How To Correct Posture

In this video, special guest Donna Namdaran Reynolds, resident physiotherapist at http://healthyfitnessfriday.com/ teaches Donna how to correct posture to stay flexible and mobile to reach your weight control goals. You all know that when you injure or hurt yourself physically, it takes a lot of motivation and focus to get yourself back to a place where you can move with ease and also exercise. When you’re not fully mobile, it also impacts your mindset and motivation.

Watch the video and listen out for the 3 Crucial Corrections you need to make to your posture:

1. Your knees – many people lock out their knees when they stand. This is one thing to avoid when trying to correct posture

2. Your hips – try the little exercise Donna teaches in the video to increase mobility in your lower back, and then find a place half way in between for best posture

3. Your neck – did you know that shorter people tend to lift their chin up too much, to make them look taller? And that taller people tend to stick their chin out and down, to make them look shorter? Whenever your chin is sticking up and out, you’re going to be crunching the back of your neck, which is the last thing you want to be doing for your posture and neck health. Watch Donna take you through exactly how to align your neck. Once your neck is in the right alignment, your shoulders will automatically be in the right position too.

How to Correct Posture: Why is it important for weight control?

Here are our top 5 reasons that you should correct your posture for weight control:

1. Reduces Your Fatigue

Posture is the basis of everything – from sitting to standing to walking, to doing complex Zumba moves and lifting weights at the gym. Having a good posture means you get less fatigued when going about your daily activities, ensuring your body is working for you, not against you

2. Improves Your General Mobility

Good posture improves your general mobility. You’ve probably had a sore shoulder or wrist from too much computer work, strained your back from lifting the shopping in the wrong way or had sore knees and hips from general activity. Improving your posture can go a long way to keeping you mobile which, in turn, ensures you can keep going with your exercise routine rather than have to take time out on the sidelines

3. Protects Against Injury

As well as improving your general mobility, good posture also helps protect against injury. If you saw our video from last week on core strength, you’ll know that having a strong core plays an integral part in your overall posture. Many injuries can be prevented simply by practising good form in your physical movements

4. Makes You Look Slimmer

You can take pounds/kilos off instantly, simply by standing up straight, pulling your tummy in, your shoulders back and following the other three tips in the video above. This is one of the sneaky tricks they use in many ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos – simply go from bad posture to good posture and you look and feel like you’ve lost weight!

5. Makes You Look & Feel More Confident

This is our favourite reason to have a good posture. When you have a good posture, you cannot help but feel more confident. You’ll be almost certain to turn more heads when you stand confidently in your own skin, and to do that requires a good posture. Next time you’re at a party, watch as people come into the room and see what an impact people have when they do and don’t have good posture. Sometimes, simply focusing on your posture on a bad day can instantly make you feel better about yourself. Try it…

We hope you really take on board the importance of posture for weight control, and follow these tips from our guest physiotherapist on how to correct posture.

Now it’s your turn! Let us know how you go with your posture. Any questions for our resident physio, comment in the box below!