Keeping Hollywood Straight: an Interview with author and fitness expert Dr. Paul Drew

June 3, 9:59 PMLA Books ExaminerFrank Mundo

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Photo courtesy of Dr. Paul Drew

We've all heard it before. To be successful, you have to dress the part, right?

Wrong, says Dr. Paul Drew, a clinical doctor of physical therapy and a kinesiologist that specializes in helping his clientele obtain the perfect posture. Dr. Drew believes that posture is the ultimate fashion statement. "It doesn't matter if you are wearing the best dress from the top designer if you have bad posture," he says. Good posture "expresses that you are confident and to be respected."

For years Dr. Drew has noticed a trend of slumping celebs and slouching sports stars whose poor posture in public is now being emulated by young teens and adults alike. This was not the case in the glory days of Hollywood, he says, when celebrities presented themselves with great posture, making them stand out as truly glamorous stars.

Dr. Drew is on a mission to reverse the current trend of bad posture. He has worked with a long list of celebrities, actors, musicians, and professional sports stars, and now he wants to work with you. To straighten things out, he has written a new book called Red Carpet Posture to help all people, in all walks of life, improve their health, function, and appearance. Dr. Drew will also be launching retail clothing outlets in the US later this year stocked with fashions to help keep you on the straight and narrow.

Red Carpet Posture is available at amazon.com and redcarpetposture.com.

On Monday, June 8, at 7pm, Dr. Paul Drew will be presenting and signing Red Carpet Posture at:

Book Soup
8818 Sunset Blvd.
W. Hollywood, CA
(310) 659-3110

I had a chance recently to talk with Dr. Drew and I had a few questions for him:
 

Q. What are some of the main reason for people having bad posture?

A. 1 – Stress: in life, at work, in the car, etc.
2 – Not being aware of the problem; not realizing that you actually have bad posture.
3 – Imitation of a bad trend (i.e. trying to look like a celebrity that displays poor posture).

Q. Why "Red Carpet Posture"? Why not just good posture?

A. I've always felt that the red carpet is where fashion trends begin. Some of them are good, and some of them are bad. But the one area that nobody has really paid attention to is posture. Many young girls look to celebrities to see what they wear, but also how they present themselves under the bright lights and on the red carpet. Women and girls don't just want to wear the dresses that celebrities don, but they also want to emulate the posture, and sometimes the behavior of celebrities.

Q. Who do you feel will benefit most from your work and your book?

A. I think that women and young girls can benefit the most, but also those who live a stressful lifestyle.

Q. Who has influenced you the most in your life and work?

A. Recently, it has been Barack Obama. He has shown that anything is possible, no matter who you are. He always displays a level of confidence, regardless of the situation. Helps that he has good posture, too.

I remember a 5th- grade teacher back in 1979 just before I moved from Minnesota to South Dakota, who of all things was named Ronald Reagan, but he asked everyone to pronounce it "Ree-gen". He seemed to present himself with confidence all the time, always stood up straight, and always gave me encouragement. When I was a teenager, I always looked up to Sting of the "Police"; he always had a great look, great talent, and sort of a swagger that was expressed through the confidence that he presented. It was as if he owned the world—that seemed to attract me to his whole image. When I moved to California in 1987, I actually started to wear my hair standing up, just like he did back then. My dad has been a big influence on me—he was doing yoga back in the 70s before everybody else was doing it in the U.S. He always has been a fitness enthusiast. He has a brown belt in Shotokan karate, and roller-skated for decades. Unfortunately, he doesn't do as much activity lately because he is suffering from the effects of radiation exposure in WWII. (He was sent into Nagasaki after they dropped the atomic bomb.)

Q. Is Red Carpet Posture just for celebrities or can anyone attain it?

A. Most everyone can attain it, with of course the exceptions of those who have physical ailments that are permanent or of a disease nature. Even then, there are possibilities for improvement. I think it's more about convincing people how important it is to have RCP.

Q. How long does it take to be red carpet ready?

A. Improvement can be seen immediately, but to have permanent RCP, one does have to constantly remind themselves to have good posture, and do some of the exercises once in awhile. As far as a time period, the longer that you have had bad posture, the longer it takes to get RCP. But you can start to maintain RCP throughout the day. Give yourself a couple of weeks to remind yourself to constantly stand or sit straight. The exercises in the book can help speed up the process. The difficulty that many people will experience is that their bodies are used to being in an incorrect alignment, and the body wants to stay in that position. The first couple of weeks can be tough; you are constantly fighting with your body to maintain RCP. This is why I have put exercises in the book—the additional weapons to win that fight.

For more info about Dr. Paul Drew: visit www.redcarpetposture.com.