i wish i'd had deportment lessons

notanan my posture has never been great (not just from lack of efforts) so I made sure my DD had ballet lessons and their posture is excellent.
We used to get a mark for posture on our school reports, mine was usually no more than a C.
petunia I was never likemthe Duchess!
Jane10 I am going to practise getting up from lying on the floor before I rssume my yoga lessons!

lucywinter
I just get annoyed with myself

I can't spell either!

Actually I can, it's my fingers

Actually I can, it's my fingers

I thought it was just me and everyone else had little teeny phone keyboard sized pointy thumbs that dont hit 3 letters at a time!

It's not even a phone!

Sometimes it is autocorrect that thinks it knows best.

My Dad used to tell me that I was tall. He probably hoped I'd take after him, 5' 11" and slim till he died at 89. However, this had the effect that I walked with a stoop as I didn't want to stand out. I have never really got rid of it, but I didn't grow o be tall. I am 5' 5". Thanks, Dad.

If I concentrate, I can walk straight, and it does make a difference to your confidence and attitude. It also helps to wear nice clothes and take a general pride in your appearance. Hard to do when you're wrinkly and flabby and loaded down with shopping bags, though.

Think about joining Silver Swans Ballet Group. Ballet classes for the over 55s. I love it, I'm 72. Some group have people in their 90s in them. It really helps with deportment, even for small , round, overweight people like me. It is lovely to find at the end of each class you still have a smile on your face and feel uplifted. There are groups all around the country.

I wish I'd had elocution lessons. I hate my voice now. I have good grammar and do not drop my h's or t's, but my vowels really betray me.

I go to weekly exercise class at a local residential home. One thing we all have to try to do every day x10 is sitting and standing from a dining chair not using hands..
Gets easier as we get stronger.
Maybe that could help your strength?

Then do something about it !
Exercise
Line dancing
Diet
Take classes
And yes i am 62 with various medical conditions
One of my tutors is 80 and dances

Lucywinter you are so right.
I was still (in my mind) a youngish woman until I was 78 and then suddenly I couldn't get up easily when I had been weeding the garden.
The one thing that consoles me is that being tall ,I will never
be referred to as a little old lady although when I had to give my age recently over the telephone I was referred to as “dearie “ which I found patronising.
My father used to tell me to make people look up to me rather than me look down to them
Kate in my opinion is too thin and her heels are too high.

I daren't crouch or bend down these days unless I have a hefty and solid piece of furniture to cling to!

Notthatoldyet Then do something about it

I walk, ride my bike, (although it seems to get heavier everyday), use exercise bike, kitchen dance, and stick to healthy diet.

Would appreciate any realistic suggestions of what else I should do.

#stillknackered

I realised I was stooping a little and have tried to correct my posture with little success. I recently went to buy a pair of Hiking Boots at a specialist shop, where they examined and measured my feet in detail. I was told I suffered from pronation which affected knees, hips and posture and on recommendation bought a pair of insoles. They have made a difference to my walk and as a result my posture.

I am 5ft 1 - down from 5ft 5 1/2, so most people look down on me these days Lanclass.

"Lucy" have you tried Pilates? I have aPilates reformer at home and use it daily .Its not exercise as such no cardio ,but it strenghtens and lengthens the muscles and gives you a great stretchOr try an Invertermy friend has one of those and she gets great results says she has regained lost inches by hanging upside down and putting her spine back to where it should be .

Emelle - How interesting. I do find the right shoes a big help. Merrell, Salomen etc so not 'ladylike' but they do the job. Pilates and exercises off the internet help - Google physio exercises for posture correction. Change not quick or easy. Most days for 6 weeks. (I only know this as I HAD to do something about 'skinny bum' - don't ask) anyway got exercise sheet and did stick to it and it did work - but it was hard work and I did ache.

I don't do pilates or yoga because of the having to get up from the floor thing. I do tai chi, which doesn't require any lying on the floor and is good for balance and movement and flexibility. Old people in China do it until their 80s or 90s.
U3A run classes and local authorities do too in some areas.

I joined a gym (about eight months ago) that uses power plate machines. I do a fair bit of squats work on these and the first major improvement I noticed, after only a few weeks, was getting up without using my hands to push. If you're interested, here's a link (below) but many gyms have only one machine that no one uses and possibly no one is trained for. Power plate technology was first used to train Russian astronauts, I think. It's just a vibrating plate you stand on while doing exercises but it's incredibly effective.

www.fitness-superstore.co.uk/blog/guest-blog-11-proven-powerful-health-benefits-of-power-plate/

Also, they say, "The faster you walk the longer you live!" So speed up a bit! (A little bit at a time, of course!)

My dad was a fast walker and we used to jog after him, begging him, " Daddy, slow down!" I'm grateful to him now, though!

I was always a fast walker. Then suddenly I couldn't walk fast anymore.

Jane10 I've just seen your farting post. No way could I go to any kind of lessons. Everyday life is bad enough so far as that is cncerned.

Is a powerplate machine one of those things where the platform vibrates? I tried one of those in John Lewis and my knickers dampened.Never hopped off of anything so fast in all my life. And that was years ago.

I might be an old crock.

Seriously I really feel the benefit of Aquafit classes. I go twice a week and up to my neck in water. It's great resistance work built into cardio exercise but with good joint support.

I walk with my head down because I'm scared of tripping over. I'm a fast walker because I find if I get a bit of speed up it's easier to keep going in a straight line and my knees don't hurt but if I fell I would go down with a heck of a bang.