The Power of Posture
BY Stephen Fraser
To unlock the best in fitness, your career and general day to day living, you need to find the right keys to use. Awareness of posture is one of those keys.
As a model, posture should be an integral part of your make up. It allows you to look your best in photos, for clothes to fit correctly and also the ability to catwalk with confidence.
Bad posture occurs when there is a muscular imbalance between certain (normally opposing) areas of your body. The severity of these imbalances vary from person to person but as a rule of thumb, keeping healthy shoulder and hip joints - yoga is a great component for this - whilst following a well rounded strength programme can have a great impact on your postural balance.
Due to the nature of society and today’s technology, you might find yourself falling into bad postural habits. Do any of these scenarios sound like you?
You’re walking down the street or on the tube engrossed in your phone. In the middle of catching up with social media and chatting with pals you find the back of your neck starts to hurt.
You’ve found yourself 6 episodes deep into a new Netflix obsession and instead of sitting up tall with your shoulders back, you’ve been slumped on the sofa for half the day and your shoulders, hips and back are getting stiff.
You’ve been walking between castings all day and half way through the day, your lower back starts to get really stiff and sore.
These are all examples of when bad posture starts to make life hard on your body.
Another common scenario for models is also self-consciousness of being taller. Unknowingly, you might be walking with slightly hunched and arched shoulders to not draw attention to your height.
When you find yourself falling into one or all of these scenarios, take a mental note and use this checklist to reposition your body;
1) Are your shoulders falling forward, creating a hunched appearance?
You may need to stand tall, rolling your shoulders up, back, and down.
2) Is the back of your neck getting sore?
Make sure your chin is tucked and is parallel to the floor
3) Is your lower back getting sore?
You may need to brace your abdominal muscles and work on keeping a posterior pelvis.
Keeping active is the foundation to managing your posture but if you’re not checking in with yourself the other hours of the day, you’ll only get so far. These pointers are just the tip of the iceberg so if your issues prolong, please get advice from a professional.
Now go forth, walk tall with confident and your head held high. You’ll attract attention but for all the right reasons.