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ForEliteAtheletes toFunRunners
16
HEALTH : POSTURE
have you looked in the mirror?
Good form should
be the norm
Something I learnt when I went to my very first gym
session in the Better Body Group local to me was that
I’d been doing it all wrong pretty much my entire life.
Well, I say entire life, I can probably narrow that
down to when I had children as I’m pretty sure this
was when it all went downhill. I’m not saying I’d
swap it back for the body I had before, all I’m saying
is that it was at this point I became a stay at home
mum. Always fairly active but just bumbling my way
through the years with no real structure other than
being Mummy.
My eldest is now 17 so basically for 17 years
I’ve been off centre when my pelvis became
twisted through pregnancy and childbirth.
I’ve never really been the same since (might
explain a thing or two!) And you know how you
girls stand when you hold the baby on your hip,
you take the weight with one leg and jut your hip
out to perch the baby on, well that, I’ve done that
for pretty much 12 years, it’s no wonder my body
no longer knew what straight and upright was.
My first session at BBG and I wasn’t allowed on
the gym floor until I sorted (JC wagged a pointed
finger at me, looked me up and down) THAT
out.
Wow, I had no idea I wasn’t even standing
correctly.
I felt like I’d just been told off for being naughty.
“Could you stand against the wall?” JC asked.
Easy right? Ha, how wrong was I? Just bum and
shoulders touched and the rest was all over the
show. I could see JC thinking he had his work
cut out with me and that was just the beginning.
Poor man!
My first lessons thereby were to correct my
posture. JW was my assigned trainer and he set to
work with me. I had a good few correctional sessions
plus homework 3 times a day, just me, a wall, a
kettlebell and the broomstick to use as a guide for a
hip hinge. I was basically teaching my body how to
stand and how to walk again.
After each session, despite not doing an actual
“workout” I felt exhausted and it dawned on me how
hard I was having to work to correct the bad posture
I’d carried around for years.
Ever since then it has been high on my priorities to
keep form absolutely tip top.
I figured, anything that is worth doing is worth doing
properly and any exercise done incorrectly is of no
benefit at all. It’s far better to do a move correctly
and just a few of them than lots of incorrect ones.
Sometimes that means biting the bullet and going
back to basics where you then retrain your body
to do things differently. This is really hard if it is
something you’ve been doing wrong for a long time
but it’s definitely worth it in the long run. It means
far less injuries and a really good base to then
build strength.
Whether your training area is
a gym, your front room, your
garden, or even the local
park, good form extends
way beyond that zone. In
fact, it should kick in from
the very minute you get up
in the morning, shuffling
your feet down the stairs to
put the kettle on, fumbling for
a coffee cup whilst still wiping
the sleep from your eyes, or in my
case, fighting off the over excited 4
legged furry friend who is behaving
like she’s not seen me for a week.
I’ll tell you my
story first, then
give you some
tips so you
don’t make the
same mistakes.
incorrect
posture
