We have all played Jenga. It doesn’t take much to balance a structure, the same is true for collapse. When it comes to standing, we have it all wrong. Standing is not linear—there are necessary breaks in the plumb-line of energy of the standing human body. No matter what level of physical activity we engage in, what we do in-between action is more important than any amount of formal ‘training;’ this is incessantly overlooked.
I stopped massaging for an array of reasons a few years ago. (I’m rested up, and back at it part-time). Massage therapy requires me to be hands-on for almost the full duration of a treatment, with only a tiny amount of time to talk and teach at the end. Sadly, much of the treatment can be prevented, the intervention can be intervened, if the client is taught how to move! Part of my leave was my need to go teach people how to move, to use my observations and my voice. Not just the fancy moves. Students’ eyes grow brightest when they learn to stand and walk. All fancy movement is based on the ability to be agile and attentive. We must learn to stand on legs before we walk, run, stand on hands. Horse. Before. Cart.
Standing: a how-to from bottom-up
40% of weight distributed throughout toes and balls of feet, 60% in heels. Start there. If all or too much weight is in the heels, it is far too tempting to straighten the knees, which we absolutely do not want. I’ll get to why. Another reason to have 40% of your weight in your toes and balls of feet is to be ready to move forward. When moving forward, one heel plucks up off the ground so the balls of feet and toes can lead. Horse before cart. In stillness, ready at any moment to move.
Shins (lower leg bones), are slightly ahead of heels/ankles, at ALL times. This comes from a tiny bend in the knee joints that is led by the shins, ie the lower leg. LIFE IN THE LOWER LEG. Say it with me!
The front of our shins are largely covered by a muscle called the tibialis anterior. “Tibialis” referring to tibia (shin bone), “anterior” referring to front. The main action of the tibialis anterior is to pull to the top of the foot back toward the shin, a precious movement called dorsiflexion. In standing properly, we can hack this movement. Rather than pulling the top of the foot to the shin, we place the shin slightly forward, as discussed above as a tiny bend in the knees joints that is led by the shins.
Having the shins forward of heels/ankles subtly tones the tibialis anterior; it will take thinking and feeling, two things I think we all need more of. Thinking and feeling.
All muscles can do what I call “moving without moving,” the clinical term is isometric contraction: the thinking and feeling experience. A plank is a straight and narrow example of a full body isometric contraction; you’re not going anywhere, but things are happening.
In standing, the beautiful and invaluable thing about thinking and feeling our shins forward, is that the subtle tone in the FRONT of our lower legs will help relax and lengthen our achilles tendon which is on the back of our lower legs. Just standing and thinking and feeling the front of our lower legs going forward, calms and benefits the achilles tendon. It takes achilles off-guard so it can be more melty and springy when we go to take that step. We are talking about standing, but walking should be quiet. If your footsteps are loud, you are not heavy, something is wrong. Something is not-happening or not-giving. If your achilles is thick and unmoving, you’re likely smashing your heels into the ground when you take your steps and that impact is absorbed by your entire body instead of your achilles absorbing and dissolving it for you. You probably have a sore low back, or you get sore in your low back when walking long distances.
Try it.
Before we move on, in a seated position in your chair, wiggle to the middle or end of your chair and ground your heels. Keep your heels grounded and ‘tap’ both feet rapidly 10-20x, like you’re tapping along to a beat, or like you’re waiting impatiently. Feel how the front of the shins or ankles warms up or tires out? That’s your tibialis anterior! Keep the feeling of that heat.
Now stand up. Spread your toes, get 40% of your weight spread throughout toes and balls of feet, 60% in heels. Keep feet strong, and go ahead…from those now-warm tibialis anteriors, move those shins ever so slightly forward, causing a tiny bend in the knees, and a nice thinking feeling in the shins.
While reading, perhaps you stay standing, or stand intermittently to test out these theories.
Keep:
-60% of weight in heels
-40% in balls of feet and toes
-add that new feeling of shins shifting forward to give you a slight bend in the knees
Moving up the chain, let your hamstrings, the big muscles on the backs of the upper leg bones “catch” you. Feel your new sensation of the shins moving forward, then counter it, with the tiniest feeling of your hamstrings pulling back…like they are fighting you from falling forever forward.
To find your hamstrings, seated or standing, truly pretend you’re scuffing gum off the bottom of your foot. As you pull and scuff one or both feet on the ground, feel the drag happening in the back of your leg. Those are your hamstrings!
There is more to say about the pelvis, but if you’ve got shins forward, hamstrings pulling back without straightening the knees, your legs are well set! Next, integrate the arms with the legs finding giant torso muscles called your lats! Lats are felt most and cued most at the armpits; the muscle, on each side, goes from upper arm bone to hip. Maybe you’ve heard of a lat-pull-down? Lats pull arms to your sides. To find your lats, while standing, float your arms just lightly off your body, at a slack ‘A’ off of your body’s frame. Picture rolled newspapers under each armpit, newspapers you want to carry around with you. Now pull your arms into your body as if to clutch those newspapers. The squeeze you feel in your sides or armpits is your lats.
Standing is, altogether:
-60% of weight in heels
-40% in balls of feet and toes
-shins (tibialis anteriors) nudging forward
-hamstrings pulling backward
-arms (lats) pulling down
There are multiple in-betweens in the above list, but doing just these will honestly “fix” the other stuff. I’ve witnessed it. If you get the above stuff, the rest will “happen.”
One final quick mention, much like the knees are not straight…the middle back is not straight. It is a common over-correction in attempting better posture to straighten the spine. Don’t do it. It’s a lie. Your spine is not straight, don’t force it straight. A straight spine is an immobile spine. In the middle back especially.
If you can squeeze one more bit of effort out of standing, as you pull arms down as if to clutch those newspapers under your arms, spread the back ribs, and YES, stick your middle back a little but OUT. It is subtle, tricky, but wholesome and good.
I hope you enjoy conscious standing and use it as often as possible to heighten your awareness and eliminate bad habits and future injuries. Watch this video for a review of the fine points: