3 Exercises to Fix Your Posture
Posted on 24 February 2010
Thanks to desk jobs that most of us have these days, our posture can get pretty bad. Not only that our muscles can get tight and hunched over…..
While stretching can help to open up the tight muscles you really need to strengthen the key muscles which inlude:
- Hip Flexors
- Adductors and Abductors
- Rear Deltoids
- Trapezius
- Lower Back
Once these build up a good core level of strength and stability not only will performance improve but your tightness, aches and pains will disappear.
Goblet Squat
The stretches at the beginning are pretty cool, but jump straight to 1:15 to see the Goblet Squat Demonstrated.
“The beauty of the goblet squat is it corrects every bad habit you pick up from sitting in a chair”
This because we lean forward when we sit, the Goblet Squat improves balance and teaches clean biomechanics.
Face Pulls
An Awesome upper back and rear deltoid exercise that will really fix up your posture by pulling your shoulders back and keeping them there.
Multi-Directional Lunge
This is great for building functional strength and movement in your hip flexors which get extremely tight from sitting at a desk leaning forward. Although the lunges in the video above look easy start piling on the reps and you will feel the burn, as well as this you will functionally stretch out your muscles. Of course you can also do the lunge without the ball/weight.
Try a simple workout with a couple sets of these exercises, throw in some dynamic stretching and some pushups and you are done…..
16 comments so far
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Comment by Grok
24 February 2010
I love goblet squats. Never knew this is what they were called. I just did them because they felt good. I usually use a plate or dumbell, since I haven’t bought a kettlebell yet.
@ Grok: They are great with a KettleBell. You nailed it though they are definitely one of those exercises that just
Comment by Liam | EverythingZing.com
24 February 2010
Gold dust Chris. It is so easy to let your posture slip when you spend hour at a computer. Not sure if you’ve heard the term Upper Crossed Syndrome, but it is rife. Those face pulls look excellent for strenthening the upper back.
Comment by Adam | SEE
24 February 2010
*Chalice squats – I definitely feel those.
@Grok Q: Have you tried duck walking with a plate? That’s lots of fun too.
*Deep squats onto flat feet during the day can help lengthen your hip flexors and also build strength. You may have to hold onto a leg of your desk at first to keep your balance, but this simple stretch/exercise works wonders.
http://goo.gl/JkPw
Comment by TomGreenwald
24 February 2010
Upper back training is really important because for most people chest muscles are stronger thus arching shoulders forward.
A great exercise to fix this is YWTL. Lie on the floor like you where doing superman back extensions. Lift your legs and arms up. Hold your lower back muscles tight. Use your arms to form the given letters in the air. This is a great exercise for lower/upper back and shoulders.
Comment by Hans Hageman
24 February 2010
This is great. You could do worse than to take two weeks each year (or as a deload every four weeks) and reset your body with these exercises.
Comment by Sebastien Rahman
24 February 2010
Great work! I’m a personal trainer in Toronto, and i’d certainly tell my clients about your great website. Terrific exercises!
Cheers,
Sebastien Rahman
Personal Trainer Toronto
@ Sebastian: Thanks, if you feel they would like it and benefit please introduce them!
Comment by Luke M-Davies
24 February 2010
Important post Chris – nice work. I work in an office and hours can be long, chaining you to your desk. I’ve seen people hunching around the office when they walk or slumping in their chair – it’s not good.
The exercises you suggest are great and we must not forget that there is nothing like the good old plank to improve core strength too!
Comment by Adam | SEE
24 February 2010
*Correction: Deep squats will help strengthen hip flexors and will stretch glutes and lower back. But, to properly stretch hip flexors, a kneeling stretch like this is best.
http://goo.gl/RQ6g
*I also like to do wall extensions to stretch my upper back and shoulders.
http://goo.gl/vN0b
*I apologize for any confusion. This is another great post.
Comment by freak4fitness
25 February 2010
Good post. Stretching is something that I really need to improve on.
Comment by dialashop
26 February 2010
I have been doing some stretches. I find if I don’t excerise on a regular basis I feel my muscles feel a bit tight and not that flexible. One thing I like about excerise is about it is after a good session I feel tired but the next day I feel great. I like doing squats.
Comment by scheng1
2 March 2010
Oh dear, this post reminds me that I have not done my tai chi today!
Comment by mike
11 March 2010
Great article! I myself am a desk worker I actually do blog posts all day, and byt the ned my back is killing me! I will be sure to send my co-workers here to read this. I do the P28 Bread as for posts. It’s a high protein bread that builds lean muscle while burning fat. I can’t wait to use some of these suggestions to help myself everyday.
Comment by spartan training
16 March 2010
I’m in front of a computer a lot. I started noticing awful pains in my lower back and upper thighs. That’s the whole reason that I started working out again some time ago. My posture has been good since then, but these exercises and suggestions are really cool. You don’t hear enough people talking about correcting posture, so thank you!