February 20, 2021 • 26 mins
We meet the Posture Genius Aaron Parnell, and talk about his unique Reposturing method.
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James Crow (00:00):
Hey everybody, its James from Posture Stars. Thanks
(00:02):
so much for coming on again.
Today I'm going to be talking tothe posture genius himself,
Aaron Parnell, who hails fromthe United States. Hi, Aaron,
how are you today?
Aaron Parnell (00:12):
Hello, thank you for having me on.
James Crow (00:14):
So pleased to have you. I've heard a lot about you,
you've got a great Instagramchannel, we've been watching you
on there as well. So it's adelight to have you on board. I
wanted to get an idea about howyou're helping people with
posture and some of therecommendations that you can
give to people today. So withoutfurther ado, Aaron, would you
like to introduce yourself andtell us a little bit about who
you are and where you work andwhat you do?
Aaron Parnell (00:37):
My name is Aaron Parnell. Some people call me the
Posture Genius. And that's myhandle on Instagram, if you're
looking looking me up. I am aposture therapist, expert, hands
on with the work that I do. AndI invented a word called
'reposturing'. It's a standalonetechnique, technology, that's
(01:01):
just as viable as Pilates or achiropractor, or even yoga. It's
got a wide breadth of contentand value. So that's about
reposturing and I own a naturalhealth Wellness Centre in
Silicon Valley.
James Crow (01:18):
So that's a popular place to have a Wellness Centre,
I'd imagine. I'd imagine it'sgoing really well.
Aaron Parnell (01:22):
Yes. Yes, it's fun work here. And at my centre.
I have chiropractic massage,Ayurveda acupuncture and of
course reposturing.
James Crow (01:34):
Okay so you're looking after all of those high
and mighty peeps from SiliconValley who are making the world
tick now. And you're keepingthem going whilst they're
building their amazing computerprogrammes.
Aaron Parnell (01:46):
Exactly. I have quite a few clients who work for
Apple, Oracle, Microsoft, andeven Google.
James Crow (01:53):
That sounds like a great client base. I wish I had
a few of those myself. I'll haveto I'll have to poach them from
you, Aaron.
Aaron Parnell (01:59):
Okay, yeah, come on down.
James Crow (02:01):
I'll take a trip over any day. For those people
listening. I'm in the north ofManchester and it is dark and
gloomy at the moment. Aaron isover on the west coast of the US
in lovely sunny weather, nodoubt, enjoying the best of it.
You mentioned that there arevarious modalities like yoga and
Pilates and they're verymainstream, and they're very
(02:21):
well known. Reposturing is yourown. And I haven't come across
that before I came across yourstuff on the internet. Perhaps
you could tell us a bit moreabout what reposturing is and
how you developed it.
Aaron Parnell (02:32):
At first, when I was helping athletes in the
Olympics in Los Angeles, I washelping them get the best out of
their sports performance, eitherfaster recovery, more
performance, longer duration ofbeing able to stay in the game
and stay sharp. And by the endof the Olympics, I really,
(02:54):
something woke up inside of me.
And I decided I really likeworking with people who are
trying to get the best out oftheir bodies. So wind the clock
forward, I get out of theOlympics, and I'm starting to
work with my clients who came tome to work with me not only just
for sports massage like they didbefore the Olympics, but they
started asking me to work outwith them. And I added the
exercise and fitness componentto the work I was doing on the
(03:16):
table. One of my clients is amarketing expert. And 10 years
later, he said, "You know,Aaron, this stuff is great. I've
talked to a lot of your clients,we have them as friends. And we
all agreed that this is not aregular massage, it's better
than sports massage. And onething that even though we all
get different results, we allagree that our posture gets
(03:40):
better. So why don't you callthis reposturing". And so that's
how the that's how the trademarkcame up, came about. Reposturing
is a synthesis of exercises, andhands on treatment or exercises
alone and stretches alone, thathelp to balance your body out.
It gives you what I refer to asposture optimization. And what
posture optimization is and Iknow you're going to get to that
(04:05):
question, what is it? Postureoptimization is the ideal
arrangement of your bones, youhave 206 balls at 637 muscles,
but there is a perfectarrangement for the bones to be
in, so that the bones do thework of weight-bearing and the
muscles do the work of movement.
James Crow (04:25):
I hear you there. So when I talk to an ergonomist and
I say what is posture, they talkabout posture in relation to a
workstation or a job and from achiropractic angle you're coming
straight in terms of (04:33):
here we are, here are your bones, here
are your muscles, let's makesure that they are functioning
optimally to give us theopportunity for best posture. Is
that right?
Aaron Parnell (04:43):
Effectively yes, but there's there's more to it
than that. Posture optimizationembraces and encompasses an
entire spectrum of how you woulduse posture. So yes, if you're
sitting at your desk, you wantto be upright with your head
upright and your head level sothat your eyes can see directly
across at your screen. However,if you're playing golf, there's
(05:04):
a different posture for golf.
And you can posture optimize forgolf, you can posture optimize
for equestrian sports and youcan posture, optimise for just
about anything you do. What youwant to do is restore your
body's weight-bearing andforce-transfer through the bones
and not through the muscles. Soyou don't have to think about it
if you have it right. And sothat's why reposturing includes
(05:26):
the exercises that strengthenthe posture muscles that keep
you upright, but also liberatesand provides flexibility to the
muscles that need to move. Sothat being upright with great
posture all the time is easy and
James Crow (05:44):
I'm sold Aaron, I'm getting on the plane in the next
effortless.
five minutes, I'll be with youin four and a half hours, you
can have a session, you can do asession on me it sounds great.
Well, that's really clear, thenso so you're working muscularly
you're working skeletally to getpeople set so that they can
apply themselves as best theycan to individual situations
like golfing, like horse riding,like a lot of our listeners
(06:07):
using a computer. So let's let'drill down on our very firs
question, then, which is suchbroad question, but you've got
great angle on it. And mquestion to you is what i
posture
Aaron Parnell (06:19):
Posture is the arrangement of bones, that
allows the muscles to do thework of movement, and the bones
to do the work of weight bearingand force transfer. Posture
also, without trying to get tooesoteric about it, posture can
also mean the effective way thatyou can transmit force to create
(06:43):
a result. So yes, indeed, youknow, military has posture and
when they talk about, you know,whether they're going to be set
up to go to war, or set up to beat peace, they talk about a
military posture or a politicalposture. You can have the
posture of fighting, and there'san optimal position for
(07:04):
fighting. So posture is morethan just, you know, you
standing up or sitting upstraight. Posture is how you
arrange your bones to transmitforce, energy and intention.
James Crow (07:17):
So a lot of people when they hear the word posture,
they immediately think of abefore and after image. And they
think that posture is the end,it's the end goal. And here what
we're talking about is thatposture is one of the means that
you can apply to achieve yourgoals in life.
Aaron Parnell (07:31):
That is correct.
Absolutely. So, Amy Cuddy gave agreat TED talk about how she
used posture to transformherself while she was in
college. And by changing herposture, she changed who she
was, so that by the time she gother degree, she was a completely
different person compared to whoshe was when she started.
James Crow (07:53):
If any of our listeners are looking for that,
if you look up Amy Cuddy on TEDtalk. Really, really popular TED
Talk there about power posturesand how you can improve your
life by improving your posture.
We're kind of in that area,aren't we Aaron, we love to
improve people's posture. It'ssuch a pleasure when you see
people who are struggling withpain and self image and other
life problems, because theirposture is bad, and then
(08:17):
improving their posture, all ofa sudden, a lot of their issues
are resolved and life becomes alot easier for them. And yet, so
few people talk about it becauseI think posture is such a broad
term and people see it as, youknow, do I look like a film star
in this photograph or don't I?
And they they forget that youknow, we have posture to load
(08:38):
the washing machine. We haveposture to drive our car and
they all have a big impact onhow we feel and and how much we
can achieve in life.
Aaron Parnell (08:45):
Yes, indeed. In fact, there are comparably as
many esoteric manifestations oraspects of posture as there are
physical and structural andmusculoskeletal. So, you know,
in my book, The SlouchingSuperheroes Guide to Achieving
Great Posture I talk in depthabout each one of these aspects.
(09:13):
Of course, yes, most people comewith their interest in posture
because they have a chronic painthat they want to alleviate. But
there's a posture for selfmastery, there's a posture for
beauty. And if you if you havepoor posture, no matter how
attractive you are, becauseposture is a dynamic thing, you
(09:37):
can get lost in looking sobeautiful, but being clumsy, and
you can lose your beauty thatway. You can have habits that
take that detract from yourbeauty.
James Crow (09:50):
Yeah, totally. I u derstand now what posture is
from an Aaron Parnell Posture Gnius point of view. Very go
d. My second question, which isa larger question is, so how ex
ctly do you help people with teir posture?
Aaron Parnell (10:24):
Two ways. So typically, someone calls me and
says, "Hey, Aaron, you know,I've got this ache or pain that
nobody else has been able tosolve. And I've been to 10
doctors about it but maybe it'sa posture issue, maybe you can
take a look at it". And so, thework that I do with reposturing
(10:45):
is hands on. So I'm typicallyisolating not only the
musculature, but the fascia thatgoes along with it. There's this
thing called myofascialmeridians. And if you ever get a
chance to look up or go to thewebsite, anatomytrains.com.
(11:06):
Thomas Myers has done amagnificent job at mapping out
all the myofascial meridians. SoI'm stretching the myofascial
meridians, as well as themusculature that's adjacent to
it, and are restoringflexibility and freedom to the
parts that are imbalanced bystrength. And I'm giving you
(11:27):
exercises to make sure that yourestore your flexibility, and
make sure that your body isflexible enough so that having
great posture is natural, easyand effortless for you. What I
find is that when people try tothink about their posture, then
(11:47):
it takesp them away from whatthey're focusing on. Like, if
you're driving and you'rethinking about your posture,
that's too much thinking aboutyour posture. I want you to
focus on being on the roadsafely. When you're at work, you
don't want to be thinking aboutyour posture, you want to be
thinking about your work. And ifI'm an employer, I want you to
be solely focused on gettingyour best work done for me. If
(12:09):
your posture comes to youeffortlessly and naturally, so
that you don't have to thinkabout it, that's the goal of
reposturing.
James Crow (12:16):
Great, so it's a bottom-up way of giving people
the capacity for good posture byensuring that physically they're
in the right place to to enablethat. Absolutely. I see some
people who've worked out a lotwho actually, it seems to me,
that their physical prowess isspoiling their posture. People
(12:37):
who have, you know, a great sixpack, but they're rounded over
like a pill bug or somethinglike that. Is that something you
come across?
Aaron Parnell (12:46):
Absolutely. In fact imagine a person who does
what I refer to as front loadedworkouts. That's the person who
goes to the gym, they do pushups, crunches, leg lifts,
planks, incline extensions,where their chest muscles are
(13:10):
pushing weight up. And whatwinds up happening is their
whole body is curled forward,and over time, they're actually
causing more problems thatthey're solving by doing the
workout. Very often, if you havepeople who spend more than 50%
of their time working on theirfront muscles, you're going to
(13:30):
have a person who's going to beimbalanced, and their back
muscles won't be able to holdthem upright. And over time,
they'll lose what I call theirvertical flexibility, their
ability to stand upright. And soyes, this is a big problem. And
it's one I hope to be part ofthe solution for.
James Crow (13:47):
Okay, so people who are working out, your suggestion
is that they make sure thatthey're not just front-focusing
that they're giving themselves arounded holistic workout
session.
Aaron Parnell (13:57):
If your back muscles are weak, you want to
make sure you strengthen theback muscles that pull your body
upright. And you know, we've gottwo sets of back muscles, I
grouped them in twos. There aresome back muscles that pull your
body upright. And for the forthe geeks out there, it's the
erector spinae group, thequadratus lumborum, and
(14:22):
latissimus dorsi to some to somedegree. But then you also have
muscles that go across and theseare rhomboid major, rhomboid
minor and trapezius, mainlyupper trapezius and middle
trapezius, that pull the upperbody and pull the shoulders
back. So you want to make surethat these muscles are strong
enough to do their job, so thatthe shoulders wind up behind
(14:45):
your body's midline. And if yourworkout doesn't do that for you,
if your workout pulls your bodytoo far forward, it will never
achieve the balance that it'ssupposed to have.
James Crow (14:56):
So assume now that Apple and Google listen to this
podcast and they say "Hey, thatJames Crow, he's amazing. We're
going to fly him out to SiliconValley. And we're going to give
him a job in one of our offices.
And then I spend several yearsworking at a desk or working
from my home office at the desk,and I'm so busy that I haven't
got time to work out. And I ringyou up and I say "Aaron, Aaron,
I'm ruined. Look at the state ofme". And I come into your
(15:17):
clinic. What would you do withme?
Aaron Parnell (15:21):
On a first session, we'll take
measurements, photos and videoof how your body is right when
you come with us. Of course wedo a initial consultation where
I want to know your life story.
Were you involved in a sports?
Which sport? Did you have anycar accidents or injuries that
(15:41):
might affect how your body istoday. And I put all of those
into a composite of a treatmentplan. And the hands on treatment
might involve unravelling thelegs so that they fit better in
the hips. And opening up the ribcage, restoring the
expansiveness of the rib cageand shoulders. So it looks like
(16:05):
somebody is doing a facilitatedstretch, or like somebody doing
yoga to you on a treatmenttable, in a much more specific
way. And in a much morepersonalised way then than say a
Thai massage might be, wherethey have routines that they do,
but they're not specific tocreate a result that
structurally specific.
James Crow (16:26):
I had a Thai massage. About a year ago, I had
a few, I really enjoyed them andthe first time I went, it was a
one size fits all massage. And Iswear they nearly broke me. I
came out of there, absolutelydestroyed. So I'm glad to see
you taking someone's history andtaking notes of how they need to
be helped. A lot of peoplenowadays, they're working from
(16:47):
home more often, if someonewanted to take advice from you,
and they were working from home,they weren't able to come into
your clinic, how would you helpthat sort of person? Is that
something you can do?
Aaron Parnell (16:59):
Yes, as a matter of fact, there are two things
that I have. I have a freeworkout that's specific for
people who are wanting toimprove their immune system. And
so that will help you a lot. Ifyou go to my website,
theposturegenius.com. Just clickon and order the Super Heroes
(17:21):
Startup Bootcamp. But if youwant to help your posture,
especially if you sit for aliving, then order my workout
that's called 22 Days To GreatPosture Bootcamp. And every day,
you get one exercise to do twoor three times. And each one of
the 22 exercises improves yourposture in some specific way.
(17:45):
Some are flexibility, some arestrength, but what winds up
happening is you keep doingthese and your posture gets
better and better and better tothe point where you're just
about your maximum verticalheight that you're supposed to
have. And you have the freedomyou're supposed to have.
James Crow (18:04):
When you talk about this, the first thing that comes
to mind when I hear a lot ofexperts speaking is they talk
the talk, but they don't walkthe walk. Do you do follow
through? Do you do your ownexercises? It's something that
you take time to do?
Aaron Parnell (18:17):
Absolutely, yes.
In fact, I'm going to beteaching a class right after
this. In addition to my ownteaching class, what I find is
that if I have an ache or a painor something feels kind of stuck
and not moving, I know thespecific exercises to do. And I
do them regularly. Because ifyou look at the nature of my
work, I'm kind of leaned over atable like a chef might be
leaning over a table choppingall day. I'm constantly working
(18:40):
on a table that's, that's at theperfect ergonomic height for me
to use my weight to do the work.
But what winds up happening isyou know that my front muscles
get stronger. And I have to makesure that I posture optimised by
strengthening my back musclesand restoring the flexibility
back to my hips.
James Crow (19:01):
Last year, I think probably about a fifth of my
clients were massageprofessionals and
physiotherapists and other bodyworkers who were breaking
themselves working on otherpeople and everybody forgets to
look after themselves. I canclearly see you look after
yourself, Aaron because beforewe came on air, we were talking
about what you were doing. Youwere you're working with the
with the Olympics, the LosAngeles Olympics in the early
(19:24):
1980s. And frankly, folks, I'vejust turned 50 and Aaron looks
probably half my age. Sowhatever you're doing there it's
working well.
Aaron Parnell (19:34):
You know, when I was 26 I remember looking at a
slide with my blood on it and Iand I knew enough about
haematology that I this was notthe blood of a healthy person.
And I decided then that in orderto be as healthy as I would like
to be, you know when I'm 50 or60 I need to start now. I
(20:00):
decided to get healthier, 5%healthier every year for 20
years. And you know, as a matterof fact, that is a good thing
that I had that strategy becauseit's worked in my benefit. And
so time went by, but I didn'tage like people get old.
James Crow (20:19):
You're going to have to stop doing that, otherwise
you're gonna get so young,you're going to end up like a
toddler and then going throughthe birth process again. They'll
make a film about it. No, you'redefinitely looking looking well
for your age. Okay, so we've gota good idea about what you think
posture is. And I've got a goodidea about how you help people.
And we've talked about some ofthe ways online now that people
(20:41):
can get help. So my finalquestion is, for my listeners,
and those who aren't driving,obviously, if there's one thing
that they could do right now, tohelp with their posture, what
would that be,
Aaron Parnell (20:53):
Okay, improve your flexibility all over your
whole body. But most important,strengthen your posture muscles.
You have to make sure that ifyou have the balance of
strength, and flexibility, thatleaves you upright and enables
your bones to do the work ofweight bearing, then having
(21:14):
great posture is easy andeffortless for you.
James Crow (21:18):
I'd agree. On the flexibility side. So many people
at the moment are focusing onstrength and appearance for
photographs like on Instagramand stuff like that, and they
are neglecting their flexibilityand it is having a very negative
impact and will lead to injuryif they're not careful. And just
talking about ageing, onceyou're past your 20s, you're out
(21:39):
of warranty and if you don'tstart looking after your
flexibility it's downhill fromthere on.
Aaron Parnell (21:44):
Yes, yes indeed.
And, you know, way back in theday, people used to say you
should have good posture. Andthey even taught posture in the
schools. But then they stoppeddoing it. In fact, here in the
States, there used to be acontest of Miss Correct Posture.
And the the AmericanChiropractic Association used to
(22:05):
host it every year. And I don'tknow how long they did it, but
they stopped doing it in 1969,the year that Twiggy became the
role model for how people shouldlook, if they were going to be
cute. But then, you know, overthe years, we've had an
increasingly more sedentarylifestyle. So that's why I say
(22:28):
good posture is not good enough.
Good posture is what you canthink of when your parents walk
into the room. They say sit upstraight, you hold it for a
little while, and then you goright back to where you were
before, slouching. But that'swhy great posture should be the
new model for having posturethat sticks all the time and you
(22:55):
don't have to think about it.
James Crow (22:57):
Particularly as we're heading into this age of
virtual reality, people aregoing to be wearing virtual
reality headsets, they're goingto be lost in the internet, lost
in their phones a lot more. I'msure in years gone by, me saying
those words, I'll look like I'msomething out of the 1800s. But
if you've got natural goodposture, then that should look
after you during those thoseperiods of being in a virtual
(23:18):
world?
Aaron Parnell (23:19):
Yes, absolutely.
No matter what, people need tobe in touch with their bodies,
and they have to find a way todo that, whether it's some sport
or some activity, and I'm nottalking eSports. and there are
lots of great eSport. But eventhen, focusing, taking time away
from your game, or having morepeople develop games that make
(23:44):
you have better postureoptimization, you know, that
should be a goal, you know, youshould be able to play your game
with great posture, and have itbe part of the game.
James Crow (23:57):
Okay, so you're in Silicon Valley, all you have to
do now is get some some of thoseguys to build some games with
you that are going to helppeople's posture as well.
Aaron Parnell (24:05):
One day somebody is going to be listening to you.
Absolutely.
James Crow (24:07):
With regards to eSports. I'm hoping to speak
soon to a physiotherapist whoworks in eSports called Violeta
Ivanova. She's working witheSports people who are, a lot of
them are struggling dreadfullywith posture and pain because
they're lost in their game. Andit's all about winning in the
game, even if there's a physicalcost there, so it'll be
(24:28):
interesting to see what she'sgot to say about that as well.
Aaron Parnell (24:31):
Yes, indeed, indeed.
James Crow (24:33):
When I finish this podcast, I'm going to go and
have my tea. And I'm justthinking before I have my tea,
if there's one exercise that youwould recommend that I did, what
would that be? What's yourfavourite exercise?
Aaron Parnell (24:45):
My favourite exercise, if I was going to give
you only one is what I call thecross toe reach back. You have
your feet apart about twoshoulders plus apart, not quite
three shoulders, but two and ahalf shoulders is good. That's
really wide, with your feet,parallel toes pointing forward.
(25:10):
You take your right hand, youtwist and reach down and do what
you can to reach your leftankle. And then you go upright.
Swing your arms back,simultaneously in both arms,
yank your chest open. What thatdoes is restore flexibility to
(25:30):
the anterior chest musclesthere, your pec major pec minor,
anterior deltoid and biceps, butit also strengthens the muscles
that pull and hold yourshoulders back. And so you end
up strengthening your rhomboids,trapezius and latissimus dorsi
as well as erector spinae. So ifyou only had one exercise to do,
(25:52):
it would be that one.
James Crow (25:54):
Okay, so I'd be better off doing that before I
had my evening meal thanimmediately afterwards by the
sound of it.
Aaron Parnell (25:58):
Yes.
James Crow (26:02):
Aaron, Aaron, that's really useful. You've talked
over some really interestingpoints there. If people want to
find out more, where would theygo?
Aaron Parnell (26:10):
If you hit me back at aaron@reposturing.com
then you'll get you'll get myemail directly. If you go to my
website, theposturegenius.com,you'll find quite a bit more
(26:30):
information. You can follow meon Instagram. I'll be putting
something out on Twitter soon.
You can also follow me onFacebook as well.
James Crow (26:39):
Well, I hope that's been useful to our listeners.
And it's been very, veryinformative and lots of fun
speaking to you, Aaron. I'm justgoing to go and buy my plane
tickets now for a flight over tothe west coast of the US and
leave this dull northern weatherbehind here in the UK, and you
can treat me to a nice meal onthe beach, maybe something.
Aaron Parnell (27:00):
Thank you.
James Crow (27:00):
So it's been great speaking to you. Thanks so much
for coming on. This has been thePosture Stars podcast. Thanks
for listening. Bye bye
Hey everybody, its James from Posture Stars. Thanks
(00:02):
so much for coming on again.
Today I'm going to be talking tothe posture genius himself,
Aaron Parnell, who hails fromthe United States. Hi, Aaron,
how are you today?
Aaron Parnell (00:12):
Hello, thank you for having me on.
James Crow (00:14):
So pleased to have you. I've heard a lot about you,
you've got a great Instagramchannel, we've been watching you
on there as well. So it's adelight to have you on board. I
wanted to get an idea about howyou're helping people with
posture and some of therecommendations that you can
give to people today. So withoutfurther ado, Aaron, would you
like to introduce yourself andtell us a little bit about who
you are and where you work andwhat you do?
Aaron Parnell (00:37):
My name is Aaron Parnell. Some people call me the
Posture Genius. And that's myhandle on Instagram, if you're
looking looking me up. I am aposture therapist, expert, hands
on with the work that I do. AndI invented a word called
'reposturing'. It's a standalonetechnique, technology, that's
(01:01):
just as viable as Pilates or achiropractor, or even yoga. It's
got a wide breadth of contentand value. So that's about
reposturing and I own a naturalhealth Wellness Centre in
Silicon Valley.
James Crow (01:18):
So that's a popular place to have a Wellness Centre,
I'd imagine. I'd imagine it'sgoing really well.
Aaron Parnell (01:22):
Yes. Yes, it's fun work here. And at my centre.
I have chiropractic massage,Ayurveda acupuncture and of
course reposturing.
James Crow (01:34):
Okay so you're looking after all of those high
and mighty peeps from SiliconValley who are making the world
tick now. And you're keepingthem going whilst they're
building their amazing computerprogrammes.
Aaron Parnell (01:46):
Exactly. I have quite a few clients who work for
Apple, Oracle, Microsoft, andeven Google.
James Crow (01:53):
That sounds like a great client base. I wish I had
a few of those myself. I'll haveto I'll have to poach them from
you, Aaron.
Aaron Parnell (01:59):
Okay, yeah, come on down.
James Crow (02:01):
I'll take a trip over any day. For those people
listening. I'm in the north ofManchester and it is dark and
gloomy at the moment. Aaron isover on the west coast of the US
in lovely sunny weather, nodoubt, enjoying the best of it.
You mentioned that there arevarious modalities like yoga and
Pilates and they're verymainstream, and they're very
(02:21):
well known. Reposturing is yourown. And I haven't come across
that before I came across yourstuff on the internet. Perhaps
you could tell us a bit moreabout what reposturing is and
how you developed it.
Aaron Parnell (02:32):
At first, when I was helping athletes in the
Olympics in Los Angeles, I washelping them get the best out of
their sports performance, eitherfaster recovery, more
performance, longer duration ofbeing able to stay in the game
and stay sharp. And by the endof the Olympics, I really,
(02:54):
something woke up inside of me.
And I decided I really likeworking with people who are
trying to get the best out oftheir bodies. So wind the clock
forward, I get out of theOlympics, and I'm starting to
work with my clients who came tome to work with me not only just
for sports massage like they didbefore the Olympics, but they
started asking me to work outwith them. And I added the
exercise and fitness componentto the work I was doing on the
(03:16):
table. One of my clients is amarketing expert. And 10 years
later, he said, "You know,Aaron, this stuff is great. I've
talked to a lot of your clients,we have them as friends. And we
all agreed that this is not aregular massage, it's better
than sports massage. And onething that even though we all
get different results, we allagree that our posture gets
(03:40):
better. So why don't you callthis reposturing". And so that's
how the that's how the trademarkcame up, came about. Reposturing
is a synthesis of exercises, andhands on treatment or exercises
alone and stretches alone, thathelp to balance your body out.
It gives you what I refer to asposture optimization. And what
posture optimization is and Iknow you're going to get to that
(04:05):
question, what is it? Postureoptimization is the ideal
arrangement of your bones, youhave 206 balls at 637 muscles,
but there is a perfectarrangement for the bones to be
in, so that the bones do thework of weight-bearing and the
muscles do the work of movement.
James Crow (04:25):
I hear you there. So when I talk to an ergonomist and
I say what is posture, they talkabout posture in relation to a
workstation or a job and from achiropractic angle you're coming
straight in terms of (04:33):
here we are, here are your bones, here
are your muscles, let's makesure that they are functioning
optimally to give us theopportunity for best posture. Is
that right?
Aaron Parnell (04:43):
Effectively yes, but there's there's more to it
than that. Posture optimizationembraces and encompasses an
entire spectrum of how you woulduse posture. So yes, if you're
sitting at your desk, you wantto be upright with your head
upright and your head level sothat your eyes can see directly
across at your screen. However,if you're playing golf, there's
(05:04):
a different posture for golf.
And you can posture optimize forgolf, you can posture optimize
for equestrian sports and youcan posture, optimise for just
about anything you do. What youwant to do is restore your
body's weight-bearing andforce-transfer through the bones
and not through the muscles. Soyou don't have to think about it
if you have it right. And sothat's why reposturing includes
(05:26):
the exercises that strengthenthe posture muscles that keep
you upright, but also liberatesand provides flexibility to the
muscles that need to move. Sothat being upright with great
posture all the time is easy and
James Crow (05:44):
I'm sold Aaron, I'm getting on the plane in the next
effortless.
five minutes, I'll be with youin four and a half hours, you
can have a session, you can do asession on me it sounds great.
Well, that's really clear, thenso so you're working muscularly
you're working skeletally to getpeople set so that they can
apply themselves as best theycan to individual situations
like golfing, like horse riding,like a lot of our listeners
(06:07):
using a computer. So let's let'drill down on our very firs
question, then, which is suchbroad question, but you've got
great angle on it. And mquestion to you is what i
posture
Aaron Parnell (06:19):
Posture is the arrangement of bones, that
allows the muscles to do thework of movement, and the bones
to do the work of weight bearingand force transfer. Posture
also, without trying to get tooesoteric about it, posture can
also mean the effective way thatyou can transmit force to create
(06:43):
a result. So yes, indeed, youknow, military has posture and
when they talk about, you know,whether they're going to be set
up to go to war, or set up to beat peace, they talk about a
military posture or a politicalposture. You can have the
posture of fighting, and there'san optimal position for
(07:04):
fighting. So posture is morethan just, you know, you
standing up or sitting upstraight. Posture is how you
arrange your bones to transmitforce, energy and intention.
James Crow (07:17):
So a lot of people when they hear the word posture,
they immediately think of abefore and after image. And they
think that posture is the end,it's the end goal. And here what
we're talking about is thatposture is one of the means that
you can apply to achieve yourgoals in life.
Aaron Parnell (07:31):
That is correct.
Absolutely. So, Amy Cuddy gave agreat TED talk about how she
used posture to transformherself while she was in
college. And by changing herposture, she changed who she
was, so that by the time she gother degree, she was a completely
different person compared to whoshe was when she started.
James Crow (07:53):
If any of our listeners are looking for that,
if you look up Amy Cuddy on TEDtalk. Really, really popular TED
Talk there about power posturesand how you can improve your
life by improving your posture.
We're kind of in that area,aren't we Aaron, we love to
improve people's posture. It'ssuch a pleasure when you see
people who are struggling withpain and self image and other
life problems, because theirposture is bad, and then
(08:17):
improving their posture, all ofa sudden, a lot of their issues
are resolved and life becomes alot easier for them. And yet, so
few people talk about it becauseI think posture is such a broad
term and people see it as, youknow, do I look like a film star
in this photograph or don't I?
And they they forget that youknow, we have posture to load
(08:38):
the washing machine. We haveposture to drive our car and
they all have a big impact onhow we feel and and how much we
can achieve in life.
Aaron Parnell (08:45):
Yes, indeed. In fact, there are comparably as
many esoteric manifestations oraspects of posture as there are
physical and structural andmusculoskeletal. So, you know,
in my book, The SlouchingSuperheroes Guide to Achieving
Great Posture I talk in depthabout each one of these aspects.
(09:13):
Of course, yes, most people comewith their interest in posture
because they have a chronic painthat they want to alleviate. But
there's a posture for selfmastery, there's a posture for
beauty. And if you if you havepoor posture, no matter how
attractive you are, becauseposture is a dynamic thing, you
(09:37):
can get lost in looking sobeautiful, but being clumsy, and
you can lose your beauty thatway. You can have habits that
take that detract from yourbeauty.
James Crow (09:50):
Yeah, totally. I u derstand now what posture is
from an Aaron Parnell Posture Gnius point of view. Very go
d. My second question, which isa larger question is, so how ex
ctly do you help people with teir posture?
Aaron Parnell (10:24):
Two ways. So typically, someone calls me and
says, "Hey, Aaron, you know,I've got this ache or pain that
nobody else has been able tosolve. And I've been to 10
doctors about it but maybe it'sa posture issue, maybe you can
take a look at it". And so, thework that I do with reposturing
(10:45):
is hands on. So I'm typicallyisolating not only the
musculature, but the fascia thatgoes along with it. There's this
thing called myofascialmeridians. And if you ever get a
chance to look up or go to thewebsite, anatomytrains.com.
(11:06):
Thomas Myers has done amagnificent job at mapping out
all the myofascial meridians. SoI'm stretching the myofascial
meridians, as well as themusculature that's adjacent to
it, and are restoringflexibility and freedom to the
parts that are imbalanced bystrength. And I'm giving you
(11:27):
exercises to make sure that yourestore your flexibility, and
make sure that your body isflexible enough so that having
great posture is natural, easyand effortless for you. What I
find is that when people try tothink about their posture, then
(11:47):
it takesp them away from whatthey're focusing on. Like, if
you're driving and you'rethinking about your posture,
that's too much thinking aboutyour posture. I want you to
focus on being on the roadsafely. When you're at work, you
don't want to be thinking aboutyour posture, you want to be
thinking about your work. And ifI'm an employer, I want you to
be solely focused on gettingyour best work done for me. If
(12:09):
your posture comes to youeffortlessly and naturally, so
that you don't have to thinkabout it, that's the goal of
reposturing.
James Crow (12:16):
Great, so it's a bottom-up way of giving people
the capacity for good posture byensuring that physically they're
in the right place to to enablethat. Absolutely. I see some
people who've worked out a lotwho actually, it seems to me,
that their physical prowess isspoiling their posture. People
(12:37):
who have, you know, a great sixpack, but they're rounded over
like a pill bug or somethinglike that. Is that something you
come across?
Aaron Parnell (12:46):
Absolutely. In fact imagine a person who does
what I refer to as front loadedworkouts. That's the person who
goes to the gym, they do pushups, crunches, leg lifts,
planks, incline extensions,where their chest muscles are
(13:10):
pushing weight up. And whatwinds up happening is their
whole body is curled forward,and over time, they're actually
causing more problems thatthey're solving by doing the
workout. Very often, if you havepeople who spend more than 50%
of their time working on theirfront muscles, you're going to
(13:30):
have a person who's going to beimbalanced, and their back
muscles won't be able to holdthem upright. And over time,
they'll lose what I call theirvertical flexibility, their
ability to stand upright. And soyes, this is a big problem. And
it's one I hope to be part ofthe solution for.
James Crow (13:47):
Okay, so people who are working out, your suggestion
is that they make sure thatthey're not just front-focusing
that they're giving themselves arounded holistic workout
session.
Aaron Parnell (13:57):
If your back muscles are weak, you want to
make sure you strengthen theback muscles that pull your body
upright. And you know, we've gottwo sets of back muscles, I
grouped them in twos. There aresome back muscles that pull your
body upright. And for the forthe geeks out there, it's the
erector spinae group, thequadratus lumborum, and
(14:22):
latissimus dorsi to some to somedegree. But then you also have
muscles that go across and theseare rhomboid major, rhomboid
minor and trapezius, mainlyupper trapezius and middle
trapezius, that pull the upperbody and pull the shoulders
back. So you want to make surethat these muscles are strong
enough to do their job, so thatthe shoulders wind up behind
(14:45):
your body's midline. And if yourworkout doesn't do that for you,
if your workout pulls your bodytoo far forward, it will never
achieve the balance that it'ssupposed to have.
James Crow (14:56):
So assume now that Apple and Google listen to this
podcast and they say "Hey, thatJames Crow, he's amazing. We're
going to fly him out to SiliconValley. And we're going to give
him a job in one of our offices.
And then I spend several yearsworking at a desk or working
from my home office at the desk,and I'm so busy that I haven't
got time to work out. And I ringyou up and I say "Aaron, Aaron,
I'm ruined. Look at the state ofme". And I come into your
(15:17):
clinic. What would you do withme?
Aaron Parnell (15:21):
On a first session, we'll take
measurements, photos and videoof how your body is right when
you come with us. Of course wedo a initial consultation where
I want to know your life story.
Were you involved in a sports?
Which sport? Did you have anycar accidents or injuries that
(15:41):
might affect how your body istoday. And I put all of those
into a composite of a treatmentplan. And the hands on treatment
might involve unravelling thelegs so that they fit better in
the hips. And opening up the ribcage, restoring the
expansiveness of the rib cageand shoulders. So it looks like
(16:05):
somebody is doing a facilitatedstretch, or like somebody doing
yoga to you on a treatmenttable, in a much more specific
way. And in a much morepersonalised way then than say a
Thai massage might be, wherethey have routines that they do,
but they're not specific tocreate a result that
structurally specific.
James Crow (16:26):
I had a Thai massage. About a year ago, I had
a few, I really enjoyed them andthe first time I went, it was a
one size fits all massage. And Iswear they nearly broke me. I
came out of there, absolutelydestroyed. So I'm glad to see
you taking someone's history andtaking notes of how they need to
be helped. A lot of peoplenowadays, they're working from
(16:47):
home more often, if someonewanted to take advice from you,
and they were working from home,they weren't able to come into
your clinic, how would you helpthat sort of person? Is that
something you can do?
Aaron Parnell (16:59):
Yes, as a matter of fact, there are two things
that I have. I have a freeworkout that's specific for
people who are wanting toimprove their immune system. And
so that will help you a lot. Ifyou go to my website,
theposturegenius.com. Just clickon and order the Super Heroes
(17:21):
Startup Bootcamp. But if youwant to help your posture,
especially if you sit for aliving, then order my workout
that's called 22 Days To GreatPosture Bootcamp. And every day,
you get one exercise to do twoor three times. And each one of
the 22 exercises improves yourposture in some specific way.
(17:45):
Some are flexibility, some arestrength, but what winds up
happening is you keep doingthese and your posture gets
better and better and better tothe point where you're just
about your maximum verticalheight that you're supposed to
have. And you have the freedomyou're supposed to have.
James Crow (18:04):
When you talk about this, the first thing that comes
to mind when I hear a lot ofexperts speaking is they talk
the talk, but they don't walkthe walk. Do you do follow
through? Do you do your ownexercises? It's something that
you take time to do?
Aaron Parnell (18:17):
Absolutely, yes.
In fact, I'm going to beteaching a class right after
this. In addition to my ownteaching class, what I find is
that if I have an ache or a painor something feels kind of stuck
and not moving, I know thespecific exercises to do. And I
do them regularly. Because ifyou look at the nature of my
work, I'm kind of leaned over atable like a chef might be
leaning over a table choppingall day. I'm constantly working
(18:40):
on a table that's, that's at theperfect ergonomic height for me
to use my weight to do the work.
But what winds up happening isyou know that my front muscles
get stronger. And I have to makesure that I posture optimised by
strengthening my back musclesand restoring the flexibility
back to my hips.
James Crow (19:01):
Last year, I think probably about a fifth of my
clients were massageprofessionals and
physiotherapists and other bodyworkers who were breaking
themselves working on otherpeople and everybody forgets to
look after themselves. I canclearly see you look after
yourself, Aaron because beforewe came on air, we were talking
about what you were doing. Youwere you're working with the
with the Olympics, the LosAngeles Olympics in the early
(19:24):
1980s. And frankly, folks, I'vejust turned 50 and Aaron looks
probably half my age. Sowhatever you're doing there it's
working well.
Aaron Parnell (19:34):
You know, when I was 26 I remember looking at a
slide with my blood on it and Iand I knew enough about
haematology that I this was notthe blood of a healthy person.
And I decided then that in orderto be as healthy as I would like
to be, you know when I'm 50 or60 I need to start now. I
(20:00):
decided to get healthier, 5%healthier every year for 20
years. And you know, as a matterof fact, that is a good thing
that I had that strategy becauseit's worked in my benefit. And
so time went by, but I didn'tage like people get old.
James Crow (20:19):
You're going to have to stop doing that, otherwise
you're gonna get so young,you're going to end up like a
toddler and then going throughthe birth process again. They'll
make a film about it. No, you'redefinitely looking looking well
for your age. Okay, so we've gota good idea about what you think
posture is. And I've got a goodidea about how you help people.
And we've talked about some ofthe ways online now that people
(20:41):
can get help. So my finalquestion is, for my listeners,
and those who aren't driving,obviously, if there's one thing
that they could do right now, tohelp with their posture, what
would that be,
Aaron Parnell (20:53):
Okay, improve your flexibility all over your
whole body. But most important,strengthen your posture muscles.
You have to make sure that ifyou have the balance of
strength, and flexibility, thatleaves you upright and enables
your bones to do the work ofweight bearing, then having
(21:14):
great posture is easy andeffortless for you.
James Crow (21:18):
I'd agree. On the flexibility side. So many people
at the moment are focusing onstrength and appearance for
photographs like on Instagramand stuff like that, and they
are neglecting their flexibilityand it is having a very negative
impact and will lead to injuryif they're not careful. And just
talking about ageing, onceyou're past your 20s, you're out
(21:39):
of warranty and if you don'tstart looking after your
flexibility it's downhill fromthere on.
Aaron Parnell (21:44):
Yes, yes indeed.
And, you know, way back in theday, people used to say you
should have good posture. Andthey even taught posture in the
schools. But then they stoppeddoing it. In fact, here in the
States, there used to be acontest of Miss Correct Posture.
And the the AmericanChiropractic Association used to
(22:05):
host it every year. And I don'tknow how long they did it, but
they stopped doing it in 1969,the year that Twiggy became the
role model for how people shouldlook, if they were going to be
cute. But then, you know, overthe years, we've had an
increasingly more sedentarylifestyle. So that's why I say
(22:28):
good posture is not good enough.
Good posture is what you canthink of when your parents walk
into the room. They say sit upstraight, you hold it for a
little while, and then you goright back to where you were
before, slouching. But that'swhy great posture should be the
new model for having posturethat sticks all the time and you
(22:55):
don't have to think about it.
James Crow (22:57):
Particularly as we're heading into this age of
virtual reality, people aregoing to be wearing virtual
reality headsets, they're goingto be lost in the internet, lost
in their phones a lot more. I'msure in years gone by, me saying
those words, I'll look like I'msomething out of the 1800s. But
if you've got natural goodposture, then that should look
after you during those thoseperiods of being in a virtual
(23:18):
world?
Aaron Parnell (23:19):
Yes, absolutely.
No matter what, people need tobe in touch with their bodies,
and they have to find a way todo that, whether it's some sport
or some activity, and I'm nottalking eSports. and there are
lots of great eSport. But eventhen, focusing, taking time away
from your game, or having morepeople develop games that make
(23:44):
you have better postureoptimization, you know, that
should be a goal, you know, youshould be able to play your game
with great posture, and have itbe part of the game.
James Crow (23:57):
Okay, so you're in Silicon Valley, all you have to
do now is get some some of thoseguys to build some games with
you that are going to helppeople's posture as well.
Aaron Parnell (24:05):
One day somebody is going to be listening to you.
Absolutely.
James Crow (24:07):
With regards to eSports. I'm hoping to speak
soon to a physiotherapist whoworks in eSports called Violeta
Ivanova. She's working witheSports people who are, a lot of
them are struggling dreadfullywith posture and pain because
they're lost in their game. Andit's all about winning in the
game, even if there's a physicalcost there, so it'll be
(24:28):
interesting to see what she'sgot to say about that as well.
Aaron Parnell (24:31):
Yes, indeed, indeed.
James Crow (24:33):
When I finish this podcast, I'm going to go and
have my tea. And I'm justthinking before I have my tea,
if there's one exercise that youwould recommend that I did, what
would that be? What's yourfavourite exercise?
Aaron Parnell (24:45):
My favourite exercise, if I was going to give
you only one is what I call thecross toe reach back. You have
your feet apart about twoshoulders plus apart, not quite
three shoulders, but two and ahalf shoulders is good. That's
really wide, with your feet,parallel toes pointing forward.
(25:10):
You take your right hand, youtwist and reach down and do what
you can to reach your leftankle. And then you go upright.
Swing your arms back,simultaneously in both arms,
yank your chest open. What thatdoes is restore flexibility to
(25:30):
the anterior chest musclesthere, your pec major pec minor,
anterior deltoid and biceps, butit also strengthens the muscles
that pull and hold yourshoulders back. And so you end
up strengthening your rhomboids,trapezius and latissimus dorsi
as well as erector spinae. So ifyou only had one exercise to do,
(25:52):
it would be that one.
James Crow (25:54):
Okay, so I'd be better off doing that before I
had my evening meal thanimmediately afterwards by the
sound of it.
Aaron Parnell (25:58):
Yes.
James Crow (26:02):
Aaron, Aaron, that's really useful. You've talked
over some really interestingpoints there. If people want to
find out more, where would theygo?
Aaron Parnell (26:10):
If you hit me back at aaron@reposturing.com
then you'll get you'll get myemail directly. If you go to my
website, theposturegenius.com,you'll find quite a bit more
(26:30):
information. You can follow meon Instagram. I'll be putting
something out on Twitter soon.
You can also follow me onFacebook as well.
James Crow (26:39):
Well, I hope that's been useful to our listeners.
And it's been very, veryinformative and lots of fun
speaking to you, Aaron. I'm justgoing to go and buy my plane
tickets now for a flight over tothe west coast of the US and
leave this dull northern weatherbehind here in the UK, and you
can treat me to a nice meal onthe beach, maybe something.
Aaron Parnell (27:00):
Thank you.
James Crow (27:00):
So it's been great speaking to you. Thanks so much
for coming on. This has been thePosture Stars podcast. Thanks
for listening. Bye bye
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