Good Posture Is The New 6-Pack
Has an upright posture become the new six-pack?
Of course, standing tall gives off a strong, confident impression. But that’s not all. When you sit and stand with good posture, you’re less likely to injure yourself in daily activities.
Instead of praying for poise, take a peek at how to straighten up.
The first step? Develop strong shoulders.
In the quest for a more upright existence and natural elegance, strong shoulder muscles are key because they help you carry yourself confidently.
Today’s video includes moves specifically designed help you build shoulder strength while also waking up the thoracic spine for beautiful posture.
Side note…. Have you heard of power posing? Good posture boosts your confidence and improves your mindset. Here’s how…
1. Put yourself in a slouching position for 30 seconds. Notice how you feel.
2. Now, strike a power pose. Stand tall like Wonder Woman with your hands on your hips and your chin up. With this confidence, you’ll be ready to take on the world!
The Three-Headed Muscle
You might think that shoulder presses and push-ups are all you need for powerful delts. However, we need to target all three heads of the deltoid for optimal development when strengthening the shoulders.
The anterior deltoids love to be shown off and are the first parts of the shoulder that people notice. Located next to the pectoral muscles, they help you move your arms forward in everyday movements, like reaching for something on a shelf. Lifters tend to overtrain these muscles when focusing solely on push-ups and bench pressing for shoulder development.
The lateral deltoid sits on the side of the shoulder and is responsible for shoulder abduction. These middle shoulder muscles help keep your arms in place when lifting and carrying heavy loads. Lateral raises and overhead presses are great moves to strengthen these middle shoulder muscles.
Lastly, we have our posterior deltoids….one of the most important muscles in the upper body. They play a huge role in external rotation, which helps counter the slumped forward posture you may have developed over time due to not activating the rear delts nearly enough. Strong rear delts are essential for the sculpted shoulder look and help keep our shoulder blades back and down, giving you the look of excellent posture.
If you’re ready to strike a pose, keep these tips in mind when training your rear delts:
- When engaging your rear delts, roll your shoulders down and back and squeeze your shoulder blades together. Squeezing the shoulder blades encourages the mind-to-muscle connection!
- Take it slow. If you fly through a rear fly, you aren’t working the intended muscles since you’re letting those stronger front muscles take over.
- Remember to engage the lats! They stabilize the rear delt and encourage their activation on the shoulder blades.