10 exercises for straight posture

Good posture is important not only for beauty, but also for health. It helps develop strength, flexibility and balance in the body, minimizes muscle pain, helps to properly distribute loads and avoid injuries.

Poor posture can cause various health problems, such as:

poor sense of balance;
labored breathing;
headache;
urinary incontinence;
heartburn, etc.

Researchers also see a link between poor posture and sleep disturbances, fatigue and mood swings, according to Harvard Health.

Just imagine: if a person's head is pushed forward at least 6-7 cm due to postural problems, this puts 19 kilograms of pressure on the neck and upper back muscles. To put it more clearly, there are three heavy watermelons on your shoulders, which you have to walk with 24/7 every day. Sounds so-so, right?

We have already talked about how to determine whether there are problems with posture at home in one of our previous articles. In this one we will focus on exercises that can help you get rid of the problem.

The key to correcting poor posture is to strengthen and stretch the muscles of your upper back, chest, and core.

Child's Pose

This exercise stretches and lengthens the spine, glutes, and hamstrings, and helps relieve tension in the lower back and neck.

How to perform an exercise for a straight back?

Sit on your shins with your big toes touching and your heels out to the sides.
Bend down and extend your arms in front of you.
Gently move forward until your forehead touches the floor.
Relax in this pose for up to 3 minutes and breathe deeply.
Take the starting position and repeat the exercise several more times.

How to improve your posture

Taking care of your posture, practicing exercises for a straight back and strengthening your core muscles should become a regular (preferably daily) habit. Systematic yoga classes for the spine and strengthening the muscle corset will help improve your health and attitude.

It often happens that it is pain that makes us pay attention to health. Painful sensations are an indicator that problems already exist and need to be worked on. Cartilaginous intervertebral tissue does not recover in full with age, which leads to a decrease in depreciation of the spine.

Therefore, you need to take care of your health every day: perform asanas and exercises that will help strengthen your back, improve tissue nutrition and mobility of the spine.

Downward facing dog

A classic exercise familiar to many from yoga. It strengthens the entire body (back, arms, shoulders, stomach and legs), stretches the spine, ankles, calves, hamstrings, and stimulates blood circulation.

Very briefly, the pose resembles an inverted letter V. If described in more detail, the exercise to improve posture is performed as follows:

Get on your fitness mat on all fours. Begin to slowly raise your knees, pressing your toes firmly into the surface to feel support.
Stretch and lengthen your spine, lifting your pelvis as high as possible, keeping your head down so that it forms a straight line with your back.
Keep your body in this position and watch your breathing. Slowly lower your knees to the floor to return to the starting position.

Do at least three repetitions at 30-second intervals.

A set of exercises for children with poor posture

There are many elements for adjusting the waist. Some of them are suitable for any student, others should be divided into categories depending on the age of the young athlete.

General exercises for straight posture: 5 most effective elements

The table shows the five simplest elements with which every toddler can become the owner of a healthy spine.

Exercise	Description
Airplane	We spread our arms to the sides at shoulder level. We put our feet together. We tilt the body in different directions, depicting an airplane. The arms remain straight.
Mill	We make circles alternately back and forth with one straight arm and then with the other. The second one is on the belt at this time.
Martin	Straighten your arms to the sides and move one straight leg back. We try to remain in this position for as long as possible. Next we change the leg. In the future, you can try closing your eyes.
Fish	We lie down on our stomach and raise our outstretched legs and arms at the same time. You can start the element by lifting your legs separately and then your arms. The chest should also reach behind the arms.
Bike	We lie on our backs and spin an imaginary bicycle.

It is useful to teach your child to do push-ups and planks from an early age.

How to train children under 3 years old

Despite the fact that problems with the spine are quite rare in the youngest children, the foundation for a healthy back should be done from a very early age.

Exercises to improve the posture of children are best done in a playful way. This way, it’s easier to capture their attention and whet their interest. And interesting names for ordinary elements will make the training a real fabulous adventure, the main characters of which can be:

a tightrope walker who can walk smoothly along a rope stretched on the floor;
a mouse deftly moving under a rope from one side to the other;
crocodile, resulting from the following element: lie on your stomach and stretch your arms forward, smoothly raise your head up, without lifting your hands from the floor and arching your lower back;
a woodcutter who “cuts wood” while bending.

What can be offered to children under 6 years old?

At this age, children are already quite capable of assuming and maintaining a given pose. So, they can go up to the wall and press their entire spinal column against it. The heels and head should also be pressed. It is advisable to perform all elements for correcting posture in preschool children while maintaining this body position. Using a gymnastic stick, hoop or ball, you can offer a preschooler a whole range of elements.

The basic elements may be the following:

We stand with our feet wider than shoulder-width apart. Raise the stick or ball up, keeping your gaze on the object. We lower the equipment to the chest and return to its original position.
We take the ball in one hand. We put it behind our back and transfer it to the other hand.
Raise your hands with a stick or ball above your head. We spread our elbows to the sides, bringing the shoulder blades together. We make several tilts in different directions.
We lie down on our backs. Raise your legs and spread them apart. We perform cross movements simulating scissors.

You can also perform the following complex with a gymnastic stick:

bend or lift it up;
raise your arms with her from a position lying on your stomach;
raise your arms behind your back from a sitting or standing position;
just walk with it like a rocker;
put the stick on the floor and ask the practitioner to grab it while lying on his stomach;
pick up a stick and ask the child to hang on it.

We work with schoolchildren from 10 to 12 years old

It is also important for children from 10 years of age to exercise. At this age, problems arise. Schoolchildren are not only forced to sit in one position for a long time and carry heavy briefcases. TV and computer play a huge role in disrupting the camp. Few people maintain the correct back position when using gadgets. And as Valentin Dikul said:

“When sitting at a computer, you need to find the correct posture. It’s hard, but necessary!”

The following elements can help your back rest and your spine straighten:

We lie on our stomach and press our body to the floor. We try to raise only the head and shoulders, staying in this position for several seconds.
From the previous position, first pull one knee to the stomach, then the other.
We lie on our back and bend our knees. We perform pelvic lifts, leaving our hands on the floor.
We turn back onto our stomach and raise our arms and legs at the same time.
From the same position we take our ankles and bend as much as possible.
We perform push-ups from the floor, keeping your back straight.
We make a cat by alternately arching and bending our back, standing on all fours.
We stand up, join our hands behind our backs and bend forward.

What to do if there is severe curvature of the spine

If the curvature of the spine is already quite strong, the following exercises to straighten the waist will help:

we sit against the wall, leaning our backs against it, spread our arms to the sides and raise them to shoulder level, keeping our muscles tense, slowly lower our arms;
We take the same position, then slowly move away from the wall, keeping the spine straight;
From the same position we slowly sit down and stand up, as if sliding our back along the wall.

Exercises that shape the waist

The following elements will help you form a beautiful figure:

we place our palms on our shoulders, try to move our elbows behind our backs, while connecting our shoulder blades;
We stand up, take turns raising our knees up, pressing them to our chest, while our shoulders should remain in place.

To form a camp, the use of sports attributes works well.

Elements for stretching the spine

Stretching the spinal column is an important step in creating a beautiful figure. The following exercises increase flexibility and reduce the likelihood of injury:

lie down on a hard surface, bend your knees, put an elastic band or strong fabric on your foot, and straighten your leg by pulling the material towards you;
we get on all fours, move our legs back, join our hands behind our backs, try to bend over, holding this for a while;
we kneel down, placing our buttocks on our heels, move our palms forward until our forehead is on the floor;
We lie down on our stomach, strain our abs and buttocks, stretch one arm forward and up, fixing the pose for a few seconds.

Cat-cow/cat-camel

Stretches the spine, helps relieve tension in the torso, shoulders and neck, improving blood circulation.

To do this exercise for beautiful posture, you need to:

Get on all fours, evenly distributing your weight between all four limbs.
Inhale, raising your head up and lowering your stomach to the floor, thereby stretching your spine.
Exhale, stretching your back up and pressing your chin to your chest.

Alternately change positions for a total of at least a minute.

Pigeon pose

Pigeon pose is good for relaxing and stretching the spine, working the hamstrings and glutes, and helping to stretch the sciatic nerve and quadriceps muscle. Opening and stretching these muscle groups makes it easier to correct postural imbalances.

How to straighten your back with exercise?

Bend your right knee and walk your leg forward as if about to lunge. Lower your right knee to the floor next to your right wrist. In this case, the shin can be directed back (towards the left thigh) or parallel to the mat, depending on your range of motion.
Lower your left knee, slide your leg back so that it rests completely on the mat and your heel is pointing up.
The situation must be stable. As you inhale, stretch your spine up, pull in your navel and try to open your chest wide. Hold this position for up to 1 minute.
Repeat the pose, switching legs.

You can make the load more difficult by bending forward. It is important that there is no pain or discomfort.

Scoliosis

Scoliosis is a disease in which there is a deviation of the spinal column from a straight vertical line. This could be due to many factors:

Passive lifestyle.
Asymmetrical pose.
Lack of developed muscle muscles.
Lack of useful microelements and poor nutrition.

Most often, scoliosis is formed due to a combination of several reasons. It is noteworthy that this disease develops only in childhood or adolescence, and only before the age of 20 is it possible to somehow influence the condition of the back. After this, all efforts are directed towards preventing further deterioration and relieving pain. Nevertheless, quite often there are cases when adults, with the help of strength exercises, manage to significantly improve their posture and get rid of the symptoms of scoliosis.

Side and regular plank

Planking strengthens your spine and core muscles, which naturally leads to better posture. In addition, coordination of movements and balance develops. Read more information about the types of planks and their benefits in a separate article.

How to correct your posture using a plank?

Get on all fours and straighten your legs, lifting your heels and hips. Hands are shoulder-width apart; they can be either fully straightened or bent at the elbows.
Straighten your back and engage your abdominal muscles, arms and legs to maintain an even posture. The head looks to the floor.
Hold this position for up to 1 minute.
To perform a side plank, you need to transfer your body weight to your forearm. In such a way that the elbow remains strictly under the shoulder.
The hips must be raised up so that they form an even line with the body.
The right leg rests on the floor, and the left is on it.
The position is held for up to 1 minute, then the side is changed.

The benefits of a straight back and correct posture

To appreciate the importance of correct posture, you should understand that the tissues of the body - both internal and external - need good nutrition with blood that carries oxygen and various energy components. Also important is the connection with the nerve endings in the body that are responsible for electrical impulses. If one of these factors fails, the body will have a hard time.

Article on the topic How to stop slouching? Effective advice from a professional trainer

If your posture is poor, the vessels and nerve trunks in the spine through which blood flows are compressed. When the back is curved, everything is compressed by the vertebrae; an analogy can be drawn with a water hose that has been crushed, and the liquid does not pass through it.

A weakening of the muscles in the chest area also begins to be observed, which leads to problems with the respiratory system, the development of bronchitis and other inflammatory reactions in the lungs. The abdominal area also becomes weaker: the front wall loses its tone, the stomach begins to bulge, and it is difficult to remove it even with exercises. A crooked back is often associated with depressive moods: when a person is depressed, he does not straighten his shoulders, but, on the contrary, sinks deeper into them. It turns out to be a vicious circle when drooping shoulders negatively affect emotions, and they make you hunched even more. Against the backdrop of hunching, muscle pain occurs, the back hurts greatly, and it is impossible to straighten up.

You need to take care of your posture at any age. And quite simple exercises will help you put everything back in place and make your back straight. Osteopathic doctor Vladimir Zhivotov told AiF.ru about how you can straighten your spine at home

Bend forward with hands behind back

Thanks to this load, the pectoral muscles, as well as the back muscles, are stretched. This is a good way to get rid of sloping shoulders and a sunken chest.

The exercise for stooping is very simple:

Stand up straight and move your arms back behind your back.
Inhale deeply, clasp your palms together, crossing your fingers, opening your chest as much as possible
As you exhale, tilt your body and raise your arms up, moving them forward as far as possible, relaxing your neck and head.
Rise to the starting position and do at least 7-10 repetitions.

Exercises on simulators

7. Raising arms back in the simulator

The exercise is analogous to swinging dumbbells to the sides. The point is to tone the muscles of the upper central part of the back. The stronger the tone of these muscles, the straighter your posture. Not all gyms have such simulators. You can replace it with swings in a crossover.

8. Pull of a vertical block behind the head

This exercise imitates a head pull-up. Again, if you can't do this exercise straight and without hunching, then don't do it at all. You need to keep your head straight and not tilt, and bring your shoulder blades together. This requires a certain flexibility in the shoulder girdle. In the case of severe stoop, few people manage to do this deadlift correctly.

9. Horizontal pull

Analogue of dumbbell rows and pull-ups in a Smith machine. For posture, it is better to hold your back not statically, but to bend slightly following the handle and move your back back when you pull it towards you. in general, as shown in the video, it can be even a little stronger.

10. Linkage

The essence is the same as the previous exercise. The only difference is that it can be done with one hand. But for the sake of posture it is better not to do this. For posture, it is better to do all exercises with both hands at the same time. This works the central back muscles better. As with the previous exercise, you do not need to keep your back static.

Back extension lying on stomach

The purpose of the exercise is to strengthen the muscles that extend the back, in particular the erector spinae, as well as to work on the abdominal muscles to protect the lower back from injury.

This simple exercise for the spine is performed like this:

Lie on your stomach, legs straight, arms bent at the elbows and lying in front of you, gaze directed forward.
Keeping your forearms on the floor, slowly lift your upper body, arching your back.
Hold this position for a few seconds, then smoothly lower your body to the starting position.
Repeat this exercise 8 to 10 times in one go.

Reverse bridge

The reverse bridge or reverse plank lengthens and straightens the lower back and corrects rounded shoulders.

It's very simple:

Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet hip-width apart.
Place your arms along your body, palms down.
Stand firmly and lift your hips and torso up. Make sure that the body does not bend and forms a straight line.
Hold this position for up to 30 seconds and return to the starting position.
Repeat the exercise 5 to 10 times.

Raising arms and legs while lying on your stomach (“Superman”)

One of the best exercises for perfect posture is “superman”. It works well not only the back, but also the gluteal muscles.

For execution:

Lie face down on the floor. Stretch your arms forward, legs straight behind you.
At the same time, raise your arms and legs up, tensing the muscles of your back and buttocks. Keep your gaze ahead.
Hold at the top point for 10-15 seconds and slowly return to the starting position.
Repeat the exercise at least 10 times.

Another variation is to simultaneously raise your right arm and left leg, then change to the opposite.

Bend forward from a sitting position

The last way to straighten your posture is to bend forward. For comprehensive health of the back and lumbar region, it is important to regularly do stretching and exercises for the spine. This helps improve the elasticity of muscles and ligaments, as well as maintain the health of the musculoskeletal system.

Technique:

Sit on the floor or fitness mat with your legs straight.
Slowly lower yourself forward, arching your spine and keeping your arms in front of you. Lower your chin to your chest.
As you lower and raise your torso, imagine a rope tied around your waist with someone pulling from behind, bringing your belly closer to your spine.
Repeat the exercise at least 5 times.

Prevention of curvature

Posture exercises in the gym can significantly strengthen your back and even correct an existing curvature. But it is much better to use comprehensive measures that will help the formation of beautiful posture. What can help besides strength training?

Correct position while working or studying.
Comfortable furniture (armchair or chair) with optimal back support.
Stretching, swimming, meditation, yoga - all these techniques are aimed at relaxing the body and reducing stress, which also indirectly affects the condition of the spine.
Regular visits to doctors.
Daily activity (running, walking).