muscles and posture

[GGL]

I have a question on my personal overall posture... which i think is bad..

First I'm not a big guy (only bout 5'8" at 170 lbs).. when I stand normally and sit.. my general posture is shoulders dropped and a little rounded forward.. a weight lifting guy said i kinda have bad posture.. I do Shuai Chiao and run and was considering starting to lift weights again.. my problem is what should i concentrate on to help correct this problem.. my back or more of my shoulders or do yall think i'm way off track?

Any suggestions would be helpful

Thanks
Greg

[tri2bmt]

lift your chest up tall like the army men.
picture a string pulling the top of your head up.
relax everything straight down into the ground and keep the string.
If this dosen't help find an Alexander Technique teacher

[hkphooey]

GGL

what do you do?? do you sit at a computer or in a chair all day?? that will certainly make it worse.

since you seem like a physical guy, i'd suggest you get involved in something that will not only open up your chest and frontside but also allow you to cultivate CONSCIOUSNESS about your posture. alexander technique, yoga, pilates, etc... martial arts CAN be great, but sometimes there is too much sinking in the chest. this might be necessary for the art, but not necessarily for walking around 24 hours a day.

i did yoga for about 5-6 years, pretty intensively, and what i found most amazing wasn't that i was able to cultivate good flexibility and balance and all of that, it was how aware i became of my body. i can sense every little thing now (which, to be honest, can be "bad" in the sense that every little thing drives me crazy...=)).

i'm curious as to whether your flexibility is hindered or if it's really just your posture. how are you on back bends?? can you do them?? can you do them CORRECTLY?

i will always encourage stength training, HOWEVER, it does little good to strengthen and reinforce bad habits and dysfuctional patterns of movement. seek out some art that will allow you to correct it. my vote is yoga because of the combination of strength, balance and flexibility (and the cultivation of consciousness), but there are numerous possibilities.