Why this absolute is the key too good posture and athletic performance

To achieve maximum sprinting speed, athletes need to be tall, as shown here by this Santa Rita High School athlete.

Absolute #2 Why this absolute is the key to good posture and athletic performance arents often tell their children that good posture involves standing or sitting up straight and pulling their shoulders back. The medical profession has a more precise definition. In 1947, the Posture Committee of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons came up Pwith the following definition of good posture: “Good posture is that state of muscular and skeletal balance which protects the supporting structures of the body against injury or progressive deformity irrespective of the attitude (erect, lying, squatting, stooping) in which these structures are working or resting.

Under such conditions the muscles will function most efficiently and the optimum positions are afforded for the thoracic and abdominal organs.” In other words, good posture improves your overall health and JULY/AUGUST 2010 improvements in posture, improvements that will translate into better sport performance and reduced risk of injury. Here’s a simple test to determine if you’re standing tall. Stand with your heels, buttocks, back, shoulders and head against a wall. Now try to slide one hand behind your lower back, at bellybutton level or where there is the greatest arch in your back.

If you are standing tall, the thickest part of the hand will just fill the gap between the wall and the back. If the hand slides right through or gets stuck, this suggests that you are not standing tall. A coach can determine if his After two weeks of a conditioning program that included structural balance training, this gymnast was able to assume or her athletes are a tall position when standing – note the dramatic difference standing tall simply in posture. by observing their relaxed, standing athletic performance, and will reduce posture. Look at each of them from the risk of injury.

An athlete can’t the side and note the position of the slump or lean forward outside their center of gravity and expect to perform shoulders and head. Does the head thrust forward? Are the knees locked well. and does the pelvis thrust forward? If To help ensure that athletes have the answer is yes to these questions, good posture, BFS encourages the use the athlete is not being tall. of Absolute #2, which is Be Tall. Athletes who stand tall look like Athletes need to be tall all the winners. When an athlete is tall, time, whether they are walking, their waist will appear flatter and sprinting, lifting, stretching or even their shoulders broader. In fact, the sitting.

Being tall produces dramatic common reaction from friends to an athlete who learns to be tall is that they’ve lost weight! And in sports where there is an aesthetic component, such as diving, gymnastics and figure skating, the postural improvements from being tall will be reflected in higher scores from the judges. Further, the postural improvements from being tall can help prevent lower back problems (which have become epidemic in our population) and other injuries. If an athlete is slouching, say, “Be tall!” Immediately, good things happen. If an athlete is bending at the waist with a rounded back, the quickest way to correct this problem is to say, “Be tall!”

Fine-tuning comes with the other absolutes, especially keeping eyes on target and spreading the chest. All these terms are designed to help any athlete get into a correct and efficient alignment. The be tall absolute should be used with most lifts in the weightroom. In squatting, every athlete needs to squat with the feeling of sitting tall. You do not want to bend over with the head down and hips high, as this can injure the lower back and does not develop functional strength for athletes. When performing the hex bar deadlift, focusing on being tall throughout the entire lift helps ensure that the spine is in proper alignment and that the legs are being properly used during the lift.

Outside the weightroom, the be tall absolute should be used as often as possible. For example, after full speed is attained in sprinting, athletes should sprint tall. When throwing a discus or a ball, if an athlete ignores the absolute by bending forward, inefficiency and technique problems are the result. At BFS clinics athletes thoroughly learn the absolute of being tall by the end of the day. Coaches in attendance BFS PROGRAM who coach their own athletes use the six absolutes repeatedly. We always find it rewarding to see the rapid improvements in both coaches and athletes, especially with coaches who have no significant background in weight training.

In just one day they become amazingly skilled in correcting technique flaws. Coaches should make certain their athletes are being tall in all they do.

Even with squatting, it’s important to be tall. Note how much more athletic this young man is in the second photo, which shows him adhering to the concept of being tall.

Canadian Olympian Marilou Dozois-Prévost shows how to be tall during the snatch lift.

Athletes must also think “Be tall” even when they stretch.

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From BFS Magazine — July/August 2010. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).