5 Exercises to Improve Your Posture

Prolonged sitting in the workplace often affects our posture. We need to think about our posture because it contributes to neck pain, back pain, and creates stress on the joints, which increases the risk of injury. Finally, poor posture also negatively affects the way we look: with poor posture, our belly looks larger and the shoulders are lowered.

So, what can you do to improve your posture? Sitting less and more physical activity will definitely help. Below I bring you exercises to improve your to include in your weekly training plan:

1. Plank

One common characteristic of all people with poor posture are weak core muscles. Plank is an isometric exercise that strengthens these muscles, and the stronger they are, the better the posture will be.

The advantage of plank hold is that it activates the muscles of the whole body, from the legs to the shoulders, and since there are a huge number of variations of the plank, this exercise should never become boring for you.

2. Bridge

Another isometric exercise that strengthens the core muscles, which many do as part of gluteus training. During the movement, hold the upper position with maximum gluteus activation.

In addition to this, bridge is an exercise that strengthens the muscles of the lower back, which stabilizes the spine and improves the posture.

3. Deadlift

Deadlift is an exercise that activates the whole body, i.e. several muscle groups at once. In addition, deadlifts significantly affect posture improvement by strengthening the muscles in the lower back and the entire core.

4. Quadruped Hip Extension

This is an exercise that activates the muscles of the gluteus and lower back, but also the deep abdominal muscles, which are less activated in classic abs exercises.

Additionally, studies have confirmed that quadruped hip extension helps strengthen the gluteus and reduce the risk of lower back pain.

What is important to note in this exercise is that during the knee lift, you must keep the core tight and the back straight, without creating an arch in the lower back.

5. Child’s pose (Balasana)

This is a well-known yoga exercise and is one of the basic poses. Performing this child’s pose helps you to improve your posture by lengthening the muscles of the back, thighs and gluteus. These muscles are normally stiff due to prolonged sitting.