Walk the walk

[kayla_bayarea]

Thank God that people are actually talking about biomechanics in this thread. I was so tired of people giving advice that had nothing to do with the actual act of WALKING.

I made a very detailed post on the biomechanics of a fluid gliding walk on the last walking thread. However, a certain member was being very obnoxious and continually argued with because she didn't want to actually learn to adjust her walk (instead choosing to fake it with ridiculous "tips" that weren't based in reality).

Anyway, since she has caused that thread to be locked for being so annoying. I'm not going to repost it but it should be found easily in a search.

[Beverley Sims]

I have been head up one foot after the other and try to keep the back straight for years.

No stooping with your head down, lead the way with your bust protruding.

[Genifer Teal]

Cool kayla. Glad to have someone who sees it as I do to chat with. Today I realized it is equally important to maintain the "tilted" posture while sitting otherwise you are making less than 100 percent effort to change your muscle memory. It's hard enough even when making a full effort. Still making progress every day.

[kayla_bayarea]

The other thing I've noticed ... a few girls suggest practicing by walking placing one foot in front of the other. It looks to me like typical women walk with their legs very close together, with each foot going alongside, but not crossing, a line separating them.

Fran

Fran, you are absolutely correct. It's good that you are actually observing women instead of conjuring a caricature in your mind like so many do. Walking one foot in front of the other on one line is NOT how women actually walk in their daily lives. That is a runway walk and very inefficient. Instead, you should walk with your thighs brushing close to each other and on two tracks.

The advice of taking artificially small steps should also be ignored. Women have naturally different stride lengths and some will have the same as yours. They are not taking small steps so that can look dainty or whatever reason people justify this in their heads. You do not want to look like you are stepping onto the ice rink with skates for the very first time. If you are wearing 4 inch heels your stride will be different than when you are wearing sneakers. One is not more feminine than the other. You will look ridiculous if you try to do the same fake small steps all the time.

[Ressie]

Here's a video of people walking in NYC. What I'm seeing is that everyday women don't walk all that much different than men. They're mostly just built different.

Any of you that want to walk more like a female should just video yourself walking and figure out what changes you need to make. It isn't easy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u68EWmtKZw0

[docrobbysherry]

I only wear hi heels when dressed.

They automatically force me to walk differently then in men's flats! Maybe muscle memory comes into play. But, I'm not sure.

[Genifer Teal]

What I'm seeing is that everyday women don't walk all that much different than men. They're mostly just built different.

just figure out what changes you need to make. It isn't easy!

exactly what I am saying. The needed change is the angle of your pelvis. Change the pelvic tilt by Un tensing your abdomen and lower back muscles. The walk will then come naturally as it does for women. Anything else is just variations in style.

Here is a pic I came across that pretty much shows the difference in posture between men and women. The line suggests the angle of each pelvis. You can compare the difference for yourself. This is what creates different movement's in men vs women. 2018-09-20 15.04.32.jpg

[kayla_bayarea]

Genifer, an anterior pelvic tilt is not necessarily something you should be striving for. Both men AND women should be striving for a neutral spine whenever possible. The anterior pelvic tilt is what happens when you wear high heels because the body is compensating for the changed angle. If you keep a neutral spine when you wear high heels your body would sort of look like what ski jumper looks like in the air. So, the body will naturally want to stick out the chest and push out the rear in order to remain "upright" (the anterior pelvic tilt).

The opposite of the anterior pelvic tilt is of course the posterior pelvic tilt. This what your body does when someone tells you to suck in your gut. Barre class instructors are telling you to do this when they are talking about the "tuck". This is why a lot of ballet teachers actually hate barre classes (but that's a different discussion).

In order to illustrate why you should not actually be seeking out the anterior pelvic tilt, take a look at Shaggy from Scooby Doo. I assume this is not what you want to look like but that's the result of an anterior pelvic tilt without heels on.

To sum it up, anterior pelvic tilt is a compensating behavior and not a desirable posture. Plus, if you do it all the time you will wreck your back. Instead, try to maintain a neutral spine and go for a gliding effect when you walk. It will look much more elegant.

I googled around and found this article for you:

https://erikdalton.com/blog/gaga-hig...-posture-pain/

[Genifer Teal]

As the article States: when standing barefoot, the anterior angle, or pelvic tilt, of the female pelvis is 25 degrees; it would seem heels don't cause the angle they certainly increase it. In the picture of the man and woman in my other post she's not wearing heels and still has a tilt. You could say this grew out of her frequent wearing of heels but it's happening naturally in the picture. Somehow at 3 years old or whatever when my niece learn to walk for the first time she already adopted a female style of walking. Nothing sexual by any means but it had that typical hip movement women have. So this demonstrated to me it was due to differences in our bodies because it came natural to her. What I'm finding is I don't need to force anything to happen in a sense. I kind of do force something not to happen and that's the muscles in my abdomen region to relax. Buy them doing nothing my upper body just sort of rests on my hips and Things fall into place with a little tilt and the walk changes with it.

[CynthiaD]

When I was a teenager, my friends were always telling me, "Don't do this, it's effeminate! Don't do that, it's effeminate!" The way I walked was one of them. I was at "the age of conformity," so I went along with it all. But now, I'm beyond that. When I want to walk feminine, I just relax and walk naturally. It feels great.

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi Genifer , I sometimes catch myself walking in a feminine style in male mood. >Orchid ..++..

[Genifer Teal]

Thought I'd give an update on my progress. So hard to literally think of relaxing my abdomen every 5 seconds! I slipped up a bit over the weekend. This morning I did a little time on the treadmill. That really got me back in the groove. Still fighting muscle memory and constantly forgetting to relax. I find myself more in the groove than not this morning at work. Learned that time on treadmill is very helpful. Even just a few minutes.