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Try these 3 habits to fix your posture

2024-09-13 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali, Dan Go · recording, 15:10 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Health, sleep and habits · mode: Explanation and tutorial · tags: Evidence-based framing, Sponsor segment present

With fitness coach Dan Go, Ali argues there is no perfect posture (your best posture is your next posture) and that getting stronger improves posture as a by-product, through three exercises: bar hangs for grip strength, glute bridges and hip thrusts for the glutes, and face pulls for the upper back.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Ali's bad posture and the plan: the myth of posture, then three exercises

  • ★ For most of his life Ali has had pretty bad posture: he works long days at his desk, does not exercise enough and struggles to sit upright. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Dan Go says the biggest myth about posture is that there is a perfect posture in the first place. — 00:00:23

00:00:35 — The myth of the perfect posture: your best posture is your next posture

  • ★★★ Dan Go says studies show the best posture is the next one, the one you are most comfortable in, which usually means changing how you sit every 15 to 20 minutes. — 00:01:03

  • ★★★ Ali cites the saying "your best posture is your next posture", which goes against much of what is said online in the health space and even by some doctors. — 00:01:03

    “your best posture is your next posture”

  • ★★ Ali says people are told to sit or stand up straight because it looks good or because some say it helps prevent lower back pain, not because the science says so. — 00:01:03

  • ★★ Dan Go says standing straight with the shoulder blades back is about the look of good posture, and everyone stands differently. — 00:01:42
  • ★★ The paper Sit Up Straight: Time to Re-Evaluate, in the Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy, finds there is no single correct posture; Ali adds that people differ in shape, size and spine curvature. — 00:02:11
  • ★★ Following the paper Sit Up Straight: Time to Re-Evaluate, Ali says to adopt more comfortable postures, which may mean a slight slouch on the sofa or at the desk. — 00:02:11
  • ★★ The paper Sit Up Straight: Time to Re-Evaluate says the spine is robust and can be trusted, and that moving and changing position can help. — 00:02:11
  • ★★ Ali says staying in one rigid upright position is painful and can worsen lower back pain, because you cannot relax your muscles. — 00:02:40
  • ★★ Dan Go: Asked by Ali, Dan Go says good posture brings no performance benefit: from the evidence it is largely about looks. — 00:02:40
  • ★★ Dan Go says looking like you have good posture makes you look taller, by an extra inch, but people who look more hunched do not perform worse. — 00:03:09

00:03:38 — Sponsor read for Brilliant

  • ★★★ Ali's takeaway from Dan Go and the papers: posture is more about how you feel, though there are still things you can do to improve it from an aesthetic perspective. — 00:03:38
  • ★★ Ali shows that grip strength, measured by squeezing a hand dynamometer, is at its best in our 30s and 40s for both males and females; he has just turned 30. — 00:04:37

00:04:50 — Exercise 1: grip strength and bar hangs

  • ★★★ Dan Go's first exercise for better posture is bar hangs: simply hanging from a pull-up bar. — 00:05:06
  • ★★ Dan Go says the passive bar hang stretches the lats and decompresses the spine, while the more advanced active hang pulls the shoulder blades back and activates the upper back, helping the look of good posture when standing. — 00:05:35
  • ★★ Ali says grip strength is an excellent indicator of overall health, including the risk of diabetes and dementia and, in some studies, longevity, and is now considered a biomarker of ageing. — 00:06:05
  • ★★ Ali cites a 2022 study, the first to show that people with weaker grip strength age faster, comparing chronological age with biological age estimated by DNA methylation. — 00:06:05
  • ★★ Ali cites a study that, controlling for age, sex, smoking and physical activity, found weak grip strength relative to body size increases the risk of lower back pain. — 00:07:03
  • ★★ Ali lists further benefits of good grip strength: a stronger upper body, back and body overall, less chance of back pain as the muscles around the back get stronger, and better posture as a result. (hedged) — 00:07:32
  • ★★ Dan Go says the bar hang stretches the lats and decompresses the spine, and poor posture often comes from a sore or painful lower back that makes people hunch over. — 00:07:32
  • ★★ Dan Go has beginners who cannot hold themselves up hang from the bar with their feet lightly touching a surface, so the grip is challenging but manageable. — 00:08:01
  • ★★★ Dan Go's bar hang targets: 15 to 30 seconds for beginners, one minute for the more advanced and at least two minutes to be elite. — 00:08:35
  • ★★ Ali can just about bar hang for one minute, is aiming for 90 seconds and is slowly inching it up, getting calluses on his hands. — 00:08:35
  • ★★★ Dan Go says to do a bar hang every day; if you cannot, three times a week; if not that, once a week. — 00:09:04
  • ★★ Because seeing numbers go up gives a feeling of progress, a core idea of Feel-Good Productivity, Ali tracks his bar hang times in the Strong app, which he recommends with no affiliation. — 00:09:04 · Feel-Good Productivity (book), feel-good productivity (concept)

00:09:28 — Exercise 2: glute bridges and hip thrusts

  • ★★★ Dan Go says posture depends a lot on glute strength: strong glutes let you stand tall and do much of the work of standing and walking. — 00:09:35
  • ★★ Dan Go says that in many people who sit for long periods, as modern life requires, the glutes get weaker and atrophy. — 00:09:35
  • ★★★ Dan Go: For complete beginners without a barbell, Dan Go recommends glute bridges on the floor at home, especially glute bridge holds of five to 10 seconds, to build glute endurance. — 00:10:04
  • ★★ Ali describes Dan Go's glute bridge test: do 15 glute bridges and note where you feel the strain, in the glutes or in the quads or hamstrings. — 00:10:33
  • ★★ Dan Go finds that many clients feel the quadriceps strain before the glutes, a sign that their glutes are much weaker than their quadriceps. — 00:11:02
  • ★★★ Dan Go: Asked by Ali how often to do them, Dan Go says he does glute bridges every morning on waking, to remind the glutes to activate. — 00:11:02
  • ★ Dan Go says he comes from a history of chronic lower back pain, so morning glute bridges are a mandatory exercise for him. — 00:11:02
  • ★★ Ali does not do glute bridges as often as he would like, but when he does he feels a release in his lower back. — 00:11:41
  • ★★★ Dan Go: With gym access, Dan Go recommends hip thrusts, a glute bridge on a bench with a barbell, adding a little weight every week (progressive overload) to build glute strength and size for tall posture. — 00:12:10

00:12:35 — Plug for the Sunday Snippets newsletter

00:13:12 — Exercise 3: face pulls

  • ★★★ Dan Go's third exercise is the face pull, pulling a cable towards your face, which retracts the shoulder blades and works the rhomboids, thoracic spine and upper back that let you stand tall. — 00:13:17
  • ★★ Every personal trainer Ali has had saw from his hunched "laptop guy" posture that his rhomboids are weak and recommended face pulls, which he has done a lot with his own personal trainer. — 00:13:46
  • ★★ Friends and family have told Ali he looks more jacked and his posture seems better, which he puts down to stronger rhomboids pulling his shoulders back. (hedged) — 00:13:46
  • ★★ Ali says there is still no perfect posture, but shoulders back simply looks more aesthetic than shoulders forward. — 00:13:46
  • ★★ Dan Go says to do face pulls at home with a resistance band looped onto something secure, or at a gym on a cable machine with a rope attachment. — 00:14:15
  • ★★★ Ali's big takeaway: there is no perfect posture, and the most important way to improve posture, indirectly and for looks, is to get stronger in grip, glutes and core, so posture sorts itself out. — 00:14:15

00:14:30 — The big takeaway: no perfect posture, work on your strength

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Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: bar hang · Dan Go · face pull · glute bridge · grip strength · posture

Also: Feel-Good Productivity (book) · hip thrust · progressive overload · Strong

Only in the description or credits: Sit Up Straight: Time to Re-Evaluate

Also centred on Dan Go: How to Get in Better Shape than 99% of People

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