advice for posture

shadowcomplex

Does anyone have any advice to improve ones posture, mine is quite bad, I have noticed it in my shoulders rolled forward.I also get pains in my shoulder/bicep when I do bicep curls or db chest press. My chiropractor has recommended that I take up pilates, however I have always associated that was only for women, would Yoga be as good or better?

BrendanCro

I have similar problems with bad posture for years leading to lots of aches. Have done 5 weeks of ashana Yoga and my back feels better than ever. Would really recommend it. Also class I go to has 3 or 4 other guys so its not just for girls!

Physio recomended pilates so probably gonna start that too.

mack32

have a look at these:

http://figureathlete.t-nation.com/free_online_article/training/pain_free_lower_body_posture

http://figureathlete.t-nation.com/article/training/sexy_upper_body_posture&cr=]

id start doing a lot of scapular stabilisation and core work, glute activation work can't hurt either ie band pull aparts, inverted rows, bridges, russian twists and step ups/ glute bridges

your mobility is probably shot too so check out http://mobilitywod.blogspot.com/

i found pilates to help moderately but after a few weeks of exercises like the above i saw huge improvements

deadlybuzzman

youtube facepulls. If your shoulders are pulled forward this exercise will strenghten the muscles of your upper back which might be helpfull too

gavney1

Hi OP, I'm no expert but I can speak from personal experience.


I used to have quite bad posture also. I decided to take action when a street mime took the piss out of me once. Two things were constantly recommended to me to sort this 1. swimming 2. "good mornings". I did both, and they helped a bit. It also helped get rid of pains in my back. But I still had some problems

I'd always avoided weightlifting, esp anything that might hurt my back anymore.
It turns out this was the wrong approach.

By far the best thing I ever did for my back was learning how to deadlift. If you learn how to do it right, it won't hurt your back, it will help it. Do it wrong, and it might make things worse

People may tell you to just "practise" standing up straight, but I can tell you from personal experience, it's not going to strengthen your back.

Doug Cartel

gavney1 wrote: »

People may tell you to just "practise" standing up straight, but I can tell you from personal experience, it's not going to strengthen your back.

Conversely, you're not going to fix your back by just doing exercises. Practising holding the right posture is a very important part of fixing it.

Parsley

posture's something that needs to be thought about all the time if you want to correct it. constantly thinking about where your shoulders should be, what your hips are doing etc. will eventually lead to proper posture by becoming habit. of course using weight training to strengthen certain muscles/muscle groups to address weaknesses and imbalances will help too.

howtomake

Parsley wrote: »

posture's something that needs to be thought about all the time if you want to correct it. constantly thinking about where your shoulders should be, what your hips are doing etc. will eventually lead to proper posture by becoming habit. of course using weight training to strengthen certain muscles/muscle groups to address weaknesses and imbalances will help too.

x2 I use/used yoga (specific moves/sequences not just doing some class) and weight lifting for posture but it is something you have think about throughout the day.

Knowing what good posture feels like, so you can do that while doing your normal day to day stuff. I started by setting certain times to pay attention, like at 3pm at my desk when I know I'm tired. Or when you are stuck in traffic in your car, is a good time for it too. It all depends.

Not only that but I think the reasons for my poor posture also were the reasons how I hurt my shoulder , it can lead to all sorts of imbalances.

chocgirl

I'd try pilates, there's loads of mens classes now, huge emphasis on correct alignment.

Cole

Doug Cartel wrote: »

Conversely, you're not going to fix your back by just doing exercises. Practising holding the right posture is a very important part of fixing it.

Parsley wrote: »

posture's something that needs to be thought about all the time if you want to correct it. constantly thinking about where your shoulders should be, what your hips are doing etc. will eventually lead to proper posture by becoming habit. of course using weight training to strengthen certain muscles/muscle groups to address weaknesses and imbalances will help too.

howtomake wrote: »

....it is something you have think about throughout the day.

Knowing what good posture feels like, so you can do that while doing your normal day to day stuff.

I agree with all the above.

I don't have any back problems but would be inclined to round my shoulders and slouch a bit, so I've developed a habit of regularly fixing my posture. Nothing major, shoulders back and just straighten up really.

I spend a lot of time in and out of the car, so every time I get out, I now have the habit of correcting my posture. I've also fixed the mirrors in my car to match correct sitting posture (well I think it's correct) so if I slouch, it's very noticeable.

I lift weights also, but lean a bit more towards bodyweight stuff. I do quite a lot of pull ups and always find that they kind of give me an automatic posture correction, if you know what I mean.

gavney1

Cole wrote: »

I agree with all the above.

I don't have any back problems but would be inclined to round my shoulders and slouch a bit, so I've developed a habit of regularly fixing my posture. Nothing major, shoulders back and just straighten up really.

I spend a lot of time in and out of the car, so every time I get out, I now have the habit of correcting my posture. I've also fixed the mirrors in my car to match correct sitting posture (well I think it's correct) so if I slouch, it's very noticeable.

I lift weights also, but lean a bit more towards bodyweight stuff. I do quite a lot of pull ups and always find that they kind of give me an automatic posture correction, if you know what I mean.

while this may all be true. I can only speak from personal experience.

If you've back aches, and aren't used to standing tall/ confidently, it's very hard to keep reminding yourself to stand tall. i tried it for a while, tried standing up against a wall for a few mins a day, all that.

The only thing that worked for me though was doing exercises that strenghtened my back and core. I never have to remind myself to stand up straight, I just do it naturally. People never comment on my bad posture anymore, and I've even got a couple of positive comments

I've a friend who has really really bad posture (much worse than mine ever was). People regularly comment on his posture - it's abormally poor.
He's been trying the "stand up straight" thing for a long time without doing any strength exercises - and he says that it's not really helped him at all. He still has to be actively thinking about his posture in order to stand up straight.

OP, I'm guessing doing both strength exercises AND practising standing up straight AND pilates/yoga/stretching will give the best results

As i said though, these are just my personal experiences.

Cole

gavney1 wrote: »

If you've back aches, and aren't used to standing tall/ confidently, it's very hard to keep reminding yourself to stand tall.

The only thing that worked for me though was doing exercises that strenghtened my back and core. I never have to remind myself to stand up straight, I just do it naturally.

OP, I'm guessing doing both strength exercises AND practising standing up straight AND pilates/yoga/stretching will give the best results

As i said though, these are just my personal experiences.

Fair points. I've never had any serious posture problems/aches, more of a sloucher. I have a strong back, so I guess this probably makes it easy for me to correct my posture by just straightening myself up.

Only my personal experience also, but I'd tend to agree with correct exercises plus posture 'practice' is the way to go.

I've done a few yoga classes before (must get back into it), much more challenging than I thought. Not as girly as I thought it might be:)