POSTURE CHALLENGE - Week #6: WALK TALL ON STAIRS

Engage Your Core – Going Up, Going Down

So now that you're walking taller and stronger after last weeks tips, let's use the stairs to engage your core, practice good upright posture and all while taking a posture break. The key to maximum core muscle benefit is keeping upright, with head over hips. In other words, stay tall and stack each posture zone.

Don’t lean forward. Keep your chest up and over your hips to avoid training your head to poke forward over your chest.

The StrongPosture® secret: When climbing stairs, hold your pelvis in a very slight tuck as you push your chest up  This forces you to hold your shoulders back and over your hips.

The Test:  Hold an imaginary plumb line (or a tie or necklace) from your neck, and keep it against your body as you go up the stairs. This forces you to keep your body erect, and to train your muscles to work your body in a more bio-mechanically effective pattern.

You’ll be amazed how being posture aware makes your core work stronger.

Remember. When climbing stairs, don’t bend at the waist or collapse forward. Keep your body erect and stand tall as you climb. If you struggle with this it could be that your spine is out of alignment - which means it's time for an adjustment.

And our exercise for this week -

Standing Cat-Cow

The standing Standing Cat-Cow exercise activates the back and core muscles in a different way to the kneeling Cat-Cow we did in week 4. It helps to increase awareness of your back in relation to the rest of your body.

How to do Standing Cat-Cow:

1. With your legs hip-width apart and knees bent, place your hands either out in front of you or on your thighs for added balance.

2. Keeping your legs still, begin the cat (upward) phase. Lengthen your neck and allow your head to reach toward your chest, maintaining alignment with the spine.

3. On the out breathe, “swoop and scoop” the pelvis into Cow position.

4. Hold each pose for 5 breaths and repeat.

Your 9min stretch routine so far goes like this:

Do 1 minute of active Child’s Pose (week 2), 2 minutes of Cat-Cow (week 4), and 2 minutes of the chest-opening stretch (week 5). Then stand up and do 2 minutes of the Forward Fold (week 3) before doing 2 minutes of Standing Cat-Cow.