Posture [0:00:00]
[Music] Why does posture matter?
What happens if you have bad posture?
First up, when you’re bent over when you’re slouched over when you’ve got bad posture,
you look shorter.
This is doing you no favors.
You want to look taller, you want to look leaner.
You want to look as tall as you can.
Next up, we’ve got perceived confidence.
This is how others see you.
You may have confidence, but if you’re slouched over if you’re making yourself small, you
don’t look as confident as you could be if you stood up straight.
And, let’s not forget your health, you should naturally stand erect.
When you start to bend over, this can lead to neck issues, it can even lead to severe
back issues.
So, gents, to avoid these issues, in today’s video, I’m laying out some quick tips and
tricks so that you can improve your posture fast.
First up, gents, let’s talk about your work station.
If you’re anything like me, you spend about six to ten hours a day at a particular work
station getting things done.
How can you improve that work station?
Let’s start things off by talking about your chair.
In style, I talk about how fit is king.
Well, guess what, guys?
When it comes to chairs, fit is king as well.
You need to find something that is proportionally correct for your body size.
Some of you guys are 5’3”, other people are 6’3”.
You need different size chairs because you need to be sitting in that chair properly
and in order to be able to do that, the seat needs to be the proper height.
So, the first thing I would recommend is to get yourself a chair that’s adjustable.
And, I’m not saying that you got to go out and spend $2,000 on some ergonomic chair,
although you may find, hey, I spend a lot of time at my desk, that is something I do
want to splurge on.
I’m going to go for it.
But, I think there’s a wide variety of different chairs that can be adjusted on the height.
To me, that’s the first thing that you’ve to get right.
Next up, you want to look at, okay, does it have some lumbar support?
What you want is something that’s going to encourage you to sit up straight.
Over the years, I’ve tried a wide variety of different chairs.
I found that kneeling chairs can work, but usually only for a couple of hours.
My favorite right now are ball chairs, relatively inexpensive.
What I like about this is that they force you to kind of stand on your toes a bit, you’ve
got to be aware of how you’re seated, and so it forces you to sit up straight.
And, what about standing desks?
Right now, they’re all the rage, everyone is saying that sitting is the new smoking.
Me, I’m a little bit more on the fence, I’m going to wait five to ten years for
the research to prove it, but if it works for you, go for it.
What I would like to see though is give yourself options.
There are actually adjustable height desks, and I like that because, hey, if you start
off the day and you want to stand, but later on you want to be sitting, you kind of got
both options right there.
Now, let’s talk about computer screen height.
Most people are having to look down.
What’s this doing, all of a sudden their neck is in this downward position and they’re
keeping it there for hours and hours.
And, it makes sense because a lot of us work off laptops, laptops are on a desk that’s
too low and all of a sudden, yeah, we’re having to look down all the time.
An easy way to fix this is to get something to raise the laptop up and this could simply
be putting in on some books or having a separate screen that, again, you raise up.
Now, you don’t have to have the screen the same height as your eyes, although that is
nice.
Another way around this is to put it back a bit farther and to tilt it up.
The point here is just to be aware of how long and how much you’re having to bend
your neck to look at the screen and if there’s an easy way to adjust the screen to take pressure
off of your neck, then simply do it.
Now, guys, in addition to the physical adjustments we’re talking about here for your work station,
you want to also adjust your work habits.
Leverage the 2 20 rule.
It works like this.
You simply take a timer set up for twenty minutes and you try to stay focused in on
your work.
Yeah, you’re thinking about your posture, but it’s going to slip.
But that twenty minutes is going to go off, you have gotten a lot done and, guess what?
Then you stand up, you take two-minute break.
This is a great routine because you stay ultra focused and you get to every twenty minutes
reset and start thinking about your posture again.
The next big culprit when it comes to bad posture, gentlemen, your phone.
So, my first tip, get a good headset.
One that you use because what you don’t want to do is you don’t want to be cradling
the phone like this.
This is a very bad position for your neck especially if you leave it for five minutes
for ten minutes for fifteen minutes.
I understand, you’re trying to multitask here, but you are putting your neck in a very
strenuous position.
You don’t want to do this.
So, for this next tip, I know initially it’s going to feel odd, it definitely takes practice.
But, guys, this is going to save a lot of wear and tear on your neck.
And that is when you’re looking at something on your device, you want to be looking perpendicular
with your eyes.
You want the phone up here.
So, why not allow it down here even just for a little bit?
Because the issue is is the amount of pressure that you put on your neck is not equal as
you start to go down.
The further degrees you had down with this, it puts a lot more pressure.
We’re not talking of one for one.
It all of a sudden starts to multiply and you can do a lot of damage long term if you
look at your phone down like this again.
And I see people doing this all the time walking around just sitting staring down at the phone
like this.
Do yourself a favor, raise it up.
Yes, you may feel a little bit odd.
Yes, it takes practice, but you are going to save a lot of wear and tear on your neck.
[0:05:03] Now, what about sleep?
What about the way that you lay on your mattress?
Does this have an effect on your posture?
The answer is yes because you spend one third of your life in bed, so over time, yes, this
does have an effect.
The worst thing you can be doing, sleeping on your stomach.
This is not good for your posture no matter what type of mattress you have, so really
look to change this up.
Now, what about sleeping on your side?
This is perfectly fine, but you got to have the right type of mattress and you’ve got
to have the right type of pillow.
Because what we’re looking for here is to keep your spine straight.
What you don’t want to have is the wrong size pillow or to have it set up so that the
mattress isn’t giving any or is giving too much and all of a sudden your spine isn’t
straight when you’re sleeping.
Now, me, personally, I’m a back sleeper.
I do feel that this is best for your health and your posture.
But, the key with being a good back sleeper is to have the right size pillow.
You want to have thin pillow.
If you have too large of a pillow, then all of a sudden your neck is going to be pushed
up and it’s going to also be more difficult to breathe.
You also want to have a firm mattress, the firmest mattress that you feel comfortable
sleeping on.
Now, what about posture hacks?
You know what I’m talking about.
Putting tape on your back, does it work?
The answer is, yes, I tested this out.
But is it something you’re going to consistently remember to do?
I know I didn’t.
And, you’ve got to have someone that puts the tape on your back.
So, do you have someone that will do that every day and help remind, you know, it’s
like so it’s a little bit impractical.
Now, there are devices you can put on your back and they’ll let you know if all of
a sudden you start to lean forward and your posture just isn’t that great.
You may already have a device in your closet that can help you stand more erect and to
have better posture.
What is it?
Sports jackets, suit jackets, any type of jacket that is fitted to a man well will actually
help them stand up better.
Why?
Because you’ve got what’s known as sleeve pitch.
This is the way the sleeve is attach to the jacket and if it’s off, all of a sudden
you’re leaning up, the jacket just isn’t going to feel comfortable and it’s going
to look really bunched in there.
But, when a jacket is fitted to a man and it fits him well, he naturally wants to roll
his shoulders back and stand I think a bit taller and with better posture.
Now, what about exercises for good posture?
Guys, I highly recommend yoga.
And, to get you started, I got this video right here.
I am in this video and I go through beginner yoga exercises with Lesley Fightmaster.
If you’ve never checked out her channel, you’re going to enjoy this.
Duke and Lesley are great friends and their channel is amazing.
Whether you’re just getting started in yoga, whether you’re going there for posture,
whether you’re going there for back pain, they’ve got you covered.
So, go check out this amazing channel and learn open your mind to a little bit of yoga
right here.
And, yes, I am in this video.
[0:07:30] End of audio