Use these 2 exercises to improve posture
Upside of living and travelling full-time in our Airstream:
Views like this:
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Downside:
A lot more time sitting on our ’s.
Between long drive days and fewer options to stand and work, we are sitting way more than we were 4 months ago.
You probably already know…
Sitting is hard on your lower back, and tilting your head down to look at your monitor or phone can wreak havoc on your neck.
Over the years, we’ve helped hundreds of clients zap the negative effects of their desk jobs.
Many times, their neck and upper back pain all but disappear because their posture improves.
It makes sense, though. The average person has untrained, fairly weak, shortened, and undeveloped muscles in their upper back and shoulders.
When your upper back and rear shoulders are weak, your body compensates by slumping your shoulders forward and/or tilting your neck down.
We see this a lot in folks who work on a computer or look at their phone most of the day.
Maybe you’ve heard the term: “tech-neck”?
So what to do? Stretch, roll, pray for divine intervention?
Stretching your upper back and neck can feel great and can give some temporary relief.
But the more permanent fix for poor posture is to strengthen the muscles of your upper back and rear shoulders.
This naturally puts your upper back and shoulders in a more neutral, pain-free position over time.
We do that by lifting weights.
Here are two killer posture-improving exercises our clients do on the regular.
First up… The single-arm dumbbell row! A Digital Barbell staple. Click the picture for a video demo.
We love the row, and for good reason. Strong upper back muscles are key not only for good posture but also for overall back health.
Not to mention, they’ll help you get better at strict pull-ups. #bonus
We recommend training rows every week, doing 3-5 sets in the 8-15 rep range. Choose a weight that challenges you by the end of each set, and try to progress in weight and/or reps each week.
Be sure and watch the video above to get the technique right, or feel free to video one of your sets and send it to us for a form check.
Another great exercise we use for posture is the Face Pull, because it works your rear shoulders, as well as the muscles of your upper back:
If you’re doing them with a band, you can probably crank out sets of 15-30. If you’re using a cable machine, aim for the 8-15 rep range.
Start with 3 challenging sets.
Click the demo video, so you’ll know your form is on point!
As with everything we do in the gym, the point is to build strength through progressive overload.
You can read more about what progressive overload is, and how we do it in THIS video.
If you have less-than-ideal posture, you’re not alone, but it can be fixed.
If you have questions, just hit reply and Blakley or I will help ya out!
Lift heavy, and be nice.
Jonathan
P.S. Did you know we have a 100% free 4-week mobility challenge you can do at any time? Well, now you do! Sign up HERE.