My Journey With Health And Fitness – Where Did This Posture Come From?

Tomorrow marks 4 weeks of having this cold. Now don’t get me wrong, compared to a week ago I am so much better. The only thing that still seems to be lingering is the congestion in my ears. It too is far better and I now refer to it as being in the snap/crackle/pop phase because that is what they sound like to me all the time. A little over a week until I fly to Mexico so I am really hoping they have cleared up by then.

I went to my normal 5:30am fitness class today and it was brutal. The instructor called it the ’12 Days of Christmas’. It went like this, there were 12 exercises. The first exercise you did 1 rep, the 2nd exercise you did 2 reps then 1 rep of the first exercise. You can see where this is going, 3rd exercise you did 3 reps, 2 of the 2nd and 1 of the 1st. You kept going until you got to the 12th exercise (you guessed it 12 reps) to work yourself back down through all of them. I thought at first it was pretty easy but trust me when I got to about the 9th exercise I was really feeling it. By time I got through it all I realized it was a great class (of course I realized it as I was thinking I’m too old for this shit).

But there was something I noticed today. In looking in the big wall mirror at the fitness centre I thought wait, where did that posture come from? I realized I was standing tall and straight. Moreover my weight was evenly balanced on both feet, something I haven’t done for years because of the cranky knee and back. And, it wasn’t uncomfortable to be standing like that which is a whole new phenomena for me. I was so used to compensating because of my knee, hip and back and yet somehow I’m not doing that anymore.

I actually do know where this comes from. Firstly, over the past 4 years I have really worked at standing as straight and tall as possible especially when I am walking. On top of that my core is super strong meaning it is much easier to properly balance my weight evenly. Even more important I have been working so hard for the last 4 months at getting better mobility in my knee and it has paid off meaning not just that I can bend it more but I can also straighten it more. That in particular allows me to make sure that my pelvis is properly aligned.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise that my posture has improved this much (but it is). All of this hard work didn’t just eliminate weight, it helped me become strong and taken has away so much pain it has also helped me ensure I can keep myself aligned enough to have that look of confidence I think I was lacking for a while.

Ok, I have so got this going forward.