Posture.

Post Reply New Topic

I slouch a bit.

Want to improve my posture. Anyone got any good advice?

don't slouch

Some people on the spectrum have low muscle tone, which might be part of the reason for your bad posture. Exercise will improve your posture and muscle tone, especially ones like yoga and dance which emphasize proper alignment and balance. Exercise in front of a mirror to get feedback about your body's position--as a lot of Aspies know, they way your body feels is not always the way it looks from the outside.

Make yourself aware of your posture and correct it often during the day, by putting your head up and your shoulders back and down away from your ears. Imagine there is a string running the length of your spine and out the top of your head, and that something is pulling the string up--all of your vetebrae will stack and balance on top of each other and an upright position will be easier to obtain.

I used to have very bad posture.

One way I corrected it was figure skating. Figure skating requires your back to be straight, for more power, as alot of your power actually comes from your back muscles. You can do it with any skating, but figure skates are the only skates that require it. Hockey skates encourage a forward stance too much, for stickhandling and shooting, whereas figure skates force you to put your weight back due to the toepicks in front, if you rock forward accidentally too much, you'll just go flying forward and fall. Inline skating accomplishes the same exercise, too, just you'd probably want either a flat or rockered setup, and not a hi-lo (at least I think not a hi-lo.)

For a sorta primitive way to get better posture, squats. Do squats, don't go crazy, only do what you can do 10 reps in a row of sorta comfortably, and do a few sets a day. That helps my skating power and my posture. Squats also help flexibility in general. Try to go for a 90 degree knee bend when you do it with your legs spread out. Squats actually alot is from the back muscles, doing good squats, as your back supports the bar obviously.

Pullups can help if you can do them or attempt to do them, pullups a lot of it comes from the back muscles, but it's more the upper back muscles, and not lower back like squats.

Yoga, Tai Chi, etc, are also very good, too, just I have no real experience in that realm. Oddly Tai Chi and skating actually have a lot in common as far as form goes.

One random thing that helped, crazy man Alex Chiu's immortality rings actually corrected my posture somewhat, but not as dramatic as exercise. I've had mine for years, and still wear them. I mean, they're not as good as Alex claims, he claims that his stuff will make you immortal, but, they're helpful, imo. I can understand people's aversion to them, though, as the man is insane.

Other than that, just try being mindful of your posture. I ended up correcting my off ice posture to help my on ice posture, so just be mindful of how your posture is and correct it.

I believe your intention is the best place to start. I had that intention about ten years ago and then mostly forgot about it. Years later it occured to me my posture was great and people were always commenting on it. In that time I was doing yoga mostly. My self esteem was improving so I felt worthy of being visible and healthy. Good posture is sooo good for so many things, like deeper breathing, dispelling fear, improving digestion. The list goes on and on.

I also felt stronger doing a little inline skating. Most sports and physical pursuits will improve posture, muscle tone etc. Focussing on your posture, you will notice many unexpected benefits. It is also true that even if you were not to focus on posture specifically but simply being healthy, happy and fit that your posture might improve without even trying.

I've always had bad posture. One of my first memories of an adult lying to me is the doctor telling me I couldn't move up to 4th grade if I didn't start sitting up straight. I try to have better posture when I think about it, but I always end up slouching again. It's just not as comfortable.

Ninja edit: multiple grammar and spelling errors. I need sleep.

Okay so I'm not going to start figure skating... Yoga sounds more like what I'm after. Just something I can practice at home every once in a while and see if that helps.

I will try to keep an eye on it in general. Problem is I'm not entirely sure what good posture is. I don't want to 'force' something that looks a bit better but is still bad... if that makes sense.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

IMHO if yoga is your pursuit of choice, it will happen naturally. From what I remember a straight spine is one of the "core" tenets of yoga. It allows for the best flow of energy through the body. I believe Pilates is also very much about this.

Yoga is beautiful and can heal in so many ways. I wish you all the best with it.

Yeah I'll give it a go. Hopefully I can find a good guide to it online or something so I can do it myself at home.

Jog and concentrate on keeping your back and neck going straight into the sky

There are plenty of yoga sites online, but it is hard to really understand from words and pictures. You could try a yoga video (there are a few streaming on Netflix, or you might check your local library.) Unfortunately, yoga only provides strength if you do it consistently. If you only do it occasionally, you might feel more relaxed after that occasion, but it won't develop the core muscles that hold you upright.

Yoga is a great way to increase spinal and core flexibility, I do yoga 3-4 times a week and it has many physical and mental benefits. If you're not keen on spending several hours a week stretching, you could briefly spend 10 minutes a day doing dynamic stretches and 10 minutes a day doing isometric stretches to increase posture.

Here's a good guide to stretching.
http://www.trickstutorials.com/content/flx3

Thanks Wolfheart.

To be honest I haven't started yet but I'm glad I've something to go on when I do get around to it.

I don't exactly have outstanding organisational skills. Takes a while to get myself going

No problem, I used to have a trouble with organizational skills, the way I fixed it is to keep a small spiral notebook and write three things I'd like to do that day, for instance, upper body workout, stretching and I'd tick it off on completion.

Here's another helpful video specifically targeting posture.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at4Af5vHB30&feature=related[/youtube]

I read this in one of Leil Lownde's books: When you walk towards a doorway, pretend there's a horse bit hanging an inch or two above where your mouth is, and raise your head up that much as you're walking towards it as if you're about to bite it. It pulls you up. It's odd advice, but it works.

I would build the trapezius muscle in your upper back. Google image search it. That's the one that makes you "not slouch."

Pullups are best, and are quite focused on that particular muscle. Logically, it makes sense to me.

[quote=smudge]I read this in one of Leil Lownde's books: When you walk towards a doorway, pretend there's a horse bit hanging an inch or two above where your mouth is, and raise your head up that much as you're walking towards it as if you're about to bite it. It pulls you up. It's odd advice, but it works.[/quote]

This makes sense to me as well. Make the muscle strong, and remember to put it in the right place.