Can better posture actually change your body shape? Yes, it can change how your body looks immediately, and over time the way you habitually stand, sit and move influences which muscles you use, how you carry yourself and where you place pressure through your body.
This is something I spend a surprising amount of time discussing during my nutrition and behavioural-change appointments. People expect me to look at their nutrition, body composition, skeletal muscle, exercise and lifestyle, but I also watch how they stand and how they walk because sometimes somebody doesn’t need to change their body before they can change the way their body looks. They need to change the way they are carrying it.
This is also why I focus on more than weight alone, as I explain in Weight Loss vs Body Composition: Why the Scales Don’t Tell the Full Story.
Can poor posture make your stomach look bigger?
Yes. Poor posture can make the stomach appear more prominent without any increase in body fat.
Stand sideways in front of a mirror and deliberately collapse into the posture many of us adopt at a computer. Let your head move forwards, round your shoulders, allow your chest to drop and relax your abdominal wall. Your stomach immediately looks more prominent, yet you haven’t gained a gram of body fat.
Now stand properly. Bring the head back over the body, allow the shoulders to sit naturally down and back, lengthen through the spine and engage the abdominal wall and pelvic floor rather than simply letting everything hang forwards. Your body hasn’t changed, but its appearance has.
That distinction matters enormously to me. We spend so much time discussing body fat and body weight that we sometimes forget that alignment, muscle recruitment and posture also contribute to the silhouette we see in the mirror.
Of course, posture is not the only reason the stomach can change in midlife. I explore the broader role of hormones, body composition, skeletal muscle and lifestyle in Why Belly Fat Increases in Midlife and What Actually Helps.
What does sitting all day do to your posture?
Sitting does not automatically cause permanent poor posture, but spending long periods in the same position can encourage the head to drift forwards, the shoulders to round and important muscles to spend less time working.
Modern working life has created a rather peculiar situation in which an otherwise healthy human being can spend most of the day sitting in front of a screen. Hours in the same position can encourage the head to move forwards and the shoulders to round, particularly when the computer itself is badly positioned.
The human head weighs roughly 10–12 lbs, and it is designed to be supported over the spine rather than continually carried forwards. Research into forward-head posture shows that changing the position of the head can affect muscle activity, proprioception and the mechanics of the neck. Research has also found an association between greater forward-head posture and neck pain.
This is one reason I notice people’s heads and shoulders almost immediately. If the head is sitting forwards for hours every day, the rest of the body has to accommodate it.
Posture isn’t a collection of separate body parts; the head, rib cage, spine, pelvis and lower body all have to work together.
Can sitting all day weaken your glutes?
Prolonged sitting means the gluteal muscles spend less time performing the jobs they would normally do during standing, walking, climbing and other movement.
People often use the rather wonderful expression “lazy glutes”. Your gluteal muscles haven’t actually become lazy in the human sense of the word, but prolonged sitting means they are simply not being asked to perform their usual role.
Then I watch what happens when somebody gets up. Some people continue to carry their weight forwards and perform almost everything through their quadriceps rather than using their hips and glutes effectively.
They stand forwards, walk forwards and exercise forwards, then wonder why their thighs are doing so much of the work.
How can you activate your glutes properly?
Activating the glutes is not simply about performing more exercises. It is about learning to move through the hips correctly so the gluteal muscles perform the work they are supposed to do.
This is where technique becomes enormously important. Learning to use the hips and glutes properly can change how somebody performs an exercise and how force is distributed through the lower body.
I don’t simply want somebody doing more exercise; I want the right muscles doing the exercise.
Strengthening the glutes, improving posture and using slow, controlled resistance movements can also contribute to a firmer and better-balanced body shape. I explore this further in How to Look Lean and Toned After Losing Weight.
Can posture affect your knees?
Yes. Posture and movement patterns can influence how pressure is distributed through the hips, knees, ankles and feet.
This is another area where I spend a great deal of time correcting technique. If somebody is habitually quad dominant, many everyday movements and exercises can place greater emphasis on the front of the thighs.
Changing the way they load through the hips, knees and feet can encourage a better contribution from the gluteal muscles and change the way the movement feels.
For somebody who wants to change the appearance of their thighs, simply doing more and more thigh exercises isn’t necessarily the answer. I want to understand how they stand, how they walk, whether they can recruit their glutes and whether the exercises they are doing are reinforcing the very movement pattern we are trying to change.
The same principle matters for the knees. Good movement isn’t about forcing your weight backwards or adopting one rigid “perfect” posture. It is about learning how to distribute load effectively and allowing the hips, knees and ankles to work together rather than repeatedly overloading one area.
How can you improve your standing desk posture?
A standing desk can help improve working posture, but only when it is set up properly and used as an opportunity to change position regularly.
I encourage many clients to have access to a standing desk because it gives them an alternative to spending the entire working day sitting. I don’t want somebody standing like a soldier for eight hours either.
The great advantage is being able to change position regularly, stand for periods of the day, sit when appropriate and continue moving.
Research into standing desks is interesting. A small study involving people with forward-head posture found that using a standing desk improved head and neck alignment and reduced some measures of muscle fatigue and discomfort compared with conventional sitting.
It was a relatively small study, involving 24 participants, so I wouldn’t pretend a standing desk is a medical miracle. However, it supports something I have observed for years: changing the working position can change the way people hold and use their bodies.
The desk itself also needs to be set up properly. Standing whilst leaning forwards into a laptop simply creates a different version of poor posture.
The screen should allow the head to remain comfortably aligned, the shoulders should be relaxed and, most importantly, you should continue to move.
Does better posture give you more energy?
Better posture does not create energy by magic, but standing comfortably and changing position throughout the day creates more opportunities for movement than remaining collapsed in a chair.
This is where posture becomes about much more than appearance. Standing naturally creates more opportunity for movement than remaining seated, and changing position throughout the day breaks up long periods of sedentary behaviour.
There is also something I observe repeatedly with clients: the way we hold ourselves affects how we feel about ourselves.
Somebody who gets up from the desk, opens their chest, looks forwards and moves around the room generally presents very differently from somebody who has spent hours collapsed over a screen.
I don’t separate physical health from behavioural change because in real life they aren’t separate. Energy affects movement, movement affects mood, stress affects posture and posture can influence how confident and energetic somebody feels.
The body is one system, not a collection of unrelated departments.
What is good standing posture?
Good standing posture is not about forcing your body into one rigid position. It is about organising the body efficiently while remaining comfortable and able to move naturally.
I don’t particularly like the idea of one rigid “perfect posture” because human beings are supposed to move. Good posture is not standing frozen in one position all day.
When I work on standing posture with a client, I want the head comfortably aligned over the torso, the shoulders relaxed rather than pulled aggressively backwards, the rib cage and pelvis well positioned, the abdominal wall and pelvic floor able to engage, and the feet providing a stable base.
From there we can look at how the person actually moves, because somebody can look perfectly aligned for a photograph and then return immediately to the same old movement pattern when they start walking.
How can you improve your posture in midlife?
Begin by becoming aware of what you currently do rather than trying to force yourself into a completely new position overnight.
Look at yourself sideways in a mirror. Notice where your head sits, what your shoulders are doing, whether your stomach is simply hanging forwards and whether you habitually shift your weight towards the front of your feet.
Then look at your working day. If you spend hours at a desk, create opportunities to change position. Use a sit-stand desk if you can, position your screen properly, stand for telephone calls, walk around between meetings and stop assuming that sitting perfectly still for eight hours is normal simply because everybody else in the office is doing it.
Finally, learn to use your muscles properly. Resistance exercise becomes increasingly important in midlife, but technique matters.
Building stronger glutes, maintaining skeletal muscle, improving core control and learning how to move through the hips can all contribute to a stronger and better-functioning body.
These changes become especially important as we age, which I discuss in Why Women Over 40 Gain Weight and How to Reverse It.
Can posture change your body shape over time?
Posture can change the way your existing body presents itself almost immediately. Over time, better movement patterns and stronger supporting muscles can also influence your strength, function and the way you carry yourself.
After more than sixteen years working in nutrition, exercise and behavioural change, this is why I don’t look at somebody’s food and stop there.
I look at body composition, skeletal muscle, lifestyle, stress, movement, posture and gait because all of them tell me something about the person standing in front of me.
Sometimes people believe they need to change their entire body when the first thing they need to change is simply how they are using it.
And occasionally the quickest way to look different in the mirror really is just to stand up properly.
If you would like personal guidance with posture, exercise technique, body refinement and using the right muscles correctly, my private exercise appointments are available in Chelsea or online via Zoom.
