I had high expectations for a book on posture by two great physical therapists who also are some of the smartest bodyweight fitness instructors in the world.
And, it’s better than I thought. It manages to do an amazing job of explaining fairly high level stuff like the biopsychosocial model of pain and neuromatrix theory of pain, in really short, clear chapters. Like three or four pages. And each mini-chapter, with all of it’s simplicity and clarity, also lists a ton of references and a bullet-point learning takeaway at the end.
What I really love, is how they approach posture — they don’t use scare tactics. They explain exactly how postural issues might cause pain, and why they might not cause any pain at all. They leave you with an honest look at how improving posture could improve strength and performance, and how it could help as part of a plan to relieve pain. It’s such a refreshing approach to both posture and pain that I think everyone should read it to get a better context for how and when they fit together.
There’s a big emphasis on strength endurance, which I also love. Many of the mobility and corrective exercises were favorites of mine from when I worked in a physical therapy office, or when I’ve taken corrective exercise courses. Many were totally brand new (like the foot exercises and the shoulder reset), and I’m stoked to try them out.
Another cool part is that the movements start small and work up to legit integrated strength movements. I feel like this could be integrated into someone’s workout, or they could start with this and progress it into their workout. The emphasis on building strength endurance is legit.
Most of my clients come to me to lose weight. Essentially, their goal is to “look better.” And, that’s actually probably the biggest reason I would recommend this book — most people like the way they look better with better posture. If your goal is to look fitter and even more confident, I would recommend this book in parallel with your other fitness and food skill programs.
Lastly, it finishes with some parts on habit change, and then different plans based on your individual needs. The plans get bonus points for having all the pictures of all the movements in each plan, which is cool because that’s way easier.
So, if you want to look better and feel better in your body, I’d check out Overcoming Poor Posture. At 125 pages, it’s a quick read, which will get you right into the most important part — doing one of the plans in the book.
Overcoming Poor Posture at Amazon
Disclosure: I got a review copy of the book ahead of print. Also, I’m friends with Jarlo — we’ve skyped at met at a conference and he even interviewed me for a GMB thing. The fact that I’ve really respected his work for years probably biases me =) That being said, I really was stoked with how well this book was put together, and how good the content is inside.
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