Perfect posture is essential. It affects the way others perceive you and can boost how confident you feel. It doesn’t matter if you are wearing a killer suit… poor posture will make you come off as insecure. Boost your confidence by standing taller.
Before talking about the tips and tricks, you can use to improve your posture. First, we’re gonna need to know:
WHY we have bad posture?
Two main reasons why our posture is getting worse:
We are out of shape
Lack of exercise and physical activity can leave our body weak. Combine that with carrying around extra weight, and your posture is doomed.
Technology
Which brings us to another good-to-know tip about what to avoid, if you want to correct your poor posture:
Cell phones and computer
Trouble! Hunching over the cell phone is terrible for your posture. BUT you can fix this problem by bringing your phone up to eye level.
The same goes for spending hours on your computer. That makes it easy to slip into bad posture. Unfortunately, many people’s jobs require spending most of the time in an office, working on computers. BUT you can fix or at least prevent that by taking frequent breaks. Taking a walk is an easy way to work out any muscle tension.
So a lack of exercise and the amount of time you spend sitting on your…ass, looking at your phone and your computer is going to be the reason of your bad, hunchbacked posture.
Do I have a bad posture?
The second thing you need to know before diving deeper into proper posture protocol is… take a look in the mirror. Here are the signs you don’t wanna see:
- You have a forward head position
- You have rounded shoulders
- You have an anterior pelvic tilt
Ok, if you have checked all of the above, I’m sorry my friend, but you have a bad posture. No worries, there are ways to fix it!
First, you need to stop with the bad posture. Breaking bad posture habits require practice. Let’s cover ways to improve posture and issues to avoid.
By modifying some simple behaviors, this alone can put you on a path for perfect posture.
How to have a good posture?
There are 3 daily activities that can help you improve your posture:
- Sleeping on a firm mattress is keeping your hips and shoulders in proper alignment. You might wanna sleep on a side or on your back. You spend 8 hours a day laying in bed, so you might as well have perfect posture when you do that!
Keep that spine in alignment, with sleeping as well as standing.
- Sitting – we sit a lot. At school, at work. And if you’re sitting all the time (especially if your job requires it), you wanna make sure that your lower back is in contact and supported by that chair.
Important tip: Get a special chair with enough lombar support. Or get a lombar pillow. Google it to see how it looks like. This is actually a very good idea because you can use that pillow even in your car.
- Walking is the most important part of all three daily activities that can improve your posture. It can feel a little funny at first, but over time you won’t even notice the changes you are now making and will already walk with perfect posture.
Rules for walking: – Stomach in, nice and tight
- Deep breath, chest up
- Shoulders back, head straight, look straight ahead
You know what’s gonna happen? You’re gonna walk tall, you’re gonna walk with confidence!
Tricks on breaking bad posture habits:
One key element of maintaining a proper posture is having a strong core. If you strengthen the core with the proper exercises, the back and everything else falls in line.
Funny tip: wear the clothes you like best. For example, nothing makes a person stand up straighter than when they’re wearing clothes that fit them like a glove 😉 A great tailored suit, a great tailored shirt, whatever does it for you. When you put that on and feel great in it, it makes you automatically stand up taller.
And to get down to business here’s some practical tips and tricks on how to improve your posture:
Get active
In the gym or at home, wherever you want, just start moving. Strengthen your core with simple exercises at first that will help you raise your chest, shoulders back, and that straight line we were talking about.
Stop slouching
Stand up straight, shoulders back.
That means bringing your head back and tucking your chin slightly. Then, bring your shoulders down and back.
Pelvis straight
Activate your glutes to bring your pelvis into proper position. Standing up straight can add 2 inches to the person that stands there and slouches, no matter the height. 2 inches!
Straight line
The best way to know that your posture has improved is to feel it. There should be a straight line from your ears to your hips. Ears, shoulder, hips, knees, and ankles should all be aligned when standing. Maybe take a look in the mirror to see how it should look like and then feel it.
Use a wall
Stand against a wall to get a feel for good posture. Place your heels, buttocks, shoulder blades, and head against the wall to create proper alignment. Hold it for 30 seconds, and you will notice an instant improvement.
Stretch and strenghten
A common cause of poor posture is certain muscle groups being too tight and others being too weak. The areas that usually need stretching are your chest, the lats, and hip flexors. People and mostly men often focus too much on chest exercises, letting the back muscles get weak and killing their posture.
Exercise idea: You can correct that with exercises like rows, band stretches, and deadlifts.
So there you have it. Don’t forget that proper posture is essential! It makes you look taller. It makes you look thinner, and most importantly – it makes you look more confident. And a confident man is a successful man, both socially and personally.
So stand tall, gentlemen!
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