350 | What Exercises Help to Improve Posture?

[00:00:00] Welcome to The Optimal Body Podcast. I'm Dr. Jen and I'm Dr. Dom and we are doctors

[00:00:10] of physical therapy bringing you the body tips and physical therapy pearls of

[00:00:14] wisdom to help you begin to understand your body, relieve your pains and

[00:00:17] restrictions and answer your questions. Along with expert guests our goal of

[00:00:21] the Optimal Body Podcast is really to help you discover what optimal means

[00:00:25] within your own body. Let's dive in! Before we dive into exactly what exercises

[00:00:31] can help to improve your posture because this is the number one question I get

[00:00:34] asked on social media you have to know that although we're gonna give you some

[00:00:38] exercises and some recommendations it takes daily work and that is why we have

[00:00:44] Jen Health and if you missed the promotion that we had last week we are giving

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[00:01:13] basis so we have a neck and upper back plan that's the number one plan I

[00:01:18] typically recommend if you're just looking for easy five to ten minute

[00:01:22] accessory mobility exercises that you can really do that help improve mobility

[00:01:27] and stability to help your posture but also we have strength workouts that

[00:01:31] help to improve your posture. We have a full-body low impact plan a full-body

[00:01:34] mobility plan we have all plans whether it is core related mobility related

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[00:02:26] explore the platform see how it can benefit in your body and how it can make

[00:02:31] you feel. The diving into date to one of what I think is the most taboo

[00:02:36] topic most talked about topics which is posture and what exercises should I

[00:02:41] specifically do to improve my posture. This is a big one that I get asked so

[00:02:47] often and I think once you listen to this full podcast it's gonna make a little

[00:02:53] bit more sense but we're not going to necessarily we'll give examples of things

[00:02:58] but we're not gonna necessarily say here are the five exercises you need to do

[00:03:02] to improve posture and I know there's a lot of things out there like that

[00:03:06] but we're gonna kind of talk through why that doesn't really make sense in what

[00:03:10] you can do instead and what you should focus on. And I think first defining

[00:03:14] what posture is will help kind of frame our conversation because everyone thinks

[00:03:18] of posture as one static snapshot like how do I look in this one photo and

[00:03:25] and while that yes that's a component of posture I like to view posture as

[00:03:30] how I dynamically feel and move in my body throughout the entire day and how I

[00:03:38] find ease and freeness in my body throughout the entire day it really shouldn't

[00:03:44] be seen as a single snapshot this is my posture right because throughout a day

[00:03:49] we should assume hundreds of postures and different ways of holding ourselves

[00:03:54] and moving and so I want to move the consensus away from or this paradigm away

[00:04:01] from a single posture snapshot to viewing posture as how we are holding ourselves

[00:04:07] dynamically throughout the whole day. Well and what's really important about

[00:04:10] that too is a lot of people when you've been told police shoulders down and

[00:04:13] back and open up your chest it actually creates like an inefficient

[00:04:18] pressure system within your body because now I'm thrusting my ribcage out I'm

[00:04:23] I'm putting tension into my back and so when I breathe I'm gonna probably put

[00:04:28] more tension into my chest rather than my lower ribcage and and belly area

[00:04:33] that helps to disperse the pressure for my pelvic floor and back. That's just again

[00:04:36] that's just one cue and one body area pull the shoulders down and back and then

[00:04:41] some people will say okay and keep the ribcage down and make sure your pelvis is engaged

[00:04:45] and make sure but again a lot of these cues that people try to give are static

[00:04:51] right it's something that you're doing just at one point in time but how do we

[00:04:55] get some of that support essentially what we're trying to do is find support and

[00:04:59] find good balance in the body. How do we get that support and balance to feel like it's

[00:05:03] lasting to feel like we don't always need to be thinking about it holding

[00:05:07] ourselves like a tin soldier yeah it shouldn't need to be such a conscious thing

[00:05:13] that we're always voluntarily holding ourself in this really stiff rigid position

[00:05:18] it should be something that we work on and develop over time that becomes automatic.

[00:05:24] And it might look a little different for every person and so in general the exercise is best

[00:05:29] to improve posture is exercise. Yeah it's moving more yeah and within that movement knowing where

[00:05:38] you have restrictions knowing what you don't do a lot knowing the positions you're sitting in for

[00:05:43] the majority of the day whether it's at work whether you stand and work more actively

[00:05:49] and you know that oh I'm always kind of overextending through my back and then knowing when

[00:05:55] I have a break I need to get some forward movements saying what you do more. Yeah what you tend

[00:06:02] to do what your tendencies are so that you're working on your restrictions. And this doesn't necessarily

[00:06:08] have to be like an exercise program that you're doing on an everyday basis like what Dom is

[00:06:13] pointing out is that you're starting to put yourself in different positions in different

[00:06:19] postures throughout the day based on what you're already doing so if I'm sitting at my desk grounded

[00:06:24] how often am I taking breaks to reverse that posture how often am I taking breaks to open up my

[00:06:29] chest and do a simple mobility movement that isn't even a full exercise with load but it's getting

[00:06:35] you to do something different because the more movement that we add into the day the less stiffness

[00:06:40] we have in our body and the less we're going to feel constrained in different motions because

[00:06:46] we're moving more. Which we we talk about this for real we've probably brought it up a bunch of

[00:06:51] different times if you're someone who tends to work whether at a desk or just in a static position

[00:06:56] where you're not moving a lot you should try to set a timer this is where we transition something

[00:07:02] from being conscious to being more subconscious and if you set a timer every 30 minutes and that

[00:07:07] timer says move or okay get up and move and you take 30 seconds to like Jen said if you're sitting

[00:07:14] stand up open up your hips extend through your back stretch out your chest get right back to work

[00:07:19] if you do that every half an hour through a seven to eight hour workday they're getting 15 or 16

[00:07:25] more tidbits and bites of movement that are going to start to reprogram that system it starts out

[00:07:30] as something very conscious and as you do it more consistently will migrate to something where

[00:07:36] your body just tells you okay and you're your body will create that after a while and this is where

[00:07:42] when we get into okay what exercises should I do to help improve my posture it's when you're doing

[00:07:47] exercises in the gym you're similar to what we're saying you know when you're working and you're

[00:07:53] doing mobility that's opposing the work that you're kind of statically in that's the same with

[00:07:59] you're working out so if you're doing a workout where you really want to focus on your chest okay

[00:08:05] that's fine but are we doing exercises within the same workout or very close within days

[00:08:11] that work on the opposite where you're working on your back and you're working on your shoulder blades

[00:08:16] in a different way so how are we working from focusing on my quads to focusing on my hamstrings

[00:08:21] and am I getting this opposing muscle group so that my body is naturally finding what we talked about

[00:08:27] in the beginning this balance this alignment without having to think or force it if I'm working a lot

[00:08:32] on crunches and core am I doing a lot for my back am I doing extension am I balancing out my system

[00:08:39] so that when I'm standing walking I'm not having to think about it because my body already knows how

[00:08:45] to coordinate itself and another thing that people will do when they go to the gym they'll use

[00:08:51] machines yeah and people can use machines for a lot of different reasons and machines aren't bad

[00:08:56] you know machines are getting us moving they're putting tension through our muscles they're getting

[00:08:59] us doing some of these major movements but they're a bit restrictive in the pattern one

[00:09:05] some machines might not be properly sized or be able to adjust to your body size yeah but also

[00:09:11] they they keep us in one track right and this is where we prefer sometimes to use free weights whether

[00:09:17] it's dumbbells barbells kettlebells again some people don't feel as comfortable with those so

[00:09:23] machines can be good to use no they're not bad it's a variation that we're looking for

[00:09:30] and this is where along with what Jen said working different muscle groups doing single

[00:09:36] limb or single sided exercises what these help us do is is work in an unbalanced situation whether

[00:09:42] we're doing a single arm bent over row that's making us support through the core that's making us

[00:09:47] use a slight bit of that rotation or a single arm overhead press that we can slightly rotate through

[00:09:54] upper back while we press overhead it's really going to help us work into some of that dynamic

[00:10:00] ability to support through many different positions and many positions that we probably use a

[00:10:06] little bit more throughout our day versus a traditional bench press or traditional two arm puller row

[00:10:11] well and even just thinking about it like even if you're doing two arms but you're doing a

[00:10:15] standing press rather than utilizing leaning back on a machine now I'm working from the ground so

[00:10:22] I'm stabilizing through my feet stabilizing through my core as I stand and then having to press

[00:10:27] a weight overhead it's much different than sitting and being stabilized on your back where all

[00:10:33] you're focusing on is the load that you're working which is great and valuable in where it is where

[00:10:39] you want to gain hypertrophy and gain strength but utilizing your own body weight and understanding

[00:10:46] how that core pressure is kind of going to be managed when I have to press overhead or I have to

[00:10:51] do something where I'm not supported helps to again naturally add in that own neurological balance

[00:10:58] within your system to help improve alignment without having to force anything so that's

[00:11:04] that's the reason why it's like no don't just use weights you know I mean machines they're great

[00:11:09] but understand how to utilize your own body in space as well and I think the overhead press is

[00:11:16] a great example because especially for myself and I'm sure many other people out there we have

[00:11:20] our own compensatory behaviors where yeah I if I'm doing a standing overhead press

[00:11:26] tend to want to overextend through my low back where I don't have as great of a connection

[00:11:31] but some people might say well I do an overhead press and I have low back pain

[00:11:34] then there's a great time to sit on a bench without a back support and try doing your overhead

[00:11:40] press seated that might actually make you feel a little more engaged in the core so

[00:11:46] finding exercises that work on the things and help support the things that you know

[00:11:51] you might have restrictions or deficiencies in for me it's that connection to a support

[00:11:56] to dynamic core when I'm pressing weight overhead for me better sitting for Jen probably better standing

[00:12:02] you know but it's understanding okay if my body is talking to me in this way how can I change

[00:12:06] and do something different that's what Dom is pointing out like how do I how do I do something

[00:12:11] different to gain the result that I'm looking for which is reducing pain and improving how I'm

[00:12:16] moving and then along with that it's okay how can I maximize my range of motion a lot of times we

[00:12:22] cut off our range of motion or we think well I'm restricted so I'm just going to move within

[00:12:27] the range that I have which is great like at least you're moving I'm happy with that right exercise

[00:12:31] in general it's great so at least you're moving but how can I maximize my range of motion

[00:12:37] so that I'm really working into my full joints capacity and I'm improving my range of motion

[00:12:43] as I'm doing exercise I think you brought up the example of like someone who lifts a ton

[00:12:49] and they do a lot of row and pull exercises but they always seem to still be pulled forward at

[00:12:54] the shoulder so they're doing that row exercise but their shoulder always seems to be forward

[00:12:59] which some people might think I'm maximizing my range of motion because I'm pulling my elbow back

[00:13:03] further yeah pulling my elbow back further but again having an understanding of

[00:13:09] form and some of those compensatory or those compensation patterns that we fall into and

[00:13:15] finding the range of motion with the shoulder blade yeah not just the shoulder

[00:13:19] in the row example pulling back finding that full range of motion of the shoulder blade retracting

[00:13:26] getting a full row in and then coming forward rather than feeling like you're

[00:13:31] pushing into a range that requires you to compensate yeah or if you're doing squats and you feel like

[00:13:37] you know I just can't get past parallel you're you're using a little elevation for your heels then

[00:13:42] so that you can work on that core stability under load but being a little bit more upright again

[00:13:50] this is going to help to naturally get into that pressure dynamic of the rib cage over pelvis

[00:13:56] and how you breathe and load in that position so that you breathe and load in standing and walking

[00:14:01] without having to think about it and another thing is we talk about the eccentric phase of the

[00:14:07] exercise which is the phase of the exercise where we're lengthening the muscles so think about

[00:14:12] laying on your back and doing a chest fly where both your arms are coming out to the side

[00:14:17] the eccentric phase are when those weights are coming down to the ground because that chest

[00:14:22] muscle is lengthening while we're doing that and anytime we lengthen under load you know

[00:14:28] we make that muscle work a little bit harder we might even push more adaptation because of the

[00:14:36] work that we're requiring the muscle to do in that eccentric phase so really focused on controlled

[00:14:41] eccentric movements can even help with that mobility that we're looking for when we go through

[00:14:47] good full range of motion yeah and then you're just understanding how to control your body you're

[00:14:52] gaining more awareness of your body in space which is going to help you to feel more supported

[00:14:57] throughout the day I mean all these things are going to help to bring you back to this balance

[00:15:04] within your own system everyone has their own system based on what they do during the day how

[00:15:09] they lift how they like to work out like what they do so there's no one way to do anything it's just

[00:15:16] we're giving you principles to kind of move by because in the end of the day consistency is key

[00:15:24] and the more that you do this the better that you're going to feel so what are the exercises

[00:15:29] that help with posture doing more of using more of these principles throughout your lifetime

[00:15:36] that's what's going to really help your posture yeah posture is a lifelong dynamic thing and some

[00:15:42] people listen to a podcast like this and they're just like well that's frustrating they didn't tell

[00:15:46] me what to do you know one of the five exercise what's the one back circuit that I need to do to

[00:15:52] like keep my shoulders back yeah and again you can hammer away at a back circuit all you want

[00:15:57] and not notice a long-term difference because of some of these things we're bringing up it is a

[00:16:04] consistent patterning thing that we need to work on finding consistency and specifically doing

[00:16:09] it on the things that you know you avoid or you know you have restrictions in yeah and if you

[00:16:14] like want to understand okay mobility is a great place to add into we didn't talk a lot about that

[00:16:20] because we're talking more about exercise I think Dom brought it up in the beginning of how like

[00:16:24] finding your restrictions and if you don't know what mobility to add in but you don't have specific

[00:16:30] pain we have plans for low back hips if your hips you know you're super restricted you sit cross

[00:16:36] like it your foot falls asleep you can't sit cross like it you know you have some hip restrictions

[00:16:40] we have a hip plan we have a shoulder plan if you know you press overhead and you have restrictions

[00:16:46] there so if there are places within your body and you don't know what to do you just want something

[00:16:51] to follow and not have to think about that's what we do for gentle health and it goes along with

[00:16:56] whatever exercises you're already doing because it only takes eight to 15 minutes a day and you

[00:17:01] could break that up within the day as well you can do one video in in the morning do your workout

[00:17:05] and then one video later in the day and as long as you're adding that inconsistently this is how

[00:17:12] you're going to start to address those restrictions along with all these principles with exercise

[00:17:17] to really help you feel so much more supported and balanced within your body of course for our podcast

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[00:17:43] thanks for my true joining us on another episode i hope that you found that supportive for your

[00:17:48] movement journey and continuing to feel balanced within your posture of course use code optimal in

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