How to Fix Slumped Posture (NO MORE SLOUCHING!) – ATHLEAN-X™

Have you ever wondered how to fix slumped posture? In this video, I am going to show you why you suffer from slumped posture and how to fix it so that you can stop slouching once and for all.

It starts first by identifying what is causing your bad posture in the first place. You are most likely slouching with rounded shoulders due to a weakness and lack of mobility in your upper back, specifically the thoracic spine. Not only is it causing your shoulders to round forward, but it is also affecting the posterior pelvic tilt that you are likely suffering from as well.

While some may argue that your posture doesn’t matter, as a physical therapist, I disagree. I find that posture can affect everyone both inside and out of the gym. If you don’t believe me, try this out; slump forward, slump forward and allow your shoulders to round. Then, try raising your arm up overhead. You won’t be able to get it all the way up. Your humerus will actually get blocked within the shoulder joint, preventing you from being able to raise it all the way overhead.

If you are someone who works out, that means that with this bad posture you will run into difficulty to effectively press weight overhead, such as with dumbbells or a barbell. In everyday life, you might find it difficult to put something away above you because of the difficulty in getting your arms up.

Now, to feel what it would be like to stand with good posture, stand in front of a straight line and turn your toes out. Contract your quads and squeeze your glutes together. From here, make fist and place it against your chest with your thumb resting on your sternum. You should notice a slight downward tilt of your knuckles. Now, retract your shoulder blades and raise your chest upwards, bringing those knuckles to parallel to the ceiling.

Since you know what it feels like to stop slouching and to stand in good posture, it’s time to implement the fix, which is a daily 5 minute routine consisting of just 5 simple exercises. Two exercises to strengthen and mobilize the thoracic spine and two exercises to work on the strength-endurance of the glutes. It’s not just about having a glutes that are strong, but having the ability to hold them in the right position for an extended period of time. There is also a combination exercise that will target both the thoracic spine and the glutes all in one move.

Perform the posture fix routine as follows:

A. Supermans x 30 sec
B. Glute Bridge Marches x 30 sec
A. Supermans x 30 sec
B. Glute Bridge Marches x 30 sec
E. Bridge and Reach Overs x 30 sec

C. Kneeling Thoracic Drops x 30 sec
D. Wall DL’s x 30 sec (right leg)
C. Kneeling Thoracic Drops x 30 sec
D. Wall DL’s x 30 sec (left leg)
E. Bridge and Reach Overs x 30 sec

The Supermans exercise is a thoracic strengthening exercise that will help target the muscles of the upper back and in-between the shoulder blades. Weakness in these muscles allows for the upper back to round forward, taking with it the shoulders, causing them to round as well. To have good posture, you need to make sure these muscles are strong enough to keep you upright.

The Glute Bridge Marches will work on the strength endurance of the glutes. It is important to note here that you want to avoid any dropping of the hips / pelvis at any point, whether than be sagging down or tilting to one side in order to raise the other leg off the ground.

Kneeling Thoracic Drops will work on mobilizing the thoracic spine and as an added bonus, will help stretch the lats, which we know are an internal rotator of the shoulders. If these muscles are too tight, they will actually assist in pulling your shoulders forward.

By performing the Wall DL’s you will be getting good activation of the glutes through their function of hip extension. When your knee comes forward and reaches the wall, you want to make sure that the standing leg allows for the hips to reach all the way through and forward.

One of my favorite exercises to help correct bad posture and to feel amazing every single day is the Bridge and Reach Over. This posture exercise not only targets mobility of the thoracic spine with the reach over to each side, but doubles as a glute strengthening exercise by having you perform a bridge with each repetition.

If you’re looking for a complete workout program that will fix your posture but also help you to build a ripped athletic body, be sure to head to athleanx.com and check out the plans that are best suited to your current goals.

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