No, I'm not channeling your mother/teacher (old school only).  Good posture really is its own reward -
you will look and feel SO much better.  Still, insidious forces are at work, destabilizing and misaligning
your body, which on the other hand are keeping countless chiropractors and physical therapists busy.
And we call those forces by many names: computers, desks, chairs, inattention, repetitive motions, etc.

Yes, the world is a dangerous place if you partake of the modern lifestyle, and as you're reading this email
I'm guessing you fall into that category, unless someone printed it out and bestowed it on you.

So here's a really cool exercise that I used to retrain my back to prefer good posture, eliminating that troublesome
lower back pain that actually causes more sick days than any other cause!

First, the bad news.  It requires a piece of equipment.  And you can do it in many places, so your excuses are limited.

And the good news is that the equipment  can be used for innumerable other exercises, and I'm sure
some nefarious uses I haven't thought up yet, but I have faith in your imaginative powers.

The equipment is a giant rubber band, although you can use resistance tubes etc. if you wish.  But let me tell you,
a 40" rubber band does give a man a certain peace of mind he just can't get any other way.

     

First, stand on your band with your feet about shoulder width apart.  Then put a towel, pillow or whatever for padding
underneath it and stand up straight and tall.  By the way, my legs are straight but the band makes them look bent - I hope!
And now your mind and muscles are going to get reacquainted, because we're going to focus
1. on lengthening the lower back
2. on pulling the shoulder blades together and down and
3. on lengthening the neck so that the top of your head reaches for the ceiling.  Please don't tilt your chin.  And the
brain-dead smile is optional.

I cycle through each focus point several times, and hold each for 5-10 seconds.  Actually, I do it for 2 minutes or so, but I'm weird that way.  And here's the really cool part.  After concentrating on the 3 focus points WITH resistance, you can do it WITHOUT resistance, or external resistance, anyway.  Your resistance will be your bad posture, and you can crush it like a bug.  Doing it both ways is best; they complement each other.

Now I can hear you saying, "But where can I get such a fine rubber band?"   Fortunately, I'm an affiliate with the giant rubber band people.  And here's the link to take you there.
http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?af=1360906

And what band(s) should you get? The small single band package is a good choice, as you can use two or more bands at once to get just the right resistance - you can get from 5-105 pounds of starting resistance and 15-175 pounds of fully stretched resistance.  I'm using the big blue band, as I've been doing this for awhile, but that gives you some idea of the loads involved. 

So there you go.  Oh yes, as Christmas is coming up, they make great gifts, too!  And if you buy some and ask me, I'll send you some other cool exercises you can do with them.  Take care - of yourself.

Peter