Why Getting Stronger or More Flexible Isn’t Enough
Frank Bruno, the former heavyweight champion, cut a paradoxical figure at a recent awards show. In his 60s, he still had the formidable build of a man who never left the gym. Yet his posture told another story: a stooped silhouette and the forward head tilt of spinal stress.
It would be easy for the yoga and Pilates crowd to shake their heads and say: not us. Their disciplines are synonymous with posture and alignment. But the uncomfortable truth is that the same slump can creep into a mat practice just as easily as into a weight room. The body is brilliant at adapting — and unless we train the right systems, it falls back on the path of least resistance.
The Muscle Imbalance You Don’t See
Czech neurologist Vladimir Janda described the split:
- Tonic muscles — postural workhorses like pecs, traps, and hip flexors — tend to tighten.
- Phasic muscles — stabilisers and fine-tuners like the rhomboids, lower traps, and deep spinal stabilisers — tend to weaken.
These phasic muscles don’t literally “switch off.” The nervous system lets the stronger tonic muscles take over. The body cheats.
Short-term, that works. You can still lift, stretch, and move. But the cost is high: the dominant muscles stiffen, the stabilisers weaken further, and posture quietly unravels.
The multifidus, a deep spinal stabiliser running like scaffolding along the vertebrae, is a prime example. When it fades into the background, balance and control suffer. Yet it’s rarely re-engaged by standard gym routines, yoga flows, or Pilates sequences unless deliberately targeted.
The Frank Bruno Paradox: Strength Reinforcing Dysfunction
Bruno’s likely training — heavy bench presses, curls, shoulder work — strengthened the “mirror muscles.” Without enough pulling and stabilising work, the already dominant tonic muscles grew tighter.
The result? Strength built on top of dysfunction. He got stronger — but the stoop deepened.
The Yoga & Pilates Paradox: Flexibility Without Stability
On the mat, the trap looks different but plays out the same. Many practitioners chase depth or flow without firing the stabilisers that hold posture together.
- In a forward fold, the spine rounds instead of hinging at the hips.
- In Chaturanga or roll-ups, shoulders collapse instead of staying controlled.
The class ends with a sense of length and release. But if the stabilisers — especially the multifidus — never engage, all that flexibility floats on instability.
Why Poise and Mobility Matter
Correction isn’t just about stretching what’s tight or strengthening what’s weak. It’s about retraining the system to move differently.
- Poise: stacking head, spine, and pelvis so gravity supports you instead of grinding you down.
- Mobility: strength through range, so flexibility doesn’t collapse into instability.
Together, these qualities bring hidden stabilisers back into play, building posture from the inside out.
Why Water Resets Posture
Walking is our most basic movement, yet decades of habits, stiffness, and injuries distort it. If your gait falters, so will your posture — no matter how strong or flexible you are.
Walking in chest-deep water works like a reset button:
- Density slows movement: every step becomes resistance training at half speed, exposing which muscles are active — and which aren’t.
- Buoyancy reduces load: at chest depth, you bear only 30–40% of your normal weight, giving the nervous system freedom to attempt better patterns.
- Neuromuscular recalibration: research shows aquatic therapy improves gait, balance, and stability. Constant sensory feedback nudges dormant stabilisers, like the multifidus, back online.
On land, you can hide behind compensations. In water, you can’t. The medium itself strips them away.
From Compensation to Correction
The fix isn’t abandoning lifting, yoga, or Pilates. It’s integrating balance:
- Release what’s overworked: chest stretches, trap release, gentle neck mobilisation.
- Wake what’s underworked: chin tucks, rows, face pulls, spinal drills.
- Apply it daily:
- Lifters: for every press, do two pulls.
- Yogis/Pilates: prioritise control over depth.
- Everyone: walk slowly in chest-deep water and feel the stabilisers engage.
The Real Measure of Fitness
Frank Bruno’s stooped frame reminds us: real fitness isn’t about the weight you lift or how far you stretch. It’s about sustainable, pain-free function — standing tall through decades of life.
If we want to age with strength and grace, the formula is simple:
- Train smarter, not just harder.
- Release what’s tight. Strengthen what’s weak.
- Reactivate the muscles you don’t think about — like the multifidus.
- And when in doubt, step into water and relearn how to walk.
Because posture isn’t cosmetic. It’s the foundation of a body that carries you forward.
