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Summary
On episode 592 of 40+ Fitness, Coach Allan sits down with Katy Bowman, a best-selling author and movement educator whose 10 books, including the groundbreaking Move Your DNA, have been translated into more than 16 languages, and who consults with companies and communities on designing movement-rich spaces.
Katy’s argument: alignment, not posture, is what actually matters, because the orientation of your body affects how it functions, the same way the angle of a machine affects how it runs. Her book Rethink Your Position opens with a head and neck realignment exercise, deliberately working top to bottom instead of the usual bottom-up approach, so the reader starts changing their body while still reading about it.
The conversation covers “tech neck” and why it now shows up in teenagers, the line “the ligaments are not the brakes of the joint, the muscles are,” and why getting down on the floor and back up again is one of the most valuable exercises available.
Links
- https://rypbook.com
- Episode 236 – Dynamic Aging with Katy Bowman
Key Takeaways
- Alignment is about function, not how you look. Posture is about appearance, but alignment determines how your body actually works, the same way the angle of a coffee maker or a car’s wheels changes how well they perform.
- “Tech neck” is really an old problem with a new name. It’s the same hyperkyphosis (rounded upper back) and hyperlordosis (deepened neck curve) doctors used to see mostly in the very old; now it shows up in teenagers and 20-year-olds from looking down at phones.
- One simple wall exercise fixes 2 curves at once. Standing against a wall, sliding your head back and up (not tipping the chin) while keeping your mid-back against the wall reduces both the upper-back curve and the neck curve in a single move, and can even restore lost height.
- “The ligaments are not the brakes of the joint. The muscles are.” When muscles aren’t strong enough to control a movement, the body falls back on ligaments and connective tissue to absorb impact, like relying on a seatbelt instead of the brakes; ligaments don’t adapt and strengthen the way muscle does, so repeated reliance on them leads to injury.
- Chair culture has switched off the glutes and hamstrings. Sitting with hips and knees at the same height for most of the day means the front of the thigh does most of the work, so the muscles built to lower the body down stairs or hills, the glutes and hamstrings, go underused and knee pain follows, especially going downhill.
- The floor is one of the best pieces of exercise equipment you own. Getting down to the floor and back up mobilizes multiple joints and builds real functional strength, and simply sitting on the floor rather than a cushioned chair restores pressure input the body needs and rarely gets.
- Movement is a feedback loop, not just a health checkbox. Moving your body in a certain way makes you more able to move that way again, which means limbs that have lost function can often be restored gradually through movement rather than avoided altogether.
- Katy’s three strategies to get and stay well: get movement outside every day, even if it’s just a walk or gardening; add community to your movement time so you’re supported and more consistent; and practice daily gratitude for what your body can currently do, especially before an injury makes you miss it.
“The ligaments are not the brakes of the joint. The muscles are.”
Katy Bowman
Another Episode You May Enjoy
Episode 638 – How to break through your health plateaus with Daniella Forrest
Episode Notes
Podcast: 40+ Fitness
Episode: 592
Published: 2023-05-30
Host: Allan Misner (aka Coach Allan), author of The Wellness Roadmap
Guest(s): Katy Bowman, a best-selling author, speaker, and a leader of the movement movement, Rethink Your Position
Listen & Subscribe: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · YouTube (audio only)