Fit Tip # 1 Stand Up Straight!

The first piece of fitness wisdom I can give you will sound very familiar. Stand up straight. You've heard it before I'm sure it has annoyed you on some occasions but your mother, aunt, father, teacher and now virtual trainer was right. Stand up straight.

Now this is very simple advice, but there is a way to do this. Some of the conditions you come across below I will be going further in depth in future posting i.e. how to correct postural imbalances or at least become aware of them so you can start to change the habits that have created these muscular imbalances.

1) First lift up your rib cage, now when I say this to my clients I get a lot of raised shoulders (It's not what I'm looking for). What I want you to do is put your hand on your solar plexus and take a deep breath and lift that which is above your hand and that would be your rib cage.

2) Second I want you to draw your shoulder blades down ( also known as your scapula technically, your wings informally) this involves engaging your middle and lower trapezuis to draw you shoulders down.These are difficult muscles to have a neuromuscular connection to, but give it your best shot. As you get more in tune with your body you will start to have better connections.

3) Third relax your neck and take your shoulders out of your ears. Very often when we are trying to have "good posture" what we really get is tense and stiff. Neither of these are good nor what we're looking for. I want you to find out how comfortable it is to be in postural alignment, getting air in to your lungs, using your abs, projecting more self-confidence and all of it starts with Standing up straight!

4) Fourth draw in your abdominals. Now there is a lot of controversy and technicalities when this is said. What I want is for you to get connected with your transverse abdominus it is the inner most abdominal layer (there are four). Now there are many ways to cue a person to do this and since we all "hear" differently whatever works best for you, either drawing the navel to the spine or thinking of putting on a pair of tight jeans or what have you. The image I think works is if you have siblings you have probably been punched in the stomach. Now if you think about what your body will do if someone is about to punch you in the stomach without moving away, you will contract your abdominals. This can be done separate from breathing. So you can draw in your abdominals and still be able to breathe in and out. So put your hand on your stomach and try that.

5) Fifth make sure you are not tilting your pelvis either anteriorly or posteriorly. Your pelvis should be in a neutral position. If your back seems overly arched, this is an anterior tilt or if you are "drawing your navel to your spine" but have flattened your back, this is a posterior tilt.
So if you're anteriorly tilting you need to contract your abdominals and pull your pelvis up. Do this using your abdominals to do so, you will particularly be using your rectus abdominus the topmost abdominal layer and what I affectionately call the glory muscle (the 6 pack). If you have a flattened lower back, i.e. posterior pelvic tilt. You could possibly be dealing with tight hamstrings and/or tight rectus abdominus which will take stretching, working the opposing muscle group etc. Right now what I want you to do is point your pelvis toward the ground and allow for the natural lordotic curve of your lower back, the lumbar region.

6) Sixth check your body for unnatural tightness i.e. are you knees locked? If so this can easily put you in the position of an anterior pelvic tilt, overstretched abdominals etc etc.

One of the things that is so great about simply standing up straight in addition to getting air into your lungs and projecting better self confidence, you burn calories. you burn more calories standing up straight than slumping simply because more muscle groups are engaged. Now that should make you want to do it! Something like slumping that you do out of habit can put your body into an imbalance. So start paying attention to your body. Stand up Straight and breathe deeply, relax your body and unlock your joints! Stay tuned for the next Fit tip! Until then...Stand Up Straight!