A couple years ago I finally landed an office job instead of being on my feet all day in retail or at a restaurant. With this fantastic change, came a couple of not very fantastic changes to my body. While my feet were able to take a break, my weigh increased and the amount of sitting I was doing was destroying my back and posture.
I did a lot of research on how to improve your posture. Read articles, watched videos, and tried a bunch of different exercises and stretches. Some of them seemed to have helped, some not so much. But I think I’ve finally found what really matters and helps when looking at your posture. All you have to do is think about it.
Well obviously, just thinking about it isn’t going to make it change, but the biggest thing is you have to continue thinking about your posture all day, every day. The more you think about it and correct it, the more your body is going to get used to being in that position and naturally go there.
Here are a couple easy ways to get into the habit of thinking about it.
- Set a timer on your phone. Literally just have it go off every 5 or 10 minutes until you keep naturally thinking about your posture.
- Get in the habit of correcting yourself in between matches. After every game of League I immediately go to my posture and correct myself. Especially after a tilting loss.
- Tie your thoughts of correction to something that happens all the time. Every time you get a notification on your phone. Every time you take a drink of water. Every time a new song starts. Look at how your posture is doing.
This idea was reinforced when I watch the video by Matt Hwu at 1-HP.org. He has a couple quick tips for improving posture and then talks a little about the importance of simply remembering to fix your posture. It’s a very important piece and something I really think makes a difference in how you feel when sitting at a desk.
