Posture Exercises

In today’s hyper-connected, computerized age, poor posture is becoming more and more common. Our primitive ancestors’ bodies were developed evolutionarily to run, swim, hunt, and climb to supply themselves with food (and escape predators).

Things have of course changed for the better these days, but with modern technology making our lives easier, we now have to contend with ailments in our body that our more active forebears didn’t have to deal with.

Poor posture is one the most common maladies that can be found in humans nowadays. Most of this is caused by our work and entertainment centering around screen time as opposed to chasing a wooly mammoth with a spear.

A sedentary lifestyle, combined with staring down at a smart phone in our hands and hunching over our desks 8 hours a day at work are not doing our spine any favors. Some of the prime causes of neck and back pain are caused by our interaction with technology and poorly conditioned back muscles.

However, while there is no single cure for the modern world, we can incorporate physical fitness as much as possible into our lives and find ways to counteract poor posture. Beyond unlearning bad habits like slouching over, you can also perform some strength conditioning exercises that will both stabilize your core and fortify your back muscles to keep you standing erect and preventing pain.

Try incorporating the Farmers Carry and the Side Plank into your next workout. These types of exercises will train you be aware of keeping your spine straight, as well as conditioning your balance, stability and upper body strength. Before long, you should be finding your posture improving and any tightness in your neck when working at a screen considerably reduced.