The best posture exercises are not always exercises, sometimes they should be stretches. Depending on the muscle group and the posture condition you are hoping to improve, you need to consider whether or not you should be stretching or strengthening a particular muscle group.
If we had to come up with a simple way of determining which muscles need to be stretched, you almost can’t go wrong with saying any muscles in the front of your body. That would mean all of your back muscles need to be strengthened with good posture exercises.
The typical workout, however, seems to focus on the muscles we can see in the mirror. Men focus on their chests and biceps, which really need more stretching than they do strengthening from a postural standpoint.
Many times strengthening can be equated to shortening while stretching is equal to lengthening. Your chest muscles are getting shorter all the time and they really need to be lengthened. Your back muscles grow longer with your bad posture and need your help in restoring balance to your body by helping to shorten them.
There are many muscles that make up your posture support system. If we have to limit them to just a couple, you’re going to want to focus your attention on your rhomboids (the muscles between your shoulder blades), and your paraspinals (the muscles up and down your entire spine).
There are machines at your local gym or fitness center that can accomplish this, or my site has information on simple and specific ways you can accomplish your posture goal with posture exercises.
In strengthening your rhomboids, the big mistake I see with people using the machine at the gym is that they pull with their arms. The rhomboids are worked with the “rowing” machine, which many people grab the handles and pull the bar into their chest, holding a bad posture position.
If you really intend to work a specific muscle, they should be doing all the work! Grab the handles of the machine and keep your arms in their same position throughout the exercise. Pull the weights back with just your rhomboids. Picture that you’re trying to squeeze and orange in between your shoulder blades. Do the movement slowly and with little weight at first. The muscles will build up quickly, but good form is essential.
Your paraspinal muscles also have machines available. The big mistake here is that the person gets on, puts the weight up high and then pushing out their repetitions quickly. Your posture muscles are slow fiber, endurance muscles and will respond better with slow controlled movements.
You don’t have to do everything to get good results, but you want to make sure of your goals before starting an exercise program. If you want to look good and have great posture, you can’t do exercises that are the opposite of your goal.
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