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The goal of the exercises on this page is to increase the strength and tonus of posture muscles, so as to reduce the load in the neck and shoulder areas. Training accurately e.g., by checking your posture in a mirror, will dramatically increase your body awareness.
As these exercises generate (moderate!) muscular tension, they must systematically be followed by relaxation exercises. Carried out gently, they can serve as warming-up exercises (when the computer is booting up, before starting playing a music instrument, etc.).
Pelvic rotation
Video: kneeling (flv / wmv), sitting (flv / wmv)
This exercise is meant to train hips rotation, which determines the shape of the whole spine. It targets abdominal (stomach) and gluteal (buttock) muscles.
You can do this exercise in kneeling, sitting, or standing.
With a mirror on the side, alternate hollow back, flat back and round back. Remain a few seconds in each posture. The movements are slow and you should always finish with a flat back. On the pictures below, note the visible role of the lower abdominal muscles.
After a while, you should be able to feel the shape of your low back without the help of a mirror. Placing a hand at belt level can help at the beginning.
Low back
Caution: Do not carry out this exercise without professional supervision if you have been diagnosed with disc disoders (hernia, prolapsed disc, etc). It is not an exercise that you should not do, but it is one that you should do properly.
The aim is to train a flat back posture. This exercise strenghtens the spine extensors, the abdominals, the lower trapezius and the latissimus dorsi (forming together the M).
Start in a fully flexed position, and slowly move upwards towards a horizontal and flat back. Imagine that you are bringing your sternum far in front of you: Think in terms of movement, not in terms of tension.
Keep a good balance on your feet: do not shift your weight towards the tows, therefore let your hips move backward!
Once your back is flat and horizontal, ensure that your head is down (no neck extension), relax the shoulders to ensure that there is no "parasite tension" in the upper back. Keep the posture for a few seconds and release, relaxing in full flexion.
Variant 1: video flv / wmv
Start in the posture of the left picture. Start rotating your hips inward as if you would like to straigthen up, but stop before the maximum. Align then the middle and upper back with the lower back, so that the final posture is not with a horizontal but with a oblique although flat back.
Typically, you can start in the standing monkey posture (88° to the horizontal). Let yourself fall, raise at 60°, let yourself fall, raise at 30°, let yourself fall, raise at 0° (horizontal back) and let yourself fall again.
You should feel that you bring your sternum far from your belt.
Variant 2: video flv
Start in the monkey posture (flat back, slightly forward). Bring your back in one piece (like a stiff board) towards a horizontal position.
Notice the backward movement of your hips: Keeping unchanged the weight distribution under your foot soles supposes that "something" moves backward if "something else" moves forward.
You may as well start with a horizontal back and raise towards the monkey posture. In this case, the hips move forward.
Middle back
Caution: Do not carry out this exercise (or any that implies to have the elbows above shoulder level) if you feel pain in the hands, arms, neck or shoulder. In any case, do not forget to relax in a fully flexed posture after the exercise!
The aim is to train the the lower trapezius and the latissimus dorsi (the "M").
Start with the exercise above. In any flat back posture (horizontal, or angled) move your shoulder blades towards your ears, and then towards your hips. Feel the tension in your M, especially when your back is close to horizontal .
Variant: To make it more difficult, do the same with the arms extended forward, as shown below.
