7 Simple Exercises For Improving Your Posture

Your posture can affect not only how you hold yourself but your overall health as well. It helps prevent injuries as you work out and allows you to have better balance. It results in a greater range of motion and reduces chronic pain, too.

If the way you’re holding yourself isn’t quite how you want it to be, here are seven exercises to improve your posture.

Doorway Stretch

Using an open doorway, place your right forearm against the upright doorway with your arms bent and your biceps held parallel to the floor. Once in this position, lean forward to allow tension to build in the right side of your chest. Do this for about 10 seconds, then repeat 3-5 times before switching to your left side.

A good deal of back pain is actually due to bunched up muscles in the chest. When we slouch, the muscles in our back become strained and our chest muscles become tight.

With this exercise, you can loosen up those muscles, allowing you to achieve better posture easily.

Plank

Place your forearms on the floor with your body aligned in a straight line to where you are balanced on your toes. Hold yourself in the plank position for 30 seconds to 1 minute and then relax.

Repeat this exercise 3-5 times. If you have difficulty with this position, you can modify it by going to your knees rather than your toes.

Building up your core is an important part of improving your posture and planks are excellent for developing greater core strength. Also, once you have become comfortable with the plank, you can try other plank positions so you can keep building up your core and overall posture.