Do This EVERY Day for Better Posture (GUARANTEED!) – ATHLEAN-X™

by YouTube Team

If you have poor posture, you are likely aware of it and looking for a quick, easy fix. In this video, I am going to show you one simple stretch that you can do to help undo that ugly, slumped posture. Doing this stretch everyday, I guarantee that you will notice an immediate change in your posture that will have you standing upright and feeling better overall.

When it comes to addressing posture, our common thought process is to attack the weak muscles in our upper back and the tight muscles in our chest. However, we often overlook our lats, which when tight, pull our shoulders down and forward. Throughout the day as we work and night as we sleep, we don’t often bring our arms overhead (which would create stretch on the lats.) Instead, we opt to have our arms down and tight by our sides. Thus, we need to address this tightness with an effective and efficient stretch that can be done every day.

Before getting into the stretch for the lats, it’s important to take a look at the anatomy of the lats to understand how to properly stretch them. The attachments of the lats are the spinous processes of the T7 to L5 vertebrae, the iliac crest of the pelvis, the inferior border of the scapula, and the humerus. As I will mention later, to stretch the lats in the best way possible, we need to get the upper attachments of the lats further from the lower attachments.

Next, I want you to try a quick test; raise your arm straight overhead, one at a time. See how far up it goes (without forcing it.) I bet you will notice that its not very far and that is indicative of what your posture looks like. We’ll come back to this after the stretch.

Now, bend your arm and raise your elbow up, bracing it against a door frame. Then, drop your leg (on the same side) back behind your other leg while dropping the pelvis. Next, to bring the spinal processes further from the upper attachments, rotate your trunk in the direction of the arm that is posted into the door frame. Now that the upper and lower attachments have increased their distance from each other, you can utilize manual soft tissue mobilization by using your free hand to move the stretched lat back and forth. Do this for 30-45 seconds each side.

Back to that test I asked you to perform. Again, raise your arm straight up overhead and notice how much further it goes. You will even notice that you are standing more upright than you were prior to this stretch, thanks to mobilization of the lats and a release of the tight upper thoracic region.

This simple lat stretch does not take very long and can be done in junction with your other posture fixes that you’re performing every day (such as hanging from a bar or doorframe in the morning.) As I mentioned before, you will notice an immediate difference by taking 60-90 seconds to address a problem that you didn’t even know was causing your poor posture.

For a complete program that addresses posture while allowing you to build muscle and burn fat at the same time using science backed and results proven methods, head to and get the ATHLEAN-X Training System. Starr training like an athlete so that you can start feeling and looking like one in no time at all.

For more videos on how to fix posture as well as muscle imbalances and weaknesses, be sure to subscribe to the ATHLEAN-X channel here on YouTube at

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31 comments

ATHLEAN-X™ October 3, 2019 - 4:22 pm

NOTIFICATION SQUAD GIVEAWAY – Alright guys, I’m giving away a complete 30 Day Workout program to 100 lucky clickers within the first hour this video is published!  Remember, this is NOT THE FIRST 100, but those randomly selected within the first hour the video is published.  Click the link to see if you’ve won.  No strings attached! 
https://giveaway.athleanx.com/ytg/daily-stretch

If you don’t win, no worries.  Just be sure you have your notifications turned on so you can get to my next video quickly and try again.  Good luck and thanks for being a loyal subscriber…

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Sammie Shi September 19, 2021 - 4:49 pm

Is anyone a strange bird here?

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Skullcrusha September 20, 2021 - 5:51 am

Just watching this video gave me a dislocated shoulder

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Aly September 21, 2021 - 1:12 pm

I'm going to try this later. I was sleeping in the wrong position a while back, and I heard my lower spine cracked/moved. It was extremely painful at that time, and my back was kinda misaligned after. Stretching helped me go back to almost normal but I still suffer from mild lower back pain from time to time and I've been trying different stretches to help strengthen and align my spine.

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pels September 26, 2021 - 7:15 pm

Jeff can you make video on rib flare. Do you have video for this

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Enoch Dark September 29, 2021 - 7:09 am

does this stretch also help facial hair growth?

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Hendrik J October 2, 2021 - 12:17 pm

Game changer!

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Abel Yau October 3, 2021 - 5:51 pm

Thank you ! As a 67 years old. I really need good posture.

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Anduryl 666 October 5, 2021 - 8:06 pm

i poped my shoulder back in hahahahha doing this is EPIC THANK YOU it was bugging the hell out of me

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Mintrike October 6, 2021 - 1:40 pm

These intros are fucking brilliant!

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munchin October 6, 2021 - 5:45 pm

This is the stuff they literally don't want you to know

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jesse trujillo October 7, 2021 - 12:19 am

what do you suggest for stretching the front delt?

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kareem abdo October 16, 2021 - 8:21 am

شكراااا

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John Vincent Maaghop October 20, 2021 - 5:36 am

Thanks a lot

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David McGeough October 27, 2021 - 10:52 pm

Liked solely for Jesse’s intro

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El Joelo October 28, 2021 - 12:58 pm

Jeff's skin is so tight around his muscles that the vein that usually runs right down the middle of the bicep had to drop to the side cause there is no space.

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Stoffendous November 2, 2021 - 7:25 am

Stop calling me a strange bird Jeff

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Bir Man November 7, 2021 - 2:07 pm

Jesse the King! Boom! That power, that intro, wooow!

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avrakotas November 18, 2021 - 5:40 pm

This guy is really good. I wish i had this instruction when i was younger.
Could have saved me lots of problems.

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shivam prasad November 19, 2021 - 2:29 am

Do surya namaskar for posture problem

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Ben Crayston November 20, 2021 - 10:04 am

Yeh, nice stretch thanks, really appreciate your time in explaining with precision this one. 👍🏻I get some pain around my rotator cuff area doing this – any idea why and anything to be cautious of? Generally feels great coming out of those lat stretches though. 👏🏻👌🏻Many thanks again.

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Peter Parkour November 21, 2021 - 5:08 pm

me, the strange kid who sleeps like this 🙌: well at least my lats are nice and stretchy then

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Marko Peric December 8, 2021 - 11:26 am

I tried sleeping like a strange bird with arms going above my head. but when I woke up from that position its as theres no blood in my arms and they flip flop I can barely move them and it hurts for like 5 mins until the blood comes in and starts waking up the arm and then Im good to go

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Peter Lee December 9, 2021 - 2:22 pm

My body is so full of problems, if I have to do one exercise for each of these problems daily, I'll be exercising all day.

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Wonder Woman X December 20, 2021 - 12:35 am

Excellent breakdown thanks Jeff, as an MT, I use these moves and will share this with Clients accordingly..

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Jeremy Harris December 22, 2021 - 2:59 pm

do you have any videos on how to better loosen & open up the hips? I’m loving these other videos btw

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kiyopon December 25, 2021 - 5:22 pm

This is most beneficial video I have seen in 2021 .

Thanks

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Todd Hathaway December 30, 2021 - 1:21 am

When you watch all these videos… I keep thinking to myself… this is a full time job. If we followed all of this advice, how much time would it require in a day?

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Steve December 30, 2021 - 2:47 pm

I sleep like that 1:23 haha thanks Jeff

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Channelnamehere January 1, 2022 - 9:44 am

3 days of this andmy shoulders are back behind my neck line. Breathing is easier too. Here I thought it was the years of smoking, meanwhile, its posture problems caused from siting too much and staring downwards to laptop screen. Doing your supermans now for added posture benefits.

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Triple A January 3, 2022 - 11:19 am

Thankyou

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