mattbell: (Default)
(Background post -- I've tried lots of things to improve my posture but none of them have worked because as soon as I stop paying conscious attention to my posture, I slouch.  However, I recently worked my tailbone area to the point of soreness, and instantly had really good posture for the next day.)

I haven't been able to precisely pinpoint the exercise that made the muscles around my tailbone sore in such a way that my posture instantly improved, but I did find other muscles that do the same trick.  I've tried this a couple of times, and it works. 

Here's the exercise

Basically, it's an extension of the erector spinae muscles in the lower back.



To help push the muscle harder, I'm holding a 10lb medicine ball behind my head while I do it.  (My rock climbing gym has a small, err, regular boring gym inside it). 

This is awesome.  I've been annoyed by having poor posture my whole life, and the answer might be as simple as an exercise that takes a couple of minutes three times a week.  Before you run off to do this, note that numerous websites warn against letting your lower back curve during this exercise, hyperextending your back, or pushing too hard too soon.

If you don't have a gym membership, here's something you can do at home that works the same muscles.  I can't speak to whether this improves posture as well, but it feels similar. 
mattbell: (Default)
A while back I wrote about how neural rerouting around injuries is fast -- your body, normally slow to change habits, changes them very quickly when the avoidance of pain is involved.  I hypothesized that this phenomenon could be used to change other habits, such as posture.

Sometime in the last couple of days I worked out the muscles in my lower back, specifically the area around my tailbone, to the point of soreness.  I've noticed that this has made me pay attention to the muscles there and consequently stand up straighter.  This is most excellent, as posture has seemed to be almost impossible to change with conscious effort. 

Now I just have to figure out how to make this repeatable -- I want to periodically work this muscle to the point of soreness so that I learn to stand up straight all the time.  It's time to experiment at the gym.  Failing that, maybe I should just invent something mildly uncomfortable that I can stick on the skin over my tailbone. 

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mattbell

February 2011

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