For those of you that have never stepped into a gym, people who are bodybuilding typically have a day of the week for each muscle group (i.e. – day 1 is legs, day 2 is chest, day 3 is biceps and shoulders, day 4 is a rest day, etc.).  Well the posture day at the gym is pretty much the same as the back day.  This is why people who are bodybuilders generally have great posture – if you are exercising your back regularly, you are working on the muscles that maintain your posture.

The back isn’t made up of one large muscle, it is made up of several smaller muscles that all work in different ways.  However, an easy rule of thumb to remember is if an exercise involves pulling with your arms, then it is a back workout.  Likewise, if you are pushing with your arms then you are using your chest muscles.  Also generally speaking, back exercises tend to use biceps as a secondary muscle, and chest exercises tend to use triceps as a secondary muscle.  In order to have a good, solid back workout you need to make sure to do both upper back exercises and lower back exercises.  There are A LOT of varying back exercises, but if you want to make sure to hit all areas of your back, a good solid routine should include some version of all these exercises:  the lat pull down or pull up, the seated row, shoulder shrugs, and the back extension.  If you do some version of those four workouts once per week, your posture should start to improve automatically, and if you are suffering from regular back pain caused by poor posture, these exercises will certainly help with that.  Please look at the posts on this website that describe each exercise listed in greater detail.  If it is your first time going to the gym or performing these exercises, it would also be wise to bring a friend who knows what he is doing or have a personal trainer show you proper technique and teach you some bodybuilding tips.

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For the lat pull down:

1.    Grab the bar in an overhand grip at slightly wider than shoulder length.

2.    Grab the lat pull down bar (the long one that curves down at the ends) while maintaining your back straight, and bring it down to your chin.  During this motion you should be breathing out.

3.    Go back to your original position (although don’t fully extend your arms, just go until they are slightly bent).  During this motion you should be breathing in.

Step 1:

Step 2:

•    Side note for the lat pull down:  Some people believe it is more effective to put the bar behind your head.  I don’t like it because it forces you to bend your head and affects your posture during the exercise.  I also find it straining on the neck and uncomfortable.

•    Other side note for the lat pull down:  A good mental trick is to push your chest out to touch the bar.  This reminds you to focus on trying to pull your shoulder blades together in the back.

For the pull up workout:

1.    Grab the bar in an overhead grip at slightly wider than shoulder length.

2.    Pull yourself up until your chin goes slightly over the bar.  During this motion you should be breathing out.

3.    Go back to your original position (although don’t fully extend your arms, just go until they are slightly bent).  During this position you should be breathing in.

•    Side note for the pull up:  Once you are doing three sets of 15 comfortably, you can add extra weight by either holding a dumbbell between your feet or wearing a dip belt.

•    Side note for the pull up:  You can also do pull ups at the assisted pull up machine.  Assisted pulls ups are just like regular pull ups, but you can put your feet (or knees sometimes) on the bottom of the machine on a counterweight, so you are still performing a pull up, only you weigh less and so its easier.  If you start with these, you eventually want to transition to regular pull ups, and even pull ups with the weight belt.  Remember: slow and steady wins the race!

•    Side note for both exercises:  There are a variety of grips that can be used for both exercises (i.e. – overhand/underhand, wider/closer together).  If you want to do some pull up variations, they all have slightly different muscles they work.  Its always a good idea to switch up your workouts a little bit; don’t fall into a mindless routine.

•    Side note for both exercises:  Both of these exercises are primarily back exercises, but they use the biceps as a secondary muscle.  When using the underhand grip, your biceps are worked harder.

If you are having joint pains, I found a great site about joint pain relief.  Be sure to check out the other posts for more posture exercises!

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1. The Seated Row

I like seated rows a lot.  Like the lat pull-downs / pull-ups, it is a crucial exercise to include in your repertoire of posture exercises.  You are mainly hitting your upper back muscles (the latissimus dorsi), but in a different way than when you do pull-ups / lat pull-downs.

1.    Sit down, grab the v-bar, and push back until your legs are bent slightly, and keep your back straight and slightly leaning back, while arms are fully extended.  Start pulling back, but ONLY MOVING YOUR ARMS.  The rest of your body should be stiff.  Pull the bar back while you keep your arms close to your body (so your elbows are always right by your side).  While pulling in, you should be breathing out.  There are three main things to keep in mind:

i.    Your posture must remain correct and fixed throughout the entire exercise.

ii.    Your shoulder blades should squeeze together in the back when the bar reaches your torso.  This will help you focus on maintaining correct posture throughout the entire exercise.

iii.    Your shoulder blades should not be elevated at any point during the exercise.

2.    Flex your arms back to the original position.  Remember to do this slowly; don’t just loosen your muscles (that could definitely lead to injury).  During this part of the exercise you should be breathing in.

Step 1:

Step 2:

The v-bar:

•    Side note:  Like the lat pull-downs, a variety of grips can be used on a number of different bars.  I recommend the v-bar because it is a close-grip pulling exercise, and we already do a wide grip pulling exercise when doing the lat pull-downs / pull-ups.  It also feels the most natural for this exercise.  Always remember that each exercise should feel like a natural motion for the body.  If you feel like you are straining your muscle in some strange and unnatural motion, you should stop immediately and ask someone knowledgeable if you are doing the exercise correctly.  This will help you avoid injury, or just wasting your time (exercises not done properly are much less effective at building muscle).

•    Side note:  This exercise also works the biceps as a secondary muscle.  Sounds good to me!

•    Side note:  Some people like to bend their lower back while doing the seated row exercise.  I personally don’t like to do this.  It can be dangerous if done incorrectly, and there are other exercises that focus exclusively on the lower back anyway.

•    Side note:  This exercise is also known as the seated pulley row, the seated lat row, and the seated back row.

Please be sure to read the other articles for more posture exercises!

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Shoulder shrugs are a very effective exercise, and actually very easy to build muscle with.  This exercise mainly works your traps (the trapezius muscles).  It is also a very powerful core exercise (core exercises are those that workout your back, abs, and pelvis).  Core exercises also increase stability and balance.  The shoulder shrug is a pretty fun exercise, and you’ll be surprised at how much you can lift.

1.    Stand up perfectly straight (with proper posture, of course), holding the dumbbells at your side, allowing your arms to hang, drooping your shoulders.  You should be standing as if you were a soldier.

2.    Then all you do is shrug!  Lift your shoulders as high as possible toward your ears, and then lower them back to their original position.  Besides your shoulders, no other part of your body should be moving.  Remember to do this in a slow and controller manner.  Like back extensions, with the shoulder shrug exercise it can be very tempting to rush through the repetitions.  And if you start to strain, remember to lower the weight or just stop entirely!

Step 1:

Step 2:

•    A lot of you will notice that one shoulder is able to go higher than the other after the first few repetitions.  If this is the case, stop lifting instead of just continuing with one.  After working out for some time you will start to notice that your muscles will start to become more even on both sides of your body.  However, if you were to continue working out the one side that could continue going, your muscles would never even out, and it might even start to look weird!

•    Side note:  Do not rotate your shoulders in a circular motion back and forth while lifting; this can lead to injury.  Just lift your shoulders straight up, and then straight down.

•    Other side note:  You can also do this exercise with a barbell instead of dumbbells.  If you prefer barbell shoulder shrugs, do everything else exactly the same, and grab the bar with an overhand grip slightly beyond shoulder width in front of your body.  I personally find it annoying that the bar scrapes against your body, and so I prefer the dumbbell shoulder shrug method.  Some people like the other method better though, it just depends what is more comfortable for you.

That’s all there is to the shoulder shrug exercise.  Be sure to check out more great articles on posture exercises on the rest of the website!

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