Posture = Performance

FROM THIS ... TO THIS ..... IN 20 MINUTES 

(Key takeaway: Posture = Performance)

"You don't build a Ferrari on a bent frame," once said famed postural therapist Patrick Mummy. So before Bicle Hall of Famer JOHN HOWARD plunges whole-hog into the Maximum Overload strength protocol, which will send his horsepower into overdrive, M.O. inventor Jacques DeVore must literally straighten Howard out. (See photo top left).

It's not an easy task. Cycling and aging, both of which the 68-year-old three-time Olympian, Ironman world champion, and 152.2 mph land speed record holder has experienced in abundance, tend to degrade the human body into KYPHOSIS, a slumped-forward, rounded-shouldered, neck-distended posture. If you sit most of the day at a desk on a computer (like 99% of us) and are over 35, you most likely are kyphotic to some degree -- unless you actively fight it with regular stretching/yoga and strength training. Let it go on too long and your bones actually restructure into a corrupted state that is so embedded that it does not respond to "normal" flexibility drills very well. So Jacques has Howard spend almost half of his Maximum Overload workout on special drills and exercises that draw back his rounded shoulders and spread-out shoulder blades. The result? Chest out, head up, standing tall and proud, he not only looks way better and gains over an inch in height by eliminating his slump, but is able to safely lift heavier weight. That's the key to the Maximum Overload program, which will rapidly and safely build fatigue-proof strength on a body that has good posture.

As Howard's posture improves in the coming weeks, he will be able to lift weight levels similar to that of his protégé DENISE MUELLER, who he is training to break his own bicycle land speed record -- goal: 153mph in the vortex of a LandRover supercar! -- in September. Denise, a multi-time national champion as a junior and an adult in many disciplines of cycling, did not ride a bike for 20 years while she had three kids, and has emerged at age 42 with a strikingly beautiful picture-perfect posture that allows her to lift very heavy weight. The photo of the woman in the red top is her doing a lat pull-down, which works the back and pulls the shoulders rear-ward into their proper, natural, non-kyphotic position. (By the way, after a month of dedicated Maximum Overload workouts, Denise is experiencing rapid gains in power output and speed on the bike. More on this later. She posts at www.teamfirecycle.com and http://theprojectspeed.com/)

The bottom line: Posture ain't just pretty. It's also performance.

>>>> Don't wait for the Maximum Overload book, which will be out in a year. Fix your posture and build your strength now. For more info on MAXIMUM OVERLOAD, go to www.bikeforlifebook.com and click on the Maximum Overload page <<<<<<

Here's some of the exercises John and Denise used on Sunday to restore and re-emphasize good posture.