Hold Your Sub

Here's the actual mechanism: holding something with a little bit of heft out in front of you, at chest height, naturally pulls your shoulders back and down. Your body does the work for you — you don't have to think "shoulders back," you just have to hold the thing.

Why a sub sandwich, specifically

They have really big subs in New York City — the kind that take two hands to hold steady. During a session, I'll have a client hold something about that size (a prop, a bag, anything with real weight) out in front of their chest. Try to slump while you're doing that. You can't. The weight pulls your shoulders into the exact relaxed-but-upright position a headshot needs, without you posing for it consciously.

Why it matters for your headshot

Slumped shoulders and a rounded back read as tired or unsure, even when you don't feel that way — it's one of the most common things that makes an otherwise good headshot look off. The sub trick fixes it in seconds, no coaching required, which is exactly the kind of small thing I build into every session.