Posture Experiment: 30 Days In. What Moved, What Didn't, What's Next.
Day Zero is here if you missed it: the X-ray, the two diagnoses, the home tests, the plan.
30 days in. 5 minutes a day, every day, on my posture.
Time for an honest check-in. What I felt, what I measured, what I'm changing for the next 30 days. No miracle. No big reveal.
TL;DR
30 days into my posture experiment. 5 minutes a day. I missed 13 of 150 planned minutes. Two of five home measurements moved in the right direction: overhead floor reach improved from about 29 cm to about 21 cm, and wall angels feel less painful with a slightly wider range. Three stayed flat: side-profile photos, the cow face pose asymmetry, and tragus-to-wall distance. The biggest unexpected win is awareness — I now catch myself slouching a few times a day, and that wasn't happening at day zero. For the next 30 days I'm doubling down on thoracic spine work, adding two strength exercises for anterior pelvic tilt (dead bug and glute bridge), keeping a few moves in rotation less often, dropping three for now, and adding 2 to 3 minutes of daily upper-back foam rolling on top of the 5-minute set. Day-by-day log lives 📓 here.
Quick honesty note before we start. I took the measurements on day 30. The video and blog post took way longer to edit than I planned. By the time you're reading this, I'm already 7-9 days into the new program. So yeah, I fucked up the schedule a bit. ADHD or laziness, probably both. Anyway. Here's where things stood at day 30.
If you want to do this with me, not just watch: create a free account, the Posture Pack included, install the browser extension, do 5 minutes a day. It's fully free.
Feelings and thoughts about the first 30 days
- Hard to follow a daily routine with an ADHD brain. Some minutes got missed. 13 minutes (out of 150 planned total) over 30 days, to be exact. I'm a little ashamed of that.
- Still have the habit of slouching and melting into the chair. 30 days isn't enough to undo 25 years of it.
- The good thing: I feel a bit better overall. Spine is a bit more flexible. Honestly still far from perfect, but better. Overhead shoulder reach improved. Wall angels feel less painful and the range is a bit wider.
- Less stiff overall, but not in a major way. I can sit or stand straighter than before. I just can't hold it. The default still pulls me back into the slouch.
- Best way to describe it: the degradation stopped. The wheel started rotating in the other direction.
- To be clear: nothing changed in a major way. I can't claim that 5 minutes a day fixed my posture. Anyone who tells you they did that in 30 days, 5 min each day — probably is lying.
One small thing I didn't expect: I'm starting to notice my own bad posture during the day. Not always. But a few times a day, I catch myself slouching and sit up. That awareness wasn't there 30 days ago. I think it matters more than any of the measurements.
Measurements
As you can see in the video or the photos, not much changed. The honest summary:
- Side photos. Can't see any difference at all.
- Cow face pose. Almost the same level of imbalance. Right side still tighter than left.
- Tragus-to-wall distance. I'd rather skip this one. I can't find my precise "relaxed" position, so the number is unreliable. Counting it as the same.
- Wall angels. Some small progress here. Range feels a bit wider, and it hurts less than it did at Day Zero.
- Overhead floor reach. Improved from ~29 cm to ~21 cm. So at least something moved.
Two results out of five. Could be worse. Could be much better.
Day 30 tracking table
| # | Measurement | Day 0 | Day 30 | Day 60 | Day 90 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Side-profile photo | [photo saved] | No visible change | ||
| 2 | Tragus-to-wall (avg of 3) | 15 cm | ~15 cm (unreliable) | ||
| 3 | Overhead floor reach | ~28-30 cm | ~21 cm | ||
| 4 | Cow face (bad side) | Fingers barely touch (one side) | ~Same |
Wall angels weren't tracked as a measurement at Day Zero, so they stay qualitative for now: less pain, slightly wider range. I'll consider adding them as measurement #5 from Day 60 onward.
Thoughts on the first 30-day plan
The exercises in this first phase were too broad. 18 of them, 5 minutes a day, no focus on any one area. It was overall "flossing" or hygiene work, just a quick stretch of everything and only one set of each.
It would be foolish to expect real results from that.
I'm fine with it. The first 30 days were less about fixing posture and more about answering one question: can I actually build a habit out of doing this every day? Is it possible at all?
I wasn't in a rush to fix the whole thing in 30 days. I was trying to see if I'd still be doing it on day 30. And have at least something changed.
New plan: next 30 days
For the next stage I'm doubling down on what feels like it's working, especially the upper back / thoracic spine work. I'll drop some exercises and do others less often.
I'm also adding two new ones for strength — specifically to work on my anterior pelvic tilt.
Three batches.
Batch 1: doubling down (more often)
These are the ones I feel are doing the most for me. They'll appear more often in the routine.
- Wall angels
- Cat-cow
- Wall lat stretch
- Butcher block
- Doorway pec stretch
- Wall thoracic extension stretch
- Desk lat stretch
- Prone Y-T-W raises
- Half-kneeling hip flexor stretch
- Dead bug (new — for anterior pelvic tilt)
- Glute bridge (new — for anterior pelvic tilt)
- Chin tuck
Batch 2: keeping, less often
- Deep squat sit
- Neck stretches (lateral, up/down, side-to-side)
- Caterpillar walk
Batch 3: dropping for now
Not because they're bad. For where I'm at, they feel more like flossing than something that pushes my posture to the next level. I'll do them occasionally outside the program.
- Chicken wing elbow circles. Good, but I can't push myself through the current range of motion.
- Cow face pose. Same thing.
- Seated external rotation. Not bad. Just not extending my range.
And one thing on top of everything: foam rolling
My back muscles are still tense. Stretching every day isn't fully cutting it. I either need regular massage (which I can't afford) or I roll out the back myself. So I'm adding daily foam rolling on top of the 5-minute set. Two or three minutes, just the upper back.
Want to do this with me?
If you've been watching and thinking about trying — it's free.
- Create a free account
- Posture Pack included already
- Install the browser extension
- Next time you open a distraction tab instead of resting, it'll catch you and serve up one of the exercises. 5 minutes a day, no equipment.
I'll be running the next 30 days inside it too. Day-by-day journal here.
See you in ~20 days for the next check-in. (Math's already against me. Already 9 days in.)
Cheers, Denys