How to tweak your posture to feel healthy and strong
Modern life is wreaking havoc on our postures, and that’s leading to more than just slouchy shoulders.
As the natural curve of our spines is sabotaged, aches, pains and even headaches become exceptionally common. But the good news is that there’s always room for improvement in this department, and a few tweaks can boost how we feel in a few ways.
Being hunched at desks, stooped over screens, clenched in the car and generally sitting on our rumps as much as we do, is changing our physiology. It’s translated into a posture where our heads jut forward and chests collapse in. This exceedingly prevalent misalignment is a recipe for pain in one form or another, sooner or later.
The basic remedy, in simple terms, is to stretch and open our rounded chests, strengthen the weak and overstretched muscles in our upper backs and increase the mobility of our stiff thoracic spines (from the base of the neck through the middle back). Following, I share some exercises — one for each of these issues. But first, let’s get a taste for what we’re after:
While sitting or standing, align your ears, shoulders and hips (put your knees and ankles on the same plane too, which may be different if you’re seated). Lengthen through your torso, without jutting your ribs out. Relax your shoulders away from your ears. Now pause and take a deep breath.
Are you able to get a sense for how empowering and in-integrity this posture can feel?
Whether you’re getting that vibe or not, these exercises may help. They’re all about stretching and strengthening in the aforementioned areas that are key for good posture, and they only take a few minutes. Healthy posture doesn’t have to be a tall order.
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For thoracic spine mobility, rest the tips of your elbows on a counter (or chair — this stretch can also be done on the floor). Bring your hands together and down toward your head. The key part of this stretch is to let your upper and middle back gently sink toward the floor. Stay here for 20-30 seconds. It looks like this:
For an upper back strengthening exercise, squeeze your shoulder blades together. Hold for 10 seconds. Do a few rounds of this, or do it periodically throughout the day.
Note how these photos depict the exercise. They show the difference between a neutral position (top) and how it looks when shoulder blades are actively squeezing toward the spine (bottom).
To open your chest, bring your elbow up in line with your shoulder. Press your palm into a wall, without allowing your elbow to touch the wall. Now move your hand back on the wall and slightly rotate your hips away. Keep your shoulder down and feel the stretch in your upper chest. Stay for 20-30 seconds, then switch sides.
Other things, like a strong core and hip flexibility, are important for the cause, too. You might occasionally do some lunges (or any hip stretches) and core work (like leg lifts, which I demonstrate in a brief how-to video under the “free stuff” tab on marcisharif.com). But I also think it’s fine to focus on the exercises described here for a bit. Keep it simple. See where that takes you!