7 Exercises To Improve Posture And Confidence

"People can't read your mind, but they can read your body language. Always carry yourself like a champion."

It happened to me in the past that people complimented my posture. 

It's not a common compliment but it is a nice one to get.

I recently happened to think about it when I was recording some video content for my Instagram account on posture exercises.

I walked around the gym and observed people, their posture, and their body language trying not to look creepy, ha-ha! I noticed that certain people tend to stand out more than others. People with good posture!

Yes, body language matters! And your posture is the biggest part of it.

Try this little test:

Take a walk around your house with your shoulders slouched and your head poked forward. How do you feel? I bet you are not feeling good!

Now stand up tall, puff up your chest a little, move your shoulders up - back -down, and keep your slightly tuck your chin. How do you feel? I bet you are feeling powerful and confident!

You felt the difference right away. The mind is connected to our bodies and as simple thing as good posture can make the world difference in how you feel about yourself.

If you're thinking "But it's hard to think about it all the time". Or "I have a sedentary job so I slouch". You're absolutely right in both cases. But that's not an excuse. I bet you want to feel good and look good. There are a few things you can start doing right now to improve your posture.

For the start, forward head, rounded shoulders, and upper back posture is most commonly caused by our sedentary and inactive lifestyle. If you're constantly reaching for your keyboard you're going to end up with a tighter front part of your body (chest and front shoulders) that will cause you to round your upper back. Our body is very smart at adapting to the positions we put it in. You must become aware of it.

In the beginning, you'll need a constant reminder when you get lazy or too relaxed. This is the hard part because when you're busy you'll easily forget. What works for me is mirrors. Lucky me I work in the gym with mirrors all around me. For you, this means you might want to put a mirror next to your desk (a bit weird but why not). Or you can try to get your hands on a stand-up desk which encourages better posture. Or you can put your ego aside and just ask a friend you trust or your partner to remind you when they see you slouching.

Upper back mobility and strengthening exercises should become your regular routine a few times a week. I recommend doing strength training 2-3 times a week including 2-3 pulling/back exercises like single arm dumbbell row, chest supported row, and seated cable row...And doing upper back mobility exercises as a part of your warm-up or every day at any time of the day.

Below check my favorite 7 exercises to improve your posture and feel more confident.

PS: working on posture is one of those small things that gets easily overlooked. From the beginning, you have to really pay attention to it a lot until it becomes the default. This may take a while, but it's 100% worth it.

Workout of the day:

Functional strength workout

This is a massive workout and will work your upper body, lower body and core really hard! Use challenging weights. If you can do all the reps without too much of a problem, you’re doing it wrong. Grab heavier weight and challenge yourself.

Let’s go!

Never skip warm up!

3 sets
10 rear foot elevated split squat each leg
10 single arm row (each arm)
10 plank walk ups
-rest 2 min between sets

3 sets
10 side lunge with clean (each side)
20 renegade row (alternating)
20-30 sec bend knees hollow hold
-rest 2 min between sets

Conditioning:
3 sets
1 min quadrupled crawl
1 min rest