Posture Exercises: 7 Simple Exercises to Improve Bad Posture

Exercises to Correct Your Bad Posture

Bad posture is very common today. Our lifestyle and day to day activities have led to poor posture in many people.

Some of the major causes of poor or bad posture include:

• Slouching in your chair
• Hunching your back
• Insufficient understanding of proper posture
• A sedentary lifestyle
• Lack of exercises
• Poor core stability
• Sitting with computers/mobile phones for longer periods of time

An individual will be said to have postural dysfunction or poor posture when his/her spine is located in unnatural positions for longer periods of time.[1]

So, why do you think our posture is so important?

It’s to be understood that having good or proper posture is not just about looking good, it’s far more than this. It will help you improve your strength, flexibility, as well as balance in your body. All these will convert into less muscle pain and increased energy all through the day. Moreover, good posture will decrease stress on our muscles and ligaments, thereby reducing the risk of an injury.

On the other hand, bad posture or poor posture will not only make you appear unattractive and unhealthy, but it can also lead to several health issues.

Having said this, we would like to inform you that correcting or improving your bad posture is not impossible. In fact, you can achieve the proper posture much easily by starting to wear a good quality posture corrector brace. These braces will help relieve stress on your back and neck and will also provide unrivaled support for your misaligned spine.

In addition to using a posture corrector brace, you are also advised to do some exercises to improve your bad posture. Learn those posture correcting exercises here:[2]

Exercise 1: Plank

A plank will help improve your posture by engaging and building muscles in your core. You must understand that the stronger your core – the more you will be able to hold yourself upright. To put it simply, a stronger core will convert into a stronger back.

How to do a Plank?

• Keep yourself in a press-up position
• Bend your elbows and press your weight onto the forearms
• Engage your core by sucking the stomach
• Hold this position for at least 30 to 60 seconds
• Repeat

Exercise 2: Reverse Plank Bridge

This exercise will help activate the specific muscles when at the same time stretching the important muscles like the pectoral and the muscles of your neck.

How to do?

• Place your arms straight
• Pull the shoulders back
• Bring the shoulder blades together
• Tuck the chin
• Push the chest up
• Extend the spine
• Hold this position for at least 30 to 60 seconds
• Repeat

Exercise 3: Back Extensions

Back extensions are the best way to target our lower back, which is otherwise hard to reach. Back extensions can help get rid of your love handles, thereby helping to keep your posture upright.[3]

How to do?

• Lie down facing downward
• Lift the chest off the floor
• Hold for 3 to 5 seconds
• Extend the arms out to improve the exercise
• Lift the legs at the same time for an extra challenge

Exercise 4: Wall Angels

This exercise will make you feel that the middle of your back, as well as the abs contract in order to stabilize the spine.

How to do?

• Stand next to the wall
• Lift the arms up the wall
• Keep your core tight
• Keep your ribcage down
• Keep your spine in a neutral position even as you lift your arms up
• Extend the arms completely overhead, without arching the back

Exercise 5: Crunch with Twist

This exercise will work your abs and oblique.

How to do?

• Lie down on your back
• Bend your knees and keep your feet flat on the ground
• Keep the hands behind the head
• Raise the right shoulder off the ground as you exhale
• Rotate toward the left
• Lower the shoulder back to the ground as you inhale
• Repeat on the other side

Exercise 6: Chest Opener

As the name suggests, this exercise will enable you to open and stretch the chest. This exercise will be especially useful if you are a person who spends most of the day sitting, which will make your chest to move inward. Moreover, strengthening the chest will also help you stand upright.

How to do?

• Stand with the feet hip width apart
• Bring the arms behind you and interlock the fingers with the palms pressing together
• Keep the head, neck, and the spine in a single line while gazing straight ahead
• Raise the chest toward the ceiling and bring the hands towards the ground as you inhale
• Take a deep breaths
• Hold this position for at least 5 breaths
• Release
• Relax for some breaths
• Repeat

Exercise 7: Side Plank

This exercise will help maintain the neutral alignment of the spine and legs. It will work the muscles in the sides and glutes, thereby helping to strengthen and align them. Thus, it will help support the back and enhance posture.

How to do?

• Start with a high plank position
• Bring the left hand slightly to the center
• Transmit the weight onto the left hand
• Stack the ankles
• Raise the hips
• Keep the right hand on the hip
• Drop the left knee down to the ground
• Maintain this pose by engaging the abdominals, sides, and glutes
• Align the body in a straight line from head to the heels
• Look straight
• Hold this position for at least 30 seconds
• Repeat on the other side

Conclusion:

We guarantee that your posture will improve if you follow the above-mentioned exercises and wear a good quality posture corrector brace. However, we would also say that you should train your body to get a good posture. Also, you must start right away! It will become much more difficult to correct your posture by putting it off for a long time. So, start today!

References:

1..https://www.healthline.com/health/posture-exercises#isometric-rows

2..https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/better-posture-exercises#1

3..https://www.lifehack.org/681026/exercises-to-improve-posture