How To Improve Posture

In order to improve posture, muscles which are over-tight or overworked must be stretched, and muscles which are underworked must be strengthened. If you use the work force analogy, you are re-delegating work loads to the different body parts. Work station ergonomics can influence postural alignment. As we sit hunched over our computers, our head is often forward of our body, which creates excessive neck tension. Our shoulders are sometimes hunched forward, thereby chronically overworking the chest muscles and ignoring the upper back.

Ironically, with the current fitness craze, the gym is often the culprit for many postural distortions. After sitting hunched at computers throughout the day, some people immediately rush to the pectoral machine, and then proceed to do hundreds of crunches with their neck flexed forward in the same position they've been in all day at work.

The back machines, such as the lat pull down, are often ignored. The superficial abdominal muscles become overworked. Since these muscles are responsible for spinal flexion, the excessive crunching is reinforcing the improper posture used throughout the day. Improving posture involves activation of the deeper core muscles, whose primary function is to maintain balance and alignment.

BetterPosture.com offers you a number of postural improvement products designed by an exercise physiologist. The programs take a logical, scientific, "no-gimmick" approach. You will learn the "Daily Dozen," a set of 12 exercises designed to stretch your tight muscles and activate your weaker ones. BetterPosture.com can help you look better, feel better and perform better.