Forward head posture, forward rounded shoulders, and anterior pelvic tilt - sound familiar? Today I'll cover how to fix your posture in 5 minutes with my new and improved posture exercises and full posture routine. But let's talk about how you got here in the first place. Most people sit on average for 6-8 hours a day. And when they do, they slouch. This isn’t necessarily bad. The problem is, most people stay locked in this hunched over posture. Over time the body tightens certain muscles and weakens others to become more efficient at keeping this hunched over posture. Luckily, there are 5 simple yet extremely posture correction exercises (including anterior pelvic tilt correction exercises!) we can use. These are all covered in the video, with a full posture routine at the end.
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The first exercise in our posture workout routine will help open up your tight chest and shoulder muscles. Start with your hands inside the band with your palms facing away from the sides of your thighs. Keep your arms straight and move your arms in a circle up and behind your body. Let your shoulder blades and traps shrug up slightly on the way up, and then let your shoulder blades come down and back as your arms travel behind your body. Deepen the stretch by looping the band around your palms to shorten it.
Next on our list of posture correction exercises: we need to unlock your tight mid and upper back. Start on all fours with your hands under your shoulders and knees under your hips. Take a big exhale as you reach your left arm under and across your body as far as you can. You can allow your right arm to bend slightly as you do this. You should feel a deep stretch in your mid and upper back, and maybe even your lats. From here, bring your left hand back behind your neck and follow your elbow with your eyes as you reach it up towards the ceiling only as far as you can. Hold the top briefly, then come back down and try to reach a bit further than last time.
To achieve good posture for the long term, you need to pair the above two exercises with one that strengthens your weakened back and shoulder muscles to help pull you upright. Lay on your stomach with your forehead on the floor and hands behind your head. Pull your elbows back, imagine squeezing your shoulder blades together. Then, move your arms straight out to make a capital Y shape with your palms facing the floor. Keep your arms elevated and begin to slowly move them in a big circle around your body. As your arms come below a “T” shape, start to internally rotate your arms so your palms face the ceiling. Once your hands are close to your legs, bend your elbows and place the back of your hands on your low back, laying one hand on top of the other. Then, reverse the circle by moving your arms back into the Y shape, and then to the starting position with your hands on the back of your head.
Next up, the lower body. The main muscle you need to strengthen to improve your posture is the glutes. But it’s important to first loosen up your hip flexors to help with glute activation. Start on all fours and set your right knee close to a wall, bench, couch, or chair. Use your hands to help put your back foot up on the wall or bench. The closer your knee is to the wall or bench, the more stretch you’ll create in your quads. Once you’ve set your foot, straighten your hips in front of you and step your left foot forward so your shin is vertical. Brace your core and hold the stretch.
Now let’s strengthen your glutes with the second of the anterior pelvic tilt correction exercises. Lay on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Engage your core to flatten your lower back against the floor. Without arching your back, squeeze your butt muscles hard, and then lift your hips up while keeping your glutes contracted. At the top, keep your core engaged and tilt your hips back by squeezing your glutes hard. Hold this for 5 seconds then come down for another rep. Overtime, you can progress to working one leg at a time.
Here is the full routine:
Over-and-backs: 1 minute
Quadruped Back Rotations: 30 seconds each side
Prone Arm Circles: 1 minute
Couch Stretch: 30 seconds each side
Glute Bridge (with 5 second hold at top): 1 minute
*do as many slow & controlled reps as possible within the time allotted
