Many people don’t have good posture, which can lead to back issues and cause pain and discomfort. Bad posture tends to come from many of our daily activities, which tend involve our spines being in unnatural positions for ongoing periods of time. For example, many people constantly sit at work and at home, which can cause constant slouching and hunching of the back. Plus, lack of regular exercise can exacerbate problems with your back and posture. However, specific exercises can correct these problems. Here, we will discuss a few of the exercises to improve your posture.

Reverse Plank Bridge

Posture can become bad from not using certain muscles. This exercise is basically a reverse push-up. Your arms need to stay straight with your shoulders, bringing the shoulder blades together. Make sure to keep your chest pushed out, which will extend the spine. This exercise is meant to activate the muscles in the back, which help you hold a better posture.

Planking

Start with your elbows placed on the ground directly under your shoulders, with your wrists in line with your elbows. With your legs straight behind you, hold yourself up on your forearms by contracting your abdominal muscles as well as squeezing the thighs and glutes. Your posture will significantly improve when you strengthen these parts of your body. Shoot for a goal of holding the planks for 20 to 50 seconds.

Arch-Ups

Arch-ups are great because they include three different strengthening movements. Start by lying flat on your stomach and working your shoulders with shoulder flexion by pushing up the shoulder blades as far as you can with your arms. You can then perform horizontal abduction by lifting your arms out to the sides while trying to make your shoulder blades touch. The shoulder extension activates your upper back by pushing your arms upwards. Make sure to do this with your thumbs pointed up.

You can do arch-ups with small weights and bands if you want to increase the tension. American Home Fitness’s workout supply stores in Sterling Heights, MI, are good sources for finding the proper equipment for these exercises.

Wall Stretches

For the last of our recommended exercises to improve your posture, try some wall stretches. These may seem basic, but they’re very good at activating muscles in your back and core, which are commonly associated with your posture. These can be combinations of 60-second stretches that will loosen the tension out of your shoulders and upper back. Facing a wall, place your hands behind your head with your elbows against the wall. Then, simply stretch. You can also put your back to the wall with your arms out and bent at the elbows. Keep your arms against the wall and raise them.