What Is Ideal Posture?

A couple of weeks ago, Troy created a blog post about training the handstand.  Obviously, as coaches, our goal is to help the gymnasts develop a handstand that is straight as possible.  But, just what exactly is ideal posture???

Well, ideal posture is defined as a straight line passing through….

Photo taken from:

Oatis, C.A. Kinesiology:  The Mechanics & Pathomechanics of Human  Movement, 5th ed. Lippincott et al., 2004.

• the ear lobe
• the bodies of the cervical vertebrae
• the tip of the shoulder
• mid-way through the thorax
• the bodies of the lumbar vertebrae
• slightly posterior (behind) to the hip joint
• slightly anterior (in front of) to knee joint axis
• slightly anterior to the lateral malleolus (ankle bone)

One thing worth mentioning is this – if your athletes can’t stand up straight, how can you expect them to be straight when they are upside down on their hands?

I think that handstand development begins by correcting posture and alignment in a standing position as well as both prone (on the belly) and supine (on the back).

Explore posts in the same categories: Anatomy, Biomechanics, Training