The Ultimate Exercise for Posture

author avatar Dr. Eric Berg 03/20/2012

For more information about Dr. Berg's 3-day intensive program in Alexandria, Virginia, call 703-354-7336.

Sit up straight!!!

How many times have your parents told you to do this? Ya, well... it didn't work. In fact, the more you force yourself to sit up straight, the more you will find that you're going to slouch. The reason for this is a bit complex, but to keep it simple, just realize that the body always works with two muscles contantly opposing against each other. If one tightens, the other will loosen. Stretching a chronically tight muscle will keep the muscle chronically tight. Most people do the wrong exercise for posture.

Here's a better idea on the best exercise for posture- do the opposite, slouch more, that's right. This will work 100x better and faster for maintaining good posture. 

Here's how it works. It is not that you have weak back muscles causing this slouching effect. It's also not gravity pulling you down. Instead, it is chronically tight muscles on the front part of your body and tight muscles just below your collar bone. It is this imbalance that pulls you forward. So if you do the opposite and stretch your back muscles by exaggerating your slouching, you will activate nerve impulses, called stretch receptors, which will then send nerve messages to the opposing muscles on your chest, telling them to let go and relax. Hope that didn't confuse you, but hey... just try it yourself and see the results.

Watch how freely you are able to sit up straight after doing just 5 reps of this exercise for posture in a row. I created an entire stretching program, which is based on this principle.

Understand posture and see more Body Conditions from Dr. Berg Video Blog.

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