Improving Posture

Improving posture is a complex subject with a lot of debate. One thing is certain though, performing well designed resistance training will do you no harm. We cannot say with certainty that improving your strength will improve your posture, however we can be sure that whatever your situation is, performing full body resistance training is a step in the right direction. Although I am going to break down the key movement patterns for improving posture, the ideal will always be targeting all movement patterns using full body resistance training.

Key Movement Patterns For Postural Improvement

Horizontal Pulling Exercises

The horizontal pull movement pattern involves using the muscles of the upper back to pull against a resistance, therefore strengthening the muscle of the upper back. The muscles of the upper back, especially the rhomboids, are crucial for maintaining good posture throughout your day to day. We often see people with poor posture rounding the shoulders forward, these individuals will often have weak upper backs along with poor postural habits.

Hinge Exercises

The hinge exercises is a full body movement that primarily works the muscles of the hamstrings, glutes and the erector spinae (lower back). The muscles of the lower back are crucial for postural alignment. These are the muscles that set the tone for the muscles of the upper back. When sitting straight, the hips will often be in an anterior tilt, with the lower back arched and the muscles of the lower back contracting ever so slightly. This position can be strengthened drastically through hinging with resistance, as we are able to do with a resistance band. The hinge is a technically difficult exercise so make sure that you are keeping your technique excellent as you move through an exercise.

Anterior Core Exercises

The anterior core is what most people think of when we discuss the abdominals, and they are not just for improving how you look in the mirror but also important for improving posture. Resistance bands are thankfully extremely effective at working on this movement pattern and therefore are an effective tool that will help you improve your posture.

Benefits of Training With Bands

Minimalist Training Set Up

One of the key benefits of training with a resistance band is that they allow you to create a very minimalist training set up. For people who want to keep their resistance training simple yet effective, having a few resistance bands of differing band tension and maybe a kettlebell or two can be an amazing way to create a minimalist training set up that suits your needs.

Training From Home and While Travelling

Resistance bands are one of the most effective tools to have in a home training set up. They allow you to perform a very wide variety of exercises while taking up practically no space at all. For those who are training on a strict budget, or are just not interested in joining a gym this can be a go to solution.

Effective At Creating a Stimulus

Resistance bands have been shown in numerous studies that they are very effective at creating muscle stimulation and therefore creating a training stimulus. When we are doing resistance training we are looking to provide the muscles with enough stimulus to create an adaptation and it is clear that some resistance bands are capable of doing this, the key thing is having enough tension in the band for it to be effective.

Challenges Using Resistance Bands For Strength Training

Overload

Although I discussed above that resistance bands can be effective, it can be very difficult for them to match the stimulus that is created using free weights. If a band doesn’t have enough tension in it, it will not make any substantial change to our physiology, this would be like consistently lifting weights that are too easy for us. When choosing our training set up, we will need to make trade-offs, if you chose to train at home with a minimal training set up, you will need to accept that progress might be a little slower than if you were to join a fully equipped gym.

Progressive Overload

Just as resistance bands can struggle to create overload, it can be very difficult to progress the amount of overload placed over time. If you only have one resistance band you are essentially accepting that you are not going to be getting stronger over time as you are not capable of progressing the load used to create a stimulus. This can be a huge problem for motivation, so it is important to have a variety of bands with a variety of band tensions.

6 Resistance Band Exercises To Improve Posture