8 Exercises To Improve Your Posture and Boost Your Confidence

Do you experience neck or back pain due to poor posture? If yes, then you are not alone. People often suffer from this and it is because of a sedentary lifestyle that causes poor back posture. For a healthy musculoskeletal system, you must maintain the correct posture. A good posture is for looking good and building strength, flexibility, and muscle balance.

Good posture is the secret to less muscle pain and a more muscular body that goes through physical activities with a reduced risk of injury. Poor posture might be the underlying issue if recurring pain in your muscles or ligaments occurs. Most people never realize their posture issues until it manifests as physical pain because they are unaware of their muscles. As you improve your posture, you become more aware of your body, making it easier to notice muscle imbalances or regions with tightness.

Here we will share some posture exercises that will help restore the lost strength in muscles due to poor posture and restore the health of your musculoskeletal system.

Why is good posture so important?

Before we start listing the exercises to improve posture, it’s essential to understand why good posture is so important.

• Good posture is vital to avoid any abnormal wear on the joints.
• Maintaining a good posture keeps your spine correctly aligned.
• It prevents muscle strain and puts less stress on the ligaments that keep the spine aligned.
• It reduces the risk of back pain and chronic diseases like arthritis.
• Good posture means you are using your muscles efficiently, which avoids fatigue.

How exercise can help to improve posture

Exercising is one of the best ways to improve posture. Focusing on exercises that strengthen your core, especially the abdominal and lower back muscles connected to the spine and pelvis, can significantly improve your posture.

The posture correction exercises are practical because they put the body’s muscles and bones in the correct position, letting the sciatic nerve signals flow freely. It avoids sciatica, a condition causing pain at the back of the thigh, calves, and feet. Posture exercises flex, extend, and rotate the spine, which improves its strength. Furthermore, these exercises stabilize muscles in a natural, neutral position. Slow and controlled movements are best to get the most out of any workout, such as resistance band exercises for better posture.

But let’s start with some general posture exercises.

Best Posture Improvement Exercises

1. Cat-Cow Pose

Source

• Start with kneeling on all fours. Keep your wrists, elbows, and shoulders stacked in a straight line. For greater stability, spread your fingers.
• Keep your neck neutral and exhale as you push your tailbone in with your abdominal muscles to raise your spine towards the ceiling. Lengthen your neck and try to touch your chest with your chin. This is the cat pose.
• As you breathe out, release your pelvis so your butt comes down, and your belly falls toward the floor. Lift your chin and chest to gaze towards the ceiling. Move your shoulders away from your ears to complete the cow pose. Keep alternating between
• cat and cow pose for 5 minutes.
• This sequence will make you aware of your spine, which is the first step toward improving your posture.

2. Isometric Abdominal Press

3. Thoracic spine rotation exercise

Source

• Lie on your right side with your arms extended out and fingers spread slightly.
• Put your left hand behind your head while your right hand is still stretched straight to the ground, fingers firm on the floor.
• Rotate your left elbow in the opposite direction while exhaling as you rotate the front of your torso. Hold the position for one deep breath, in and out.
• Return to the starting position.
• Repeat for 5–10 breaths before switching arms.

This is one of the best exercises for better posture as it improves the mobility of the torso and reduces the stiffness in your lower back.

4. Pigeon Pose

Source

• Take a downward-facing dog position and relax your muscles.
• Keep both feet together and gradually bring the left knee inside towards your hands till your right leg is resting on the mat.
• Your left hip must be pinched towards the mat. If you find it is moving up toward the ceiling, move your right foot closer to your body to make the pose easier.
• In this position, rest your hands in front of you so your torso rests over the right knee.
• Hold the position as you breathe for 3-4 breaths (30 seconds each).
• Extend your hands straight out in front of you or support your head with them as you lean into the mat, tuck your left toes, and step your right foot back.
• Repeat with the left side.

The pigeon pose is a powerful posture exercise to loosen tight hips and release lower spine and glutes tension.

Posture exercises with resistance bands

Posture exercises can be challenging, and if you already have a bad posture, it might be even more difficult for your muscles to support the motion of posture workouts. Resistance bands can make things easier as they use resistance against the muscles to improve the efficiency of workouts. Bands also support muscle growth as you can progressively increase the resistance as you gain strength.

Furthermore, band exercises for posture are not dependent on gravity like the free weight, so they reduce joint compression. This prevents the risk of injury during the workout. Another benefit of fixing posture with resistance bands is the flexibility in the variable execution of movements during an exercise.

Here are the best resistance band exercises for better posture.

1. Reverse Grip Banded Pull Apart

Source

• Hold the resistance band horizontally, keeping your hands shoulder-width apart with palms facing upwards.
• Lift your hands to shoulder height so the band is parallel to the floor.
• Pull your shoulders away from the ears, and pull the band apart as you squeeze your shoulder blades together.
• Pull as far as you can, hold the position for a few seconds, then bring your hands back to the starting position.
• Do three sets of this posture exercise for as many reps as possible.

This exercise strengthens the back of the shoulders and the upper back without overstressing your shoulders like free weights.

2. Banded Bird Dogs

Take a tabletop position with your wrists underneath your shoulders and knees underneath your hips.

• Loop the resistance band around your right foot with the ends firmly between the thumb and forefinger in both hands.
• Inhale and push your belly towards the spine as you lift and extend your right leg and left arm.
• Hold the position when you reach full extension.
• Squeeze your glutes and core.
• Return to the starting position.
• Do 10-15 reps on one side before switching.

This resistance band exercise improves posture by targeting the abdominals, glutes, and erector spinae.

3. Staggered Stance Row

Source

Stand with your left foot ahead of your right foot in a staggered stance.

• Loop the resistance band under your left foot and hold the handles in each hand.
• Hinge forward by bending your knee slightly to engage your core. Keep the back straight and your hands fully extended towards the left foot. In this position, the band should have light tension.
• Pull the band towards your torso in a rowing motion. Keep the elbows, forearms, and hands to the side of the ribcage.
• Return to the starting position by extending your arms in a controlled motion.
• Do ten reps before switching sides.

This is one of the most challenging posture exercises that improve the strength of back muscles, lats, rhomboids, and mid-to-low traps.

4. Banded Romanian deadlift

Source

Step onto the resistance band with your feet hip distance apart.

• Hold the ends of the resistance band firmly with your palms facing down.
• Keep your shoulders down, spine straight, knees slightly bent, and core engaged.
• Lower down by moving your butt back and move down as much as you can while reaching the maximum range of your hamstring flexibility.
• Pull the band with your hamstrings at the bottom of the movement as you move your hips upwards to stand straight.
• Repeat 20 times.

With banded Romanian deadlifts, you can improve the strength of the hamstrings and glutes, giving a better posture to the lower body.

How can LIT Axis resistance band help?

LIT Axis strength training bands a significant improvement over conventional resistance bands. Its smart device technology with built in Bluetooth sensors provides micro-monitored metrics which can be used to correct posture.

The built-in sensors continuously monitor each axis of movement during an exercise to detect any muscle imbalance between the left and right sides of the body. This is a critical feature as posture correction exercises are about form and correcting the muscle imbalance causing poor posture. Unlike any other resistance band, you can monitor the load time under tension to ensure you are not over-exerting the muscles. It also helps to keep progressively increasing the resistance. LIT Axis offers up to 200 LBS resistance to build a balanced and robust body.

LIT Axis is an excellent resistance band to maintain and improve musculoskeletal health. It offers an intelligent way to monitor reps, resistance loads, time under tension, muscle imbalance, etc.

Try LIT Axis now!

Conclusion

Poor posture leads to an unattractive physical form associated with muscle pain. While posture exercises with or without resistance bands will help you improve the muscles' strength, some lifestyle changes are also necessary for good posture.

Walking barefoot improves posture as the way we walk, stand, or run significantly impacts body posture. Sit on the edge of the seat or stool to activate the core and naturally prevent slumped back. If you spend long hours working on a laptop, consider using a stand to bring the screen to head level. This will avoid prolonged flexion of your cervical spine.

A good posture is about mindful lifestyle choices and an active workout routine.