Want to look younger?  Stand taller!

Next to wrinkles and being overweight, nothing ages us more than poor posture!  Many of us sit a lot during the day, often in front of a computer.  This shortens our chest muscles, brings our shoulders and head forward and rounds our upper back.  Yuck.

Although training and strengthening your postural muscles will do wonders for your posture and your appearance, so will training your brain!  Simply being mindful of pulling your shoulder blades down and back on your ribs, and lifting your chin and chest can make a huge difference.   Part of creating better posture is being aware of yours at all times.

I’ve put together for you four exercises that will help you strengthen muscles responsible for holding your body in proper posture. The exercises I’ve listed are not an exhaustive list of exercises you could do to improve your posture.  However, they’re a great start, and should be a part of a full body strength training program.  If you add these exercises into your workout, you will see and feel the difference!

Wall squat with shoulder blade squeeze

Starting Position:  Lean against a wall with your feet about 18 inches from the wall. Place your rear end, your shoulders and your head on the wall.   Slide down the wall a bit so that your knees are slightly bent and you’re in a semi-squat position. Put your arms up over your head in a “V” position as pictured

Action: Hold your semi-squat position as you squeeze your shoulder blades and bring your hands down to the level of your ears.  Try to keep as much of your arms on the wall as you can.

Add it into your routine this way: Perform one set of 10-12 repetitions and build up to 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions.

Straight arm pull back

Starting Position:  Loop exercise tubing around a pole, post or sturdy tree (you can also use an adjustable pulley system at a gym).  Put arms in front of you, palms down.  Step away from the pole until the band is just getting tense.

Action: With straight arms, pull the band back until your hands are just behind your rear.

Be sure to: Keep your arms straight and your abs braced.  Squeeze your shoulder blades together as you pull your arms back.

Add it into your routine this way: Perform one set of 10-12 repetitions.  Work up to 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions.

Prone Back Extensions

Starting Position:  Lie face down on a mat with your arms folded and your head resting on your arms

Action: Simultaneously lift your feet and your shoulders off the ground

Be sure to: Take care not to over-arch your back .  If this bothers your low back, try this just with the shoulders off the ground.  You can put the “feet up” part of the exercise back into your program a little later on.

Add it into your routine this way: Perform one set of 10-12 repetitions and work up to 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions over time.

Good posture requires strong abdominal muscles, so a good posture improvement program should involve something for the abs.  You’ve seen “the plank”, one of my favorite core conditioning exercises, described in an earlier post about core conditioning for baby boomers, but I’ll show you again here.  It’s a definite “add” to just about anyone’s fitness program!

The plank

Modified plank

Starting Position:  Lie face down on a mat with your elbows right underneath your shoulders.

Action: Bring your hips off the mat and hold yourself up either at your elbows and toes (regular plank) or at your knees and your toes (modified plank).

Be sure to: Pull your abdominal muscles up toward your spine.

Add it into your routine this way: Pull up into the plank and hold for about 20 seconds.  Release and repeat.  Work up to longer hold times.

So, let’s review……….

-Stand taller

-Shoulder blades down and back on the ribs

-Throw a few posture-specific exercises into your regular workout

………….you’ll look and feel younger within weeks!

Committed to your success,

Becky

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