10 Best Exercises To Fix Your Bad Posture: Bad Posture Treatment

10 Best Exercises to Improve Your Body Posture Fast

At one time, humans used to spend a lot of time in searching for shelter and food and traveling long distances for the same. With time, the body has become less active and work has become more static – such as sitting at a desk all day long. Exercises keep the body healthy, burn a lot of calories and accelerate the pace of metabolism. With a good posture, you can distribute the force of gravity all through the body, to ensure that none of the body parts is stressed too much. These are the 10 best exercises for posture.

Planks

Planks are regarded as among the best workouts for improving posture. It can make the muscles of the lower-back and abdomen strong, as well as strengthen the upper back and shoulder muscles. These are challenging, based on your modifications at the time of working out varied muscle groups. These are the best back workouts for improving posture.

Elbow Plank

With this exercise, you can learn how you can maintain a neutral spine and engage the core and glute muscles. Here is how to perform this workout:

• Go to a kneeling position.
• Put the forearms on the surface of the floor.
• Stack the shoulders directly over the elbows.
• Extend the legs out behind the body, with just the toes over the surface of the ground.
• Keep your body in a straight line, all the way to the toe from the head.
• Keep the core muscles tight, shoulders back and butt down.

Hold this posture for a period of half a minute. Repeat this workout for 3 times.

High Plank

• These can make the upper back and shoulder muscles stronger. Here are the steps to the workout:
• Face down in a position of push-up. Keep the two palms over the floor, adjacent to the feet and shoulders flexed with the toe bottoms on the floor.
• Get a deep breath and then press up to the position of a pushup. Have your body in a straight line posture to the top of the head from the heels.
• Keep one eye over the floor and keep your own head in a constant and normal posture. Breathe in a normal way. Put the navel to the spine and make the back tight.
• Hold the position for a minimum of 12 seconds and lower your body gradually to the floor.

Low Plank

• Face down by keeping the forearms over the floor and directly keep the elbows under the shoulders. Keep the feet flexible by keeping the toe base over the floor.
• Clasp the hands before the face, in such a way that the forearms make the shape of a reverse “V’.
• Rise up on the toes, to ensure that just your toes and forearms touch the floor. The body needs to hover just a few inches off the surface of the floor in a straight line – all the way to the feet from the shoulders.
• Keep one eye over the floor to keep the head in a constant, normal position. Breathe in a normal way. Direct your navel to the spine and then make the back tighter.
• Hold the position for a minimum of 12 seconds and lower your body again to the floor.

Side Plank

• Put your body in the position of high plank.
• Rotate the body to left and keep your balance from the right arm, with the left foot stacked over the right.
• Place the left hand on the back or direct it all the way to the ceiling.
• Hold the position for a minimum of 12 seconds.
• Go back to the full plank. Have your body lowered to the surface of the floor.
• Rotate the body to the right side and repeat the workout.

Reverse Plank

• Sit on the surface of the floor. Extend the legs. Put the palms of both hands over the floor behind you. Have the tip of the fingers point to the back.
• Lean to the back. Lift the back off the floor. Press the chest to the ceiling. Look towards the ceiling and keep the head constant and neutral.
• Use the abs to maintain your stability, taking care that your back does not drop. Hold this position for a minimum of 12 seconds.
• Turn the fingers outward in case you experience a strain in the wrists or hands.  Planks are among the best postural workouts strengthening the lower-back, upper back, shoulder and abdominal muscles. Variations of the plank exercise varied muscle groups and offer varied levels of challenge.

It is true that people have a habit of changing postures as per habits, such as crossing the legs or slouching, and they go on having a bad posture irrespective of their recognition of bad posture and wish to maintain a proper posture. With the help of plank exercises, it can be easy to improve posture.

You May Also Like This: The 5 Most Effective Exercises To Increase Forearm Size And Strength

Shoulder Rolls

These are among the best shoulder exercises that improve the circulation in the joints there, and get rid of the accumulated stress. This workout is fantastic for warm-up and can stretch the joints, tendons and muscles. It also aids in reducing the stiffness and aches in the shoulder area. Here are the steps for the exercise.

• Sit on a chair straight. Keep the feet on the floor flat, and place them apart comfortably.
• Begin to roll up your shoulders, and then back, down and finally forward in a circular, smooth movement.
• Roll the shoulders in the reverse direction.
• Repeat the workout 2 – 4 times.
• Chin Tuck

It is an extremely simple and easy workout that can be done by anybody. This is the best workout to improve postural problems, such as a forward head and rounded back position. Medical problems like osteoporosis, old age and sitting at a desk makes the body tend to go out of good posture, and causes the round forward and upper back posture that pushes the head and neck forward and make the alignment improper.

It leads to chronic back and neck pain. In most cases, such changes happen to be muscular and it is possible to stretch muscles and make them stronger. Regardless of your level of fitness or age, doing this basic workout constantly can aid in counteracting this position of forward head. Consequently, this can aid in alleviating chronic pain in neck.

These are the steps to the exercise:

• Sit in a chair with the back kept straight. Do not sit against the chair’s back, but in the front. When you sit up, it can make those muscles stronger that you require for proper posture.
• Lift the crown of the head towards the ceiling. Do not tip back the head. Keep your chin in a parallel position to the floor.
• Do not tip the head in any way. Pull the head and chin straight back. You can experience a stretch in your neck’s back section.
• Relax your chin back ahead to a neutral posture.
• Repeat this workout for 8 – 12 repetitions.

This workout can be used all through the day to keep good posture. While you drive a car, pull in your chin as well as push the head so that it can touch the headrest that is located behind you. Perform the same workout as you sit before the PC.

Wall Angle

It is among the best exercises to improve posture. Lack of shoulder mobility and a feeble posterior chain – comprising of muscles in the calves, the hamstrings, the glutes and the back – can lead to reduced gym performance. There can be more pressure over the lower back region. Your strength can be significantly reduced by just having your head too much ahead in the forward direction.

Don’t Miss This: What is the fastest way to get six pack abs?

In case you have chronic neck or back pain and shoulder injury, or wish to make your back stronger and finish a pull-up, or simply aiming for postural improvement, try to introduce the wall angle to your exercise regime. With the wall angle, you can stretch the shoulders and chest, and make your back muscles – particularly trapezius, lats and rotator cuffs – stronger.

This is how to perform the workout:

• Look for a clear wall, and stand with the back to the wall. Your buttocks, mid-back and head should be touching. Your feet should be just a few inches away, comfortably apart.
• Bring up the arms to the 90/90 position, and have the back of your fingers and wrists against the wall.
• Without moving the hands or head, also attempt to make the lower back flat against the wall. Keep the eyes looking horizontal, and not up. Do not simply jut out your chin. Simultaneously flatten the spine, hands and fingers against the wall. Kudos to you if you have managed all of these!

You will possibly get more advantage from concentrating on stability and strength training instead of stretching exercises.

Crunch and Twist

This workout requires giving a full twist to the abdomen, and includes strength, isolation and balancing. It makes the core strong, trains the waist and makes the arms stronger. In case you happen to be a beginner, you may do it in the absence of any equipment. You can perform these workouts later with a kettlebell or a dumbbell.

This is how you can perform the workout:

• Sit on the floor.
• Bend the knees, and keep the feet flat over the floor.
• Keep the back and the abdomen muscles tight.
• Grab your kettlebell or dumbbell.
• Lean about 15° to the back, taking care not to crane the neck or raise the shoulders.
• Lift off the feet from the floor gradually. Raise the calves as high as possible. Attempt to make the feet parallel to the surface of the floor.
• Use both hands to hold the dumbbell.
• Twist the dumbbell and take it to the center from one side. Then twist again and take it to the opposite side.

Repeat the workout for as many as 15 times. Never try to lift the feet in case you happen to be a beginner.

The core muscles include the abs muscles that can be found at the front section of the abdomen as well as the oblique muscles that can found at the side of your upper body – which helps turn the body from one side to another, your hips and your lower back. You have to make these muscles stronger so as to enjoy an upright posture.

When you have stronger core muscles, you can improve the stability and balance, given that your body is stabilized by the core muscles. These muscles let you move in any way, even on terrains that are bumpy or even stand in a single place with no loss of balance.

Shoulder Blade Exercise

You can improve the posture of neck with this workout. You can have a nice posture when your ears are positioned over the shoulder level. You might have seen that when you sit before a PC or drive a vehicle, your head is pushed to the front direction most of the tines. Forward head posture happens to be a quite common postural defect, which occurs due to the tight and weak sections in the neck that makes it tough for you to keep the head straight.

You can correct the problem by adopting a correct shoulder and neck posture. It is possible to begin the correction of bad neck posture through workouts that are aimed to assist you in getting control over the postural neck muscles that have got tired and weak over time.

You will simply need a chair for this exercise. The exercise aims to assist you in raising the chest area, which can ultimately help you to improve the posture of your neck and head. You can get the ability to look ahead straight.

Here is how to perform this exercise:

• Sit straight up in a chair.
• Keep the knees bent at an angle of 90°.
• Allow your shoulders to simply drop. You may also let the arms hang by the side.
• Then squeeze together both your shoulder blades. Hold the position for 2 – 3 seconds. Now softly release the posture. Hold the posture for 2 – 3 seconds more, and then release.

This makes 1 full repetition. Repeat the workout for about 10 times.

Check This Out: 5 Back Exercises You Should Be Doing for Mass

Glute Bridge

With this move, you can improve the activation of the glutes in an unloaded state. Weak glutes and tight hips generally lead to inferior posture.  It makes for a nice posture when you have the hips level and neutral when seen from a side. Sometimes, however, when you stand the hips can tilt forward – a condition known as Forward Pelvic Tilt. Thus, it is essential to make the muscles of your hip flexor, butt and thighs stronger, which can let you lift the knees and bend them at the level of the waist. When a glute bridge is properly conducted, it can evoke the retraction of the scapula, which is essential for nice posture.

Here are the steps to performing this workout:

• Lie on the back.
• Bend the knees.
• Put your feet on the surface of the ground, keeping them apart by a shoulder width. Keep the feet as neat to the glutes as possible.
• Place the arms extending long at the sides, with the palms facing downwards.
• Contract the core and glute muscles, and push your feet through.
• Lift the core, hips and glutes off the surface of the ground, so that just your head and shoulders are over the ground.
• Lower gently.

Repeat the process for as many as 15 times.

Prone Back Extension

It is an amazing way to exercise the posterior core muscles of the body. This workout can help you to exercise the stabilizing and antiflexion muscles in the back that aid you in standing tall and erect. Improper posture has a lot of improper effects on the spinal column. For instance, imbalance of the joint makes even normal movements and exercises tough. Improper posture can lead to pain and indicate a bad relationship between the various parts of the body.

Here are the steps to the workout process:

• Lie flat on the stomach over the surface of the floor. Keep the arms long and extended at the sides, with the palms pointing up.
• Pull back the shoulders and at the same time lift the legs, arms, chest, shoulders and head off the ground surface as high as possible for your body.
• Hold the posture for 10 seconds before releasing.
• Repeat the process for 3 times.

With regular performance of this workout, there is proper balance and no stress on the structures that support the body. The proper functioning of the body structures is not prevented in any way. There are no issues in appearance or physical disability or pain.

Dumbbell Row

It is another exercise to strengthen the core, train your shoulder and give a definite form to your body, simultaneously improving your upper body posture.

You can perform this exercise in many different ways, with or without flat bench.

Here is how to perform this exercise:

• Stand with your feet apart by the width of a hip.
• Hold a dumbbell in each hand and the hands placed at the sides.
• Keep the back flat to the surface of the floor.
• Slightly hinge at your hips, so that the upper body is at a front angle.
• Keep the elbows tight to your body.
• Squeeze together your shoulder blades, while bending the elbows and pulling the dumbbells towards the direction of your chest.
• Lower the hands with the dumbbells gradually.

Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions. When performed regularly, it can reduce the strain and stress caused on the discs, bones, joints, tendons, muscles, pelvis and spine, thus ensuring no deformation or fatigue. Improper habits, such as slouching while watching or studying TV, carrying weighty school bags, lack of exercise, using chairs with no backrest, too much use of computers etc can lead to bad postures, abnormal development and skeletal deformities. Dumbbell Row can help treat or prevent all these issues.

Knee strengthener

You can also maintain healthy body posture with your knees. Here are two steps to this simple workout:

• Keep the knees bent a little and have them apart by a shoulder width. Ensure that there is uniform distribution of your body weight on the feet.
• Try to lift a box of average weight from the floor. Keep the knees, and not the back, bent. Make sure that your belly is tucked inside. If you bend the back, you might end up injuring it – given that the muscles in the back are not designed to sustain such a big weight. However, your stomach and leg muscles are sufficiently big to carry the same.

It is important to maintain the right posture during this workout, so as to maintain proper balance of your body and ensure effective functioning and right arrangement of each supportive structure. A proper posture is one of the prerequisites for a well-balanced life. This is one of the easiest systematic programs available for correcting postural defects.

Parting Shot!

When it comes to fixing bad posture problems, there are no better solutions other than exercising, being more aware of your posture and maintaining consistency. In the beginning, you might feel slightly unnatural, but postural improvement does not happen in a day.

As more and more time passes, and the more you perform the above workouts and strive to develop a good posture, you can find a better posture coming to you more naturally. You can stand straight before the mirror and see for yourself you leaner, taller and more confident you appear as you stand erect while maintaining a good posture.