“Stand up straight!” Have you figured out how to do that with big boobs yet? I’m still trying, as evidenced by this photo that I took with Tina and our friend Melissa in the TJMaxx dressing room two Sundays ago.
As soon as I saw the above picture on my digital camera screen, I wanted to see how Tina approaches posture.
These pictures remind me of an experience that SweetNothingsNYC relayed recently:
“I remember being a teenager and having [a relative] tell me not to slouch and stick my belly out, and then if she caught me with my back straight she’d tell me not to stick my boobs out. WELL, YOU GOTTA PICK ONE, FRIEND, otherwise what . . . am I supposed to do?”
Given a choice between slouching or sticking my boobs out, I’m gonna go with sticking my boobs out. After all, they’re not going anywhere, and slouching makes me look apologetic for being alive. However, this gets me into the same trouble with my oldest sister that it did with Sweet Nothings and her relative. In sixth grade, my sister saw me riding a horse and announced, “You look just like Lady Godiva!” My posture was never the same after I looked “Lady Godiva” up in our encyclopaedia. (Hint for all aunts, mothers and big sisters: never tell a self-conscious sixth grader wearing her first bra that she looks like a naked woman on a horse.) I finally recovered from the mortification all those years ago, but now when I pose for photos, my sister says, “Stop sticking your boobs out!”
As far as I can tell, I’m NOT “sticking my boobs out”. I’m simply rolling my shoulders back like I’ve read that you’re supposed to do for good posture. It turns out that rolling our shoulders back can lead to unintended consequences. Instead, it may be better to imagine that we’re riding a horse instead.
Getting ready for today’s post, Tina emailed me what she learned from her riding instructor. Her teacher explained that a straight spine and an arched back are not the same. An arched back is what happens when you pull your shoulders back. When she relaxed her shoulders, “It felt more natural and made riding easier, and even though I felt like I was slouching, I had to admit it did not look like that on the video she recorded of me riding with the straight posture she taught me.”
I’ll be experimenting with this as I take future photos for this blog, and if I weren’t so busy learning how to knit, I’d be tempted to take up riding as well.
What about you? What tricks do you use to stand up straight, and what posture stories do you have buried in your past?
Modern posture leans toward a forward tilted pelvis which causes something like a less dramatic version of the S-curve of the swan-bill corset. If you train your hips to sit in a better position, your posture tends to improve- also helps with back pain.
I think those who work more over fences (hunters, eventers, medal riders, etc) tend to do the “Shoulders Back” thing more than most other disciplines because it forces your balance back and you are less likely to get ahead of the horse (and buy land in a spectacular fashion as my parents have plenty of videos to prove). I’m finding in Dressage (and it may just be my trainer) it’s less “Shoulders back, Chest out” and more “Hips back, Torso Back”, which certainly helps to scoop my hips under and stick with huge gaits.
Maybe a better way would be to think chest UP not OUT since it lifts and opens the ribcage and lengthens the torso without creating an arch?
the posture instructions have changed quite a bit over time, I started doing dressage late 80’ties and back then the posture was inhumane tbh. I’ve had a hard time getting rid of that and that centered riding course (where the video is from, we’re not riding the horses but just focusing on our posture)really helped me and made 3 days in the saddle on my trail much nicer because I was able to sit there more naturally and not trying to achieve the heels, hips and shoulders in line posture I got taught as a kid! When it comes to jumping here they tend to lean forward a little too much and when I jump I sit a bit too upright. Many jumpers also pull their shoulders back because they tend to hold the reigns longer and therefore higher and need to pull them further to get a better mouthfeel.
And totally agree with the UP and not OUT thinking!
Katie, I take it you do more dressage?
I grew up riding mostly hunters but took time off for college and am now have been riding dressage for the past few months. I’m enjoying the transition (and I’m riding my trainer’s FEI prospect) but I have some bad habits from riding a lot of green ponies and OTTBs that are holding me up a bit.
ooh, sounds lovely. Wish I could still do dressage propely and especially with and FEI prospect! Enjoy! I injured my back in when falling off a young nutty horse in training and my truly competitive future was over. Have you heard of centered riding or done any courses on it? It is amazing stuff especially for dressage riders. Figured out lots of easy tricks that I had not been taught before.
One of my previous trainers did some centered riding courses and incorporated it into her teaching, but it’s been years now (probably close to 10).
He is a great ride, but still a bit unsure sometimes (been under saddle a little over 2 years, I think) and has much bigger gaits than I’m used to (but they have terrific quality, you just can’t help but smile riding them). I’m really excited to see what he and my trainer do together over the next few years.
Okay, so maybe saying “just pretend you’re horseback riding” isn’t such a simple solution after all!
Darlene, hmm, suppose you are right. The string up – not out is they key rule. We’re being two riders here with Katie 🙂
An advise about posture from my martial arts instructor: 1) relax 2) imaging the string that attached to the top of your head that pulling you up.
agree, this is similar to Katies up and not out advise. Relaxed tight corset posture is the most natural.
I think “relax” is key for me. I’ve heard the string image before but forgotten it. That’s nice because it takes the focus off of the shoulders themselves.
Yes, relaxing every muscle that you don’t need at the moment is a key. If you are relaxed, you look naturally, you are not wasting your energy and your movements become more fluent and graceful.
If I’m trying to stand up straight but not look like I’m thrusting my chest out, I tighten my abdominal muscles a bit and roll my shoulders and stop at the “back and down” position trying not to move my chest. That might not work for everyone, but it keeps my posture looking most natural (and feels good like stretching!). I have awful posture usually… I think most people are so surprised when my midsection has suddenly lengthened when standing up straighter to say anything about my chest :-/
Ha ha! But that’s the thing–even if I can’t get the chest right, I’d rather have a lenghtened midsection. I think abdominal muscles are a key consideration.
and yes, got told to put my shoulders down a bit, in the sense of not pushing my shoulders back put standing up straight without doing that – it makes the bust stick out less which I do like. I always feel kinda funny with the bust on display pose that us busty women so often do. I could never sit like that so why stand up like that either really. Though there is a fine line between slouching and standing up straight.
I took a posture class that said what we think of as good posture (like shoulders back) is no good. One of their tips was to look at your ankles then put your head back up. You want your spine to be vertical NOT your shoulders back etc. You can see examples of good and bad posture on their website:
http://www.balancecenter.com/
and also their overview page has a lot of good information and more pictures
http://www.balancecenter.com/overview.htm
There’s an entire class on this??? Thanks for these links!
Busty Girl comics did this one (the “pick one” dilemma): http://bustygirlcomics.com/post/18610583433/no-winning
Thanks for the link, Deb!
but there is a middle ground between slouching and pulling back ones shoulders (aka sticking your boobs out).