Tag: Lumo Lift Posture Activity Coach

Do you slouch? I know I do. I keep trying to remind myself to sit up straight because a) slouching is bad for you; b) I don’t want to end up looking like Gillian McKeith and c) um, let’s just stick with b, shall we? Flippancy aside though, there are more benefits to good posture than purely physical ones. If you stand up straight and walk tall, you’ll feel more confident and this should filter down into the way you act, for example, when using the phone, at job interviews and asking for a custom-made sandwich in Subway.

But what do to about it? You could stick a plank down the back of your top (please don’t do this while you’re ordering a sandwich in Subway. You’ll look weird), set an egg-timer to remind you to sit up straight, get a special chair that forces you to sit up, or you could buy a Lumo Lift Posture Activity Coach. I know I don’t need much of a reason to get another gadget but buying a gadget which stops me looking like Gillian McKeith sounds like a damn good reason for buying one if you ask me (which, admittedly, you didn’t but, hey ho). I’m not sure it’ll ever give me the confidence to allow me to venture into a Subway again and relive the horror of being interrogated about what bread I want, what size I want it, what fillings I want, what salad I want and what sauce I want though. I only wanted a sandwich. I’ll stick to ordering pizza facelessly and silently online in the future.

As you’ve probably gathered, the Lumo Lift Posture Activity Coach is a gadget that helps you to correct your posture.

 

In the box is the sensor which you affix to your bra strap (hang on, men, I haven’t forgotten about you – bear with) with the supplied strap clip or – if bra-less – hold in place with one of the two supplied magnets. Personally, I don’t like the look of the magnets (although glitzy ones are available on the website, if glitzy things are your kind of thing), so I’ve been testing the Lumo Lift with the strap clip which is easy enough to put on and has a strong magnet and doesn’t fall off. These magnets are strong; this is why everything’s far apart in the photo. Any nearer and they gravitate or magnetate or whatever it’s called towards each other.

Once the sensor’s attached, it’s easy to align. Just stand up straight and double press it. It’ll buzz to let you know the coach has started. Each time you slouch, it’ll buzz to tell you. It buzzes a lot. I also found that it buzzed when I moved my arm up to drink a cup of tea so maybe I should have had it on the other side but then maybe it’d buzz each time I used the mouse, I don’t know. It also buzzed when I was making food but it’s easy enough to turn it off if you’re doing something where you won’t be sitting up straight – you just just press and hold.

I’m not really sure I got the hang of it, despite there not really being anything to get the hang of in the first place. But I get the impression it’s not something you keep on all day – just when you’re at your desk for a long period of time and want a reminder to unMcKeith yourself.

It’s also an activity tracker which will track your steps, distance and calories so if you want graphs and charts and statistics and stuff, then you can sync it with your iPhone and other iThings and find out how far you’ve walked and it’ll also tell you for how long you had good posture. Although, if you’ve got an ancient iPhone 4, like mine, you’ll need to get a Windows dongle, which is supplied separately.

 

 

Okay, I confess (don’t really have a choice, do I?) I haven’t used the Lumo Lift for a while but it’s a great way for those who have desk jobs and are in the habit of slouching to be reminded to sit up straight and I am going to try and get into the habit of using it.

For more information, visit the Lumo website.