We are at that time of the year when many of us who made some new year's resolutions are beginning to flag with our intentions. If one of those resolutions was to get fit, well done you. These days finding the time and the motivation to keep going whilst leading busy lives can be a challenge. Unfortunately, we are often undoing some of the benefits reaped in our exercise time by returning to our sedentary lives because our non- exercise time makes up a much much greater proportion of our day…
Sitting Tip
You can’t fail to have noticed the sensationalist headline “sitting is the new smoking”. You know the one, designed to put the fear of God into us and make us feel even worse about the fact that we are not moving enough. It’s true, of course, we are not moving enough but many of us who are desk bound simply don’t know where to start. In this video, I give you a simple postural adjustment to bring more to your sitting time. The first step is to sit on the front of your chair, not into the back of it.
As I said in the video, it’s not sitting that’s the issue, it’s the time spent in a single position that’s problematic for us. There is no one best way to sit but sitting in such a way that your body has to do more work is going to be more beneficial to you.
Get comfortable being on your sitting bones supporting your own bodyweight. You will no doubt feel yourself slump back into your chair because it’s what your body knows and has adapted to but you’re going to retrain yourself to do some work while just sitting there!
It will be impossible to sit better if you are in a bucket style seat, in other words, where the back of the chair is lower than the front. Find a chair that has a seat parallel to the ground.
Then get up and move frequently :-)
Be well.
Michelle
Don't Just Sit There
I am one of those annoying people who takes up too much space in a restaurant or café and will have you tripping over the legs of my chair! Why, you ask? Most chairs are designed to make it impossible for you to sit well and have a bucket type seat. This means we have no option but to sit with our pelvis tucked under which can have negative health consequences particularly if we inhabit this position for many hours each day. So, if I find myself in a chair, I sit right out on the edge of it which allows me to sit with a neutral pelvis, gets me off my tailbone and puts me in a much better position to support my bodyweight.
