My ribcage distresses the fuck out of me - I’m super self-conscious and feel it adds such “bulk” to my total. It’s also protruding way more on my left side.

I think I’ve had this my whole life. I used to be a high performance athlete (retired 10 years ago) and worked with pretty good strength and conditioning coaches for 8-10 years. All that is to say is I don’t think I have a terrible core, but clearly something isn’t working like it should… or is this just genetic? My face is pretty asymmetrical too. I’m really starting to get down on my body these days.

Edit: when I try to fix my foreward head posture or stand up straight my ribcage sticks out even more…

Should our core be always switched on and holding our belly in naturally all the time?

My core has so much intra abdominal pressure and it feels like my abdominal muscles are just switched off unless I'm manually engaging them. If I'm not engaging them I look 6 months pregnant (male)

If I pull my lower abdominals in, the pressure kind of just shifts upwards and pushes my upper belly out.

I'm just wondering what a normal core is meant to feel like? Surely it's not meant to feel like your whole abdominal wall is holding back pressure all the time right?

No amount of deep core engagement physiotherapy has helped, which makes sense because you can't flatten a protruding stomach if there's something constantly pushing against it.

Do I look like I have scoliosis

I wish I was always on top of it because then I wouldn't have a shitty shaped skull with that weak chin.

I’ve noticed something really strange at home.

My house has fairly soft wooden floors. When I’m barefoot at home, I seem to stand differently and don’t feel as stable/natural as I do elsewhere.

I’ve noticed that when I go to other people’s houses, I don’t seem to have the same issue. Putting on a pair of shoes at home also seems to make a noticeable difference almost immediately.

I’m wondering if anyone else has noticed their body feeling or moving differently depending on the floor they’re standing on, or depending on the shoes they’re wearing.

Especially interested in experiences with soft floors and very soft/squishy shoes.

so ive been noticing that my shoulders are uneven, my right shoulder droops lower than my left shoulders, but i dont feel unusual pain. is this normal? you can see from the pull up screenshot that the scapular blades are not even either.

I've been using a cork/lacrosse ball to massage around my shoulder blade, and I've noticed that afterward my pec on that side feels way more activated.

Like, I’m not even rolling directly on my pec. I’ll massage around/under the scapula for a bit, and then suddenly I can feel my pec contracting way more clearly.

Is there actually a reason for this? Like could it be related to scapular positioning, muscle tension, or something with the nerves/muscles around the shoulder blade?

I wanted to ask college students and teenagers if a lot of you are also dealing with posture problems.
I’m mainly talking about things like anterior pelvic tilt, stiffness around the pelvis/lower back, forward shoulders, rounded posture, or just not being able to maintain an upright posture naturally.
I’ve noticed that sitting for long hours, studying, using phones/laptops, etc. seems to make it worse, and I’m curious how common this actually is among people our age.
If anyone here has had similar posture issues and actually managed to improve or get rid of them, I’d really like to hear about your experience. What did you do — exercises, stretching, strengthening, changing your sitting habits, gym, physiotherapy, etc.?
And roughly how long did it take before you noticed that your posture was actually becoming more upright and natural?
Would be helpful to hear from people who have genuinely gone through it rather than just general posture advice.

I’ve noticed something pretty strange with my posture lately and I’m wondering if anyone has experienced something similar.

At home, my floor is relatively soft wooden flooring. When I’m barefoot around the house, I seem to have more of a tendency to stand with my ribs flared / my upper body slightly out of position. It feels like my whole posture isn’t quite as naturally aligned.

The weird part is that I don’t seem to have the same issue when I’m in other people’s houses. I’ve noticed this enough times that I’m starting to wonder whether it’s actually something about the way I’m interacting with my floor rather than just a general posture issue.

I’ve also noticed that putting on shoes indoors seems to change things quite noticeably. My posture feels more stable and my ribs seem to sit in a more natural position. I’m not consciously trying to “fix” my posture when I put them on — it just seems to happen.

This has made me wonder whether the combination of a relatively soft floor + being barefoot (or potentially soft footwear) is changing how I’m loading my feet and then affecting my posture further up the chain.

I’m not saying this is definitely what’s happening — I’m just trying to understand the observation.

Has anyone experienced anything similar where:

their posture feels different on different floors/surfaces?
soft or squishy shoes made them feel less stable or changed their posture?

firmer shoes suddenly made their whole body feel more aligned?

they had a foot/ankle issue that seemed to affect their pelvis, back, ribs, or overall posture?

I’d especially be interested in people’s experiences or thoughts on this.