A pretty incredible dude, and yes an extreme example of what can be done with “bad” posture… but it does make me wonder why I have conversations every week with people who’ve been diagnosed with mild scoliosis, thoracic outlet syndrome, kyphosis or forward head posture, etc. and told they must stop whatever physical activity/training they love and “be careful” ?!
It’s nonsense and very frustrating.
One of the more disgusting rules of marketing is: make people “problem aware”. If you give someone a problem that they weren’t aware they had, they’re going to be more inclined to spend more money to be “fixed”.
Everyone stands, sits, walks, lies down, runs & lifts slightly differently and it doesn’t matter. Height, limb length, your job, the way you train or the sport you do will change how your resting posture is.
But that doesn’t mean one posture is any better than another, you get moulded into whatever posture matches your most frequent activities.
Don’t Worry About Your Posture
An MMA fighter will generally have more forward, rounded shoulders, maybe the forward head posture to follow BECAUSE they spend a huge amount of time in their fighting posture to protect their face, the body adapts to support what they frequently do - and that’s OK.
An Olympic weightlifter will generally appear to have an Anterior Pelvic Tilt, due to the HUGE amount of time they spend squatting with their torso as upright as possible. But APT helps them hit good positions in the clean and snatch, allowing them to load their hips and shoulders in a better way - much better than them leaning forward on their squats or having to round their back to get deeper.
Your posture isn’t the problem, you not doing enough of the “boring” accessory work what’s holding back!
…I’m sorry, it took me a while to come to terms with it too, don’t worry.
What DO you need to care about?
If we take our amazing Jenni as an example, even though we spend most of our time helping people to move better, she spends a lot of time at her laptop running the business! (Including 1000’s of hours correcting my awful grammar and making this blog make any sense… sorry Jenni!! 😁) (It’s ok Tom…)
So, we have a classic desk worker with all the forward head, rounded shoulder, tight pec & hip flexor fun that many other people face. Does it matter? Is Jenni doomed to a life of neck and shoulder pain and is going to look like a whooping crane in 10 years time??
There’s no such thing as a perfect posture, or a perfect way to stand, or sit, or lie down. Often the people with the worst aches and pains are the ones who that believe they must carry themselves a certain way all day. It’s exhausting, and because they try so hard not to relax, they cause so much tension everywhere!!
One of my favourite phrases is: you’re probably fine, but there’s definitely stuff you need to work on.
And 9 times out of 10 that’s your overall joint movement.
The Big Three
Usually, most people just need to focus on the Big 3 areas: Shoulders, Spine & Hips. Get regular full range of movement in here and you can relax any way you like!
Do you regularly do these movements? While checking if there’s any big noticeable differences side to side? It may sound like a lot, but you can actually hit all of those directions in a 5 minute wiggle at the beginning of your day!
If you’re currently getting niggles aches & pains, I bet there’s at least one or two directions you’re not doing enough (or at all). If you’re standing around blaming some kind of postural deviation for all of your problems, you should instead be more focused on improving those natural functions of how your body is supposed to work.
Don’t Neglect Your Car… I mean Your Body!
If you don’t get your car regularly serviced and address the things that break down over the years, it’s going to start making weird noises when you’re driving, start becoming unreliable and start making you nervous! Similarly, if you very rarely rotate your hips, bend your spine, or fully flex your shoulders you’re going to start making weird noises and probably not have a lot of confidence in your body anymore.
This might seem like a lot of effort, or you might even think it seems “too simple” to tackle big scary diagnosis like Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, but a little bit of attention to mobility work goes a long way.
Pretty much every day someone says to me “I wish I had started all this 20 years ago”
And guess what, it’s 20 years ago for you right this second!
Stop worrying about how you look when you’re standing and start caring about how you can move overall. Then you can chill out and rest in whatever way you find comfortable. Stop trying to be perfect, have a little wiggle, and let the spring back in your step!
