You now have permission to ditch the posture guilt. Your body is strong, resilient, and built to move. The internet lied. Stop obsessing over an imaginary “perfect posture” and start prioritizing movement and variety.

Also, be sure you’re getting plenty of rowing or pulling in your resistance workouts. This helps to build the strength and endurance of your upper back and posterior chain. I recommend adding long holds or long eccentric tempos to these types of exercises to build endurance.

A few overhead reaches, a bit of trunk rotation, reach to touch your toes, round your back, arch your back, a few long lunges, and a wide stance groin stretch is great. Don’t overthink this, you’re not doing a workout, you’re moving, so you don’t become a cemented gargoyle.

Stop focusing on how you’re sitting and start focusing on how often you move. A good rule of thumb is to move every 15 to 30 min. Even if you have to set an alarm on your phone. A position change that includes multiple actions and directions for 60 to 90 seconds is plenty!

Think of it this way: Standing in what many consider to be “good” posture for hours is just as uncomfortable as sitting slumped for that amount of time. Your tissues get cranky, stiff, short, & overworked when they don’t get moved. Let’s stop labeling posture as good or bad.

The problem isn’t that there’s a bad posture. The problem is staying in the same position for hours. Our joints have impressive ranges of motion in different directions & planes. The key is to move regularly to hydrate and bring blood flow to your tissues.

The idea that spending a little time slumped is physically dangerous is antiquated. The human body is a marvel of engineering. The human body is not fragile. The Posture Police make it seem like your discs are crumbling when you find yourself hunched over, but they’re wrong.

The internet has been misleading you about your posture. We’ve all heard that voice in our head say, “Your posture is killing you.” It’s imprinted into us that there’s a “good” and a “bad” posture. Let’s debunk that idea and start seeing posture differently. 🧵

- Use caution with extreme passive hip rotation, flexion (knees to chin), or frontal plane work (foot/leg away from the midline). - Stick to what feels good and avoid adding extreme hip movements just because you’re bored.

Here are the keys to getting hip mobility work right: - Balance your hip mobility work with plenty of hip strengthening. Stronger hips tend to move better. - Avoid stretches or extreme hip positions that cause pinching, pain, or a deep aching sensation. Cont.

One thing to note about the hip joint is that it varies in anatomical form and structure from one person to the next more than many other major joints. All hips are not created equal, and therefore hip mobility exercises are not one-size-fits-all.

Stop mindlessly doing pretzel-like hip stretches & pushing past comfort just because Gumby from yoga class or the IG hip influencer du jour can. Stop assuming that your hips are cranky because you’re not doing enough hip stretching. The issue could be that you’re doing too much

My unpopular opinion on this topic is that good-intentioned hip mobility work can easily shift into positions that could irritate the hip joint. I believe a contributing factor in some cases of hip labrum or hip impingement is a lack of intention when working on hip mobility.

There is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to extreme hip mobility. Motion is lotion until it’s not. This is why hip mobility is one area where I’ve adjusted my thinking and approach in recent years. *I’m using mobility and stretching synonymously for this discussion.

I’ve seen situations where stretch or yoga instructors are manually pushing people past their limits to grind into an extreme position. Just because you can force your hip to a spot doesn’t mean it should go to all extremes with frequency.

The biggest mistake you can make with hip mobility work is the hurts-so-good-and-kinda-bad approach. This is when you force yourself into positions and hip stretches that begin to feel pinchy and achy either during or after.

Read this before you keep doing hip mobility the same way. It’s clear to me, after 20 years as a physical therapist and strength coach, that not all hip mobility exercises are great for all people. Let me explain… 🧵

1. Prioritize hip strengthening, including mini-band exercises for high reps in your warm-ups. 2. Incorporate single-leg work regularly, as this helps to improve hip strength and stability. Remember, strong hips tend to move better and feel less tight.

That’s why the key to healthier, happier, more flexible hips is to trade some of your fruitless, passive stretches for hip strength and stability work. 2 strategies to get more strength and stability work in for your hips…

In other words, it's easy to overdo the passive hip stretches and ignore the strength and stability requirements for hips that move better during activity. This approach leads to feeling like you're always stretching without any results.