Flat Tires and Bad Postures

So I woke up this morning to go to the gym to work out and wouldn’t you know it…I had a flat tire. So I shrugged my shoulders and got in the car and drove to the gym, the tire flopping and the car pulling left the whole way.  I felt like I was going to roll the tire right off the rim as I rounded the corners.  When I got there I decided I’d warm up by shooting some hoops, you know.  But wouldn’t you know it…the basketball was flat! As I dribbled down the court – pflump, splat, ppttthh – I found myself stooping lower and lower to reach the ball…

 

Flaccid, floppy structures demolish performance, leak energy, risk injury, and demand undesirable compensations.  On the other hand, structures with good integrity, alignment, and firmness are responsive and efficient foundations for performance.  This all begins with postural alignment and strength.

 

On a basic level, posture is pretty simple: straight lines transfer forces more effectively.  For example, you can stand on an empty aluminum soda can as long as the can is in perfect alignment – no bends or dents.  If you indent the side of the can you break the alignment, the can will crush. The key to this is keeping a tall, neutral alignment of your hips and spine.  Hip alignment should be midway between twerking and bad-dog-tail-between-your-legs.  Draw in your waistline in a slimming fashion and feel yourself stand up taller.  The best way I’ve found to set this automatically is to stand up (yes, really, get out of your chair) and reach your hands overhead as high as you can. Now drop your arms and relax your shoulders, keeping the strength in your torso intact.  Nice posture!  Now you’re ready to run, jump, or throw!

 

As we continue our exploration of strong posture lines, in sprinting the goal is to land on a nearly extended leg.  Landing in a bent position will crush you.  Especially in the hurdles.  The same is true when you setup good or bad takeoffs in the jumps.

 

The throws follow the same principles too!  You want to make sure your lines of force are being directed through – not away – from the implement to maximize your performances.

 

How do we develop enhanced postures?  Three ways come to mind: 1) Attention!  Yes, pay attention to standing, sitting, and moving maintaining long postures. 2) Train it.  Just like we can pump up a tire or ball, pumping iron can strengthen our postural muscles.  Especially exercises like squat, overhead press, step-up, and other posturally demanding exercises. 3) Get comfortable in the air.  Too often we are in a rush to get back to the ground in running, hurdling, and the lead up movements to throwing.  The air time is your opportunity to put yourself in position to receive the loads association with ground reaction forces!  In many cases this can be caused by stability issues.

 

So pump up your tires, puff out your chest, stand tall, and be amazing!

-Eric Dudley