Is Perfect Posture the New Six-Pack? 3 Ways to Straighten Up

A ribbed sweater at Loewe, slashed below the collarbone. A white bolero blouse at Proenza Schouler dripping off both arms. If the Spring 2016 collections are any indication, the shoulder is the new décolletage. And much like the crop top and toned abs before it, the shoulder-baring piece brings with it a new yen: for perfect posture and the strong, straight neck and shoulders that come with it.

Acquiring the season’s most coveted pieces before they sell out will be easier than striking and holding the regal pose they require—particularly for people like myself, who spend a lot of time in front of screens. Over the years my own posture has taken on a sort of hunched resting state—with an alarmingly crooked neck. But with party season in full swing and off-the-shoulder frocks in my future, I decided it was high time I straightened myself out.

The Pilates Class

First on the list is New York Pilates’s new Soho studio, a bright white space scattered with calming  quartz crystals and potted succulents, for a private Reformer II class. Here I will attempt to fix what founder Heather Andersen refers to as “the Instagram pose”—the forward head and shoulders position common to users scrolling through the app—by building strength in my upper back and core. “It’s not a situation where you have to think about standing straight,” says Andersen. “[Pilates builds] this structure that holds you up.”

And with that I’m sent into the studio with trainer Katherine Williams for a full-body workout focused on shoulder stability. As Williams guides me through the seemingly simple exercises, I focus on stretching my chest open and squeezing my shoulder blades together, which she tells me to sink down my back “rather than letting them creep up like [you’re] sitting at a desk.” Miraculously, it works: With Williams’s gentle prompting, I become more conscious of my shoulders tensing forward and drop them during class and in the hours that follow.

The Massage

Before leaving, Andersen tells me that it’s important to stretch out my muscles before I begin strengthening them, particularly in the chest. “Once you address the tightness, your posture can change rapidly,” she says, suggesting a visit to see a massage therapist. At Haven’s new Soho spa, I meet Wanda McMonagle, who specializes in The Geek Massage, a 60-minute treatment that targets the upper back, neck, shoulders, and chest—areas affected by long hours in front of the computer. “We do a lot of these, what with everyone hunched over their desks all day,” she says. “Half of the city is walking around like Quasimodo, if you get my drift.”

After a quick evaluation, McMonagle declares me the New York normal in terms of muscle tension. “That snap, crackle, pop, those are the knots,” she says, driving a tennis-ball-like device into my shoulder blade. “The knots are adhesions that build up and push your shoulder forward, so by removing them, you improve your posture.” Next comes a series of deep chest and shoulder stretches, followed by a hot towel to relax the muscles. I feel incredibly loose. “We have to get you in here once a month, and we’ll sort you out,” she says. No arguments here.

The Posture Tracker

To carry my practice beyond the studio and massage table, I turn to Lumo Lift, a wearable posture tracker that senses when your body slouches forward and vibrates sharply in response. Though the company launched its first device two years ago—the Lumo Back, which focused on the lower back—last year’s Lumo Lift is a gadget that clips just below the collarbone. By tracking your upper torso, “[It] helps you create positive muscle memory to re-elongate your back muscles and chest and get rid of that hunched-over look,” says cofounder Monisha Perkash.

A two-minute reminder is recommended, but I set the response time to instant so that the second I begin to slouch, it buzzes. At first, it’s a fun challenge and I emerge from the day with more than seven hours of excellent posture. But before long it gets irritating. When I’m stressed, it’s soothing to crouch forward—it may be wrong, but it feels natural. I scale my Lumo use back and decide to keep my own watchful eye on the curve of my spine.

Now, over a week later, I realize that I am more aware of my body. Even without the vibrations, I pull my shoulders back more, and when I look in the mirror, my neck is lifted, straighter than it was. I made a resolution: By the time spring arrives, these shoulders will be flawless—and bare.

The post Is Perfect Posture the New Six-Pack? 3 Ways to Straighten Up appeared first on Vogue.