Take a deep breath and sit up straight.
Bringing attention to your posture for a moment isn’t too challenging. But like so many other good habits, it’s hard to maintain. After a while, you return to your old patterns and that familiar slouch. If you keep it up, however, you are richly rewarded. Good posture has numerous benefits. You breathe better, feel more confident, experience less pain, and sustain fewer injuries.
So why don’t more of us stand tall? Blame it on a weak core. The core, as the name suggests, is made up of those muscles found at the center of your body. It includes your pelvis, lower back, and abdomen. These structural muscles hold you upright, but they do far more than improve posture. A strong core makes everything you do easier, less painful, and more effective.
We clearly work better with a strong core, so what makes it get weak? Christi Slaven, a personal trainer, rehab specialist and corrective posture therapist in Tampa, Florida, says a major factor is that people don’t move as much as they were meant to. “We drive to work. Sit at work. Drive home from work. Order takeout. Sit to eat, and then sit on the couch. The less we move, the less efficiently we can move,” Ms. Slaven said.
A weak core not only leaves you more prone to slouching, but it has also been found to lead to more back pain and a higher risk of injury. A well-developed core, meanwhile, is associated with better function and more resilience. There’s lots of research going back decades that support the importance of core strength. This body of science reveals that everyone, from the elderly and disabled to professional athletes, performs better with a strong and stable center.
According to Ms. Slaven, our lack of movement weakens and distorts our core. All that time we spend hunched over an iPhone, a desk, or a steering wheel actually molds the shape of our body into something far less functional than it was meant to be. Our head and shoulders fall forward, forcing abdominal muscles to shorten and back muscles to elongate as a result of maintaining this unbalanced position for hours on end. After a while, our body looks less and less like a human form and more like the letter C. “If we teach those muscles to hold us in a letter ‘C’ that is the habit they will make primary,” Ms. Slaven said.
Straightening Out
There are a variety of exercises you can do to build core strength, but many of these routines tend to target the front of the core: the abdominal muscles. Think crunches, sit-ups, and planks. Ms. Slaven said abdominal strengthening exercises deserve some attention, but she stresses that our first priority should be to iron out that C shape. “It is important to help our bodies leave that hunched over position and hold us up tall. They must be trained to do that and crunches aren’t going to accomplish it without first training them to hold us upright,” she said.
To strengthen the entire core, Ms. Slaven recommends exercises that put the body through the full range of motion and target more than just the abdomen. Try squats, lunges, lateral raises, and pullovers. These exercises engage all aspects of the core from multiple angles. “When we do full body motions, we activate more muscles (surface and deep muscles). This can save time, burn more calories, and keep the entire body functioning at its full potential—just to name a few benefits,” she said.
Of course, planks have their place. There are several variations of this isometric contraction exercise that prompt core muscles to contract more than normal as a strategy to build strength. With time, planks can make a soft center stronger and more stable.
But consider that contraction is just one side of the strength equation. “Planks burn like heck because the muscles are not allowed to enter the concentric part of the contraction where they can take a brief break from the work,” Ms. Slaven said. “Our bodies can function this way, but they are most effective when both types of contractions are allowed to happen. Think about the concepts of yin and yang. You must have both the opposing forces at play for the universe to work properly.”
One very accessible way to activate core strength is through deep breathing. Ms. Slaven says that when done properly, core muscles contract and expand with each breath. You’re more likely to sit up straight, too. “This is a way to work the abs without having to interrupt anything you’re doing. No extra time or equipment are required. The slower and deeper the breath, the more powerful the muscle work will be,” she added.
Also, consider taking on more movement in general: walking, gardening, or some other activity you enjoy. The more active you are, the less time your body has to stagnate into that unfortunate C-shape.
“Movement is medicine,” said Ms. Slaven.
