12 Week Posture Program
Program Introduction:
I have been a trainer for 5 years now and one of the biggest goals my clients come to me with is improving their posture. This is such a prevalent issue in our society that I wanted to create a program specifically addressing the various components that make up our posture and how to go about improving them.
The first step in assessing and correcting posture is to define what proper posture actually means. Our spine has naturally occurring curves so rather than talking about a ‘flat’ spine, which is incorrect, I use the term neutral spine. A neutral spine looks different for everyone given their bone structure, but the same principles can be applied. Most of us will have natural curves inward (lordosis) at our low back and in our neck, and a naturally occurring curve outward (kyphosis) in our mid to upper back. Here’s what this looks like starting from the ground up: we stand with equal weight on each foot, our pelvis is neutral (think of it like a bowl and don’t let it tip forward or backward), our ribcage is stacked on top of our pelvis, shoulders are back and down, arms are neutral (palms facing in rather than back), our ears are over our shoulders, and our chin is gently tucked. Over time, what we find is that the natural curves in our low back, upper back, and neck become accentuated as the spine starts to collapse. So while gentle curves are good and the safest position for our spine, exaggerated curves become detrimental.
A quick way that I like to asses a person’s posture, and something I encourage you to do now before you start, is to stand with your back against a wall. The ideal posture would have your heels against the baseboards, butt and shoulder blades against the wall, arms down at your sides with the back of your hands flat against the wall, and the back of your head touching the wall with your chin tucked. Be sure to keep your ribs from flaring and your pelvis neutral. How close can you get? What parts are the toughest? Where do you feel your body stretching to get into position? We will work on all of these different components over the course of the next 12 weeks and I encourage you to re-asses yourself using this method at the end of each phase. I think you’ll be amazed at the difference!
As you’re going through this program, I want to encourage you to be patient. If you’ve spent many years or even decades of your life sitting at a desk or otherwise developing bad posture habits, we are now working to unwind and correct this pattern. This is not a quick fix and it will take time as well as a change in behavior. At the end of the 12 weeks, your posture won’t magically be perfect forever - this requires constant attention to position and relatively consistent work to stretch and strengthen the correct muscles!
This 12 week program has 3 phases. Phase 1 is Mobilization and Behavior Change, Phase 2 is Activation, and Phase 3 is Strengthen. While each phase is programmed for 1 month, there is nothing wrong with spending more time in a certain phase. For example, if you are extremely tight, you may need to spend more time in Phase 1 before moving on.
Program Introduction:
I have been a trainer for 5 years now and one of the biggest goals my clients come to me with is improving their posture. This is such a prevalent issue in our society that I wanted to create a program specifically addressing the various components that make up our posture and how to go about improving them.
The first step in assessing and correcting posture is to define what proper posture actually means. Our spine has naturally occurring curves so rather than talking about a ‘flat’ spine, which is incorrect, I use the term neutral spine. A neutral spine looks different for everyone given their bone structure, but the same principles can be applied. Most of us will have natural curves inward (lordosis) at our low back and in our neck, and a naturally occurring curve outward (kyphosis) in our mid to upper back. Here’s what this looks like starting from the ground up: we stand with equal weight on each foot, our pelvis is neutral (think of it like a bowl and don’t let it tip forward or backward), our ribcage is stacked on top of our pelvis, shoulders are back and down, arms are neutral (palms facing in rather than back), our ears are over our shoulders, and our chin is gently tucked. Over time, what we find is that the natural curves in our low back, upper back, and neck become accentuated as the spine starts to collapse. So while gentle curves are good and the safest position for our spine, exaggerated curves become detrimental.
A quick way that I like to asses a person’s posture, and something I encourage you to do now before you start, is to stand with your back against a wall. The ideal posture would have your heels against the baseboards, butt and shoulder blades against the wall, arms down at your sides with the back of your hands flat against the wall, and the back of your head touching the wall with your chin tucked. Be sure to keep your ribs from flaring and your pelvis neutral. How close can you get? What parts are the toughest? Where do you feel your body stretching to get into position? We will work on all of these different components over the course of the next 12 weeks and I encourage you to re-asses yourself using this method at the end of each phase. I think you’ll be amazed at the difference!
As you’re going through this program, I want to encourage you to be patient. If you’ve spent many years or even decades of your life sitting at a desk or otherwise developing bad posture habits, we are now working to unwind and correct this pattern. This is not a quick fix and it will take time as well as a change in behavior. At the end of the 12 weeks, your posture won’t magically be perfect forever - this requires constant attention to position and relatively consistent work to stretch and strengthen the correct muscles!
This 12 week program has 3 phases. Phase 1 is Mobilization and Behavior Change, Phase 2 is Activation, and Phase 3 is Strengthen. While each phase is programmed for 1 month, there is nothing wrong with spending more time in a certain phase. For example, if you are extremely tight, you may need to spend more time in Phase 1 before moving on.