Quick and Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better: Installment 41 (Posture Edition) | Eric Cr...

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INSTALLMENT 41 (POSTURE EDITION)

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Quick and Easy Ways to Feel and Move Better:

Installment 41 (Posture Edition)
Written on April 30, 2013 at 8:48 am, by Eric Cressey

Thanks to Greg Robins, here are five tips for the week, with a focus on postural awareness.

1. Monitor head positioning during supine bridge and hip thrust variations.

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2. Consider this routine to taking your breath before lifts.

Breathing is a big part of postural awareness. Check out this video for ensuring that youre locking
things in correctly before big lifts:

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3-5. Avoid parafunctional habits.

The following three points will be based on a common theme: Parafunctional Habits.

A parafunctional habit is a habitual movement, or positioning that differs from the most common, or
ideal movement and / or positioning of the body. It can also be a habitual positioning or movement of
the body thats continuous exposure (repetitive practice of) leads to certain asymmetries or
dysfunctions.

When I think about how to attack posture changes both with my clients and myself, I look for the most
efficient ways to change daily habits. In other words, I look at how we can disrupt parafunctional
habits.

Posture is a composite of the positions of the positions of all the joints of the body at any given
moment. If a position is habitual, there will be a correlation between alignment and muscle test
findings. Florence Kendall (Adapted from PRIs Postural Respiration)

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Many of us tend to default to the same habitual movements and positions. Here are three examples,
and three quick fixes. Making a point to apply these corrections will have a tremendously positive
outcome in helping you feel and move better.

3. Dont stand on the same leg all the time.

For a variety of reasons, many of us will tend to shift onto one leg when standing in place for a period
of time. Our body is always looking for the most efficient way to survive. Shifting onto one leg is any
easy way to gain passive stability, via our positioning.

Many of us will tend to shift onto the right leg. Why? In short, its easier for us to pull air into our left
side, in light of the normal structural asymmetries you see with human anatomy. Breathing is kind of
important. Its also not fun to rob ourselves of air. Enter the right stance, an aberrant posture youll
see all too often.

Start paying attention to how you stand at rest. Additionally, look around and notice how others stand
at rest. I bet it looks a lot like the picture above. This is something we see on extreme levels in some
of our right-handed throwing athletes; theyre right handed people, in a unilateral sport, in a right-
handed world!

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Now, lets make a change. For now on, use the picture below as a guide for how to stand when you
shift onto one leg. Place the right leg in front of the left, and shift your weight into the left hip. If you
are doing it correctly, your left hip will sit just below the right. Give it a try!

4. Cross your right leg over the left, and cross your right arm over your left.

In a similar fashion to your default standing position, those who tend to cross their legs will generally
go left over right. Why? Same reason: its easier to sit into the right hip, and breathe into the left side.
Instead, start doing the opposite. From now on cross the right over the left, and feel the left hip dig
into your seat.

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Do the same with your arms. Instead of crossing left over right, cross right over left. Close down the
left side, and open up the right.

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5. Change the way you sit while driving.

Driving is a GREAT place to work on positioning. Notice that your default is to slump over to the right
side, opening the left leg and possibly resting it against the door. Instead, try this:

As you sit reading this, pretend like youre in your car. First, even up your thighs and feet. Keep a
space about the size of your fist between your two knees. At this point, your knees and feet should be
even, or you might find the right slightly behind the left. Move the right foot into a position as if it was
working the gas and brake pedal. You should look like this:

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Now, pull your left hip back and push your right hip forward. This will leave the left knee behind the
right.

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You will notice the upper, inner thigh of your left leg turning on. Reach for the steering wheel with
both hands. Consider this your new driving position. If you tend to drive with one arm, start making it
your right arm. Leave the left arm hanging down to the side, causing a slight side bend to the left.

All of these positions will seem uncomfortable at first. Thats okay! Use them as much as possible, but
allow yourself to just chill sometimes. Making these small changes is a fantastic way to better your
posture and change your habits. Working on them will pay off in the long run, and you may even find
your nagging aches and pains disappearing.

For more information on these postural approaches, check out www.PosturalRestoration.com.

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24 Comments

Category Baseball Content | Tags: bad posture, correcting bad posture, Deadlift, deadlift technique,
Deadlifts, Greg Robins, Hip Thrust, How to Deadlift, poor posture, Postural Restoration Institute,
Supine Bridge

24 Comments Eric Cressey

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Chezhiyan 2 years ago

I'm assuming step 5 works the same way for Right hand drive's if I switched left's to
right's and vice-versa. I'm going to give that a shot. This is something I've been
playing around with, just the idea ie. I'll try this out and let you know how it goes.
Thanks a bunch for all the great info.
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Mark 3 years ago

The postural driving tips - does pulling the left h behind the right hip not put you in a

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