprotected… It can be very scary when your posture changes because immediately you are interacting differently with the world. You are giving out different messages, and so people treat you differently.”

Since starting my posture focused weight training program I have seen real results in my standing and walking posture. This is especially true in my sholders. I used to think that shoulders pushed back was correct, now I realize its more about rotation.

I still hunch when I’m sitting at my desk. I took and online ergonomic assesment and it proved that my desk isn’t setup correctly for me. But I don’t understand really how to fix it. I”m supposed to have my armrests even with my elbows. And my keyboard at a hight such that my forarms are parallel to the floor… Sounds great. But if thats the case, then the armrests hit the desk and keep the chair pushed way out so I can’t reach the keyboard wihtout leaning forward. I’m so confused.

My boy showed me a section in one of his weight training books about posture. (I must be pretty bad because he just offered it up out of the blue, said he read it and it reminded him of me!) The basic summary is that poor posture causes/is caused by muscle imbalances and that simply trying to stand up strait isn’t going to fix that, but weight training and stretching can. Treat the cause, not the symptom.

The book broke posture into three body areas (shoulders, pelvis, hips) and had assesments for each. I learned that my slumped shoulders are a symptom of my chest muscles being tight and stronger than my back muscles. I need to put extra time and effort into stretching my chest muscles and put much more time into training the back muscles and less time training chest muscles and that I also need to strengthen the muscles that provide exterior rotation of the arms. So, fewer pushups and more rows…

Similarly, the way I hold my pelvis is caused by my abs being stronger than my low back and an imbalance between my hamstrings and quads- although I can’t remember now which I’m supposed to focus on! I get to take a break from crunches and do something for the low back instead.

I didn’t have enough time with the book to design my whole training and stretching routine. Will do that this weekend. I’m already excited about having this knew goal in the gym. Rather than trying work every muscle group, I’ll now have a customised plan.

I suppose all this is very similar to the ways in which yoga would help with posture. Stretching and strengthening and balancing.

Today I’m wearing shoes with a slight heel and I’m finding that they make me more aware of how I’m walking.

The scene is a women’s restroom.

Two women are standing at the sinks, looking in the mirror. Both are rather plain in appearance, neither particularly attractive or un-attractive.

Suddenly, the woman on the right assumes perfect posture. She throws her sholders back and at the same time, flips her hair out of her face. She flashes a winning smile to herself.

The still-slouching hand-washing companion is shocked by the transformation before her eyes. Her friend just turned from Plain Jane to Superstar in a matter of seconds!

“How did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“How did you make yourself that much prettier all of a sudden?”
“I just stood up strait.”
“You mean to tell me that you could look like that any time you wanted! You’re the prettiest woman in the building and you don’t show it simply because you’re too lazy to stand up strait!”
“When you put it that way… Why don’t you try it? You’re slouching too.”

The two women leave the restroom together, modeling thier posture as they walk. A third woman approaches.

“Did you girls go get makovers at lunch and not invite me?” she asks, a little hurt.

A secret smile is exchanged.

It is so hard for me to remember to sit without my legs crossed. Half the time they’re not just crossed at the knee, I’m actually sitting on my foot in my desk chair. Other than that, I actually think I’m doing a bit better.

I adjusted my desk chair at work, and my seated posture has improved. I’m less tempted to sit cross-legged now that my chair isn’t pushing me forward.

Next I need to get a real desk chair at home. It will be months before I can afford that!