But forcing yourself to perk up is basically only a patch to the issue, says Bridget O’Carroll, owner and founder Studio Qila, an internet Pilates-inspired fitness studio. Because, let’s be honest, you are often back to your withered ways just five minutes later.
We assume this hunched position by default as our muscles get used to it over time, explains O’Carroll. Our chest tightens, we tense the ligaments and muscles around our spine, our shoulders arch forward, and eventually an extended day on the office results in excruciating aches and pains.
So, quite than internally barking at yourself to “stop slouching”, it’s wiser to start out introducing movement exercises for higher posture in your every day grind.
“The root of the issue is that we frequently live with our hands outstretched,” says O’Carroll. “So what this mobility does is open us back up and strengthen our opposing muscles – which is in our back and shoulders.”
Movement exercises for higher posture
O’Carroll has three basic locomotion moves that he performs when he slouches. Try incorporating them into your every day routine to open up and balance strength throughout your body.
Shoulder press
- Stand or sit straight together with your hands in goal post position (choice to stand together with your back to the wall and press the backs of your hands and forearms against the wall).
- Slowly press your arms straight above your head, then return to the goal post position.
- Repeat for a minute.
Half arc
- Begin together with your hands within the goal post position.
- Slowly rotate your arms down until your hands are in step with your elbow, then return to the goal post position.
- Repeat for a minute.
Reach and rotation
- Extend your arms in a T barely in front of your shoulders, together with your palms facing back.
- Slowly bend your elbows to drag your arms in and squeeze your elbows together behind your back, turning your palms to face forward.
- Return to the initial T position.
- Repeat for a minute.
O’Carroll recommends repeating this circuit two or thrice a day, or every time you catch yourself slouching at work. All three of those exercises will open your chest and pull your shoulders back. The Half Bow and Reach and Rotation also strengthen the rotator cuff, which is able to help prevent your shoulders from crawling all day long.
Put all of it together and it is a recipe for relief until the day that that top, open position becomes your body’s default. They don’t call it muscle memory for nothing!
