Improving your posture and economy of movement

When we have a better economy of movement, the things we have to do in daily living become easier. And when we can balance our weight properly, it can make our weight, or whatever additional weight we are carrying, lighter, and it will not be as fatiguing throughout our day, helping keep our bodies from aging as rapidly. This applies to using proper technique in exercises as well.

In close proximity to our center of gravity, our strength and support increase, but the farther we get from it with whatever we’re lifting or carrying, the weaker our support system becomes.

For example, if you hold a gallon jug of water close to your body, it feels light, but if you hold it out at arm’s length, it feels very heavy, and you will tire rapidly holding it. This would get especially tiring if you had to walk a distance holding this gallon jug in this extended position. If you held it against your body, the load would seem much lighter.

Next, try extending your arm out in front of you and walking a distance. Eventually, your arms would feel like they’re supporting a load of bricks compared to when they hang along your sides and near your center of gravity. I’m simply using the above example to show how fatiguing it can be when our body parts are not positioned to make the most of our center of gravity, instead positioning them away from it, putting pressure on the back and causing unnecessary compression. Over time, this will cause wear and tear much like carrying a load of bricks on one side of a pickup bed; eventually, it could cause a degenerative condition on that side, or at least a herniated tire.

Exercise can help strengthen our posture, but we also need to address another aspect we don’t hear much about: muscular balance. This is fairly easy to keep in balance by ensuring an even distribution of exercise between pulling and pushing. We often see this imbalance in someone who puts primary focus on the chest and abs, which will eventually pull the shoulders forward due to the amount of muscle on the front vs. the back. A good way to check for an imbalance in strength is to see if you can pull the same weight you can push.

We can keep ourselves aligned with our center of gravity and improve our posture by keeping our head level with our ear lobes lined up with our shoulders and our shoulders lined up with our hips. This will help with standing or sitting posture and will position us much stronger against whatever weight we carry, whether our own bodyweight or additional weight. When we keep a bad posture, we can expect it to eventually accumulate into degenerative disks, knee and hip problems, and, at the least, miserable bone, joint, and spinal conditions!

If we can lighten the load we carry by 30% (by keeping good posture), would it not be worth it if we were 30% less tired at the end of the day and had 30% less wear and tear on our skeletal structure? This can help us have much better power and economy of movement in our youth and a better quality of life in our golden years as well!