Back/shoulder exercises to improve posture

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Ace82

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I just turned 26, and I'm by nature a very slim individual (high metabolism). I've also always had poor posture, narrow shoulders, and very weak back muscles. I've recently decided to start working on my posture by keeping my back as straight as possible, and reminding myself not to slouch. I can stand pretty straight and "pose" in almost perfect posture. Yet, my shoulders are still rounded, and my shoulder blades tend to wing out. I started exercising my rhomboids, traps, and shoulders (lateral raises, dumbbell rows, squeezing my shoulder blades together, doing "scapular pushups")
Considering my focus has been on muscles I practically never trained, I expected to feel sore the next day. Well, I don't -- even if I feel a lot of burn when I exercise. Does that mean that my muscles are not being trained enough/not developing properly? Also, would it be okay to exercise the same muscle group every day, or would that destroy any progress that might have been made?
I sleep a lot, and I was wondering if that, combined with my high metabolism, might lead to faster muscle recovery.

Thank you in advance.

All I have for equipment is a pair of dumbbells and my body weight.
 
Hi welcome to the forum. I can help you out with a couple of your questions.

First of all , I believe the reason you are not felling sore in the shoulder blades / back is because your back is such a large muscle. Yesterday I was pretty much lifting my own body weight for a couple of back exercises, today my back is fine. A little tight, but that is only because I need a good massage!

When you stand up, lift your shoulders up then back. This will get you started.

I have found my posture has improved massively due to my weight training program, as evidenced in the photo journal section, (backspace’s progress). Take a look.

However if you want to improve posture without building muscle, I would recommend Yoga. I don’t know it might just be me, but I think this would suit you best. I think you would really like it, you wont have to buy new equipment, or pay a gym membership.

Yoga has heaps of benefits outside of improve posture, it will improve circulation, blood flow, and even free up your “chi” energy.

Even though I don’t do it much, I am a big fan of body resistance training. Try doing 1 set of 20 push ups in the morning and build up towards two sets.

With your dumbbells, don’t make the mistake of trying to just train one part of your body, if you really want to build some bulk you need to lift heavier weights for shorter reps and have eat more calories than you burn.
 
Thank you for taking the time to read and answer my post; I really appreciate it. After so many views an no answers for a few days, I was starting to lose hope.

I will definitely take a look at your back photo-journal.

Again, thank you for your time and advice.
 
I read somewhere that a winged scapula (usually accompanying bad posture) is a result of a couple things, but usually a result of wear serratus anterior muscles and weaker traps.

My posture got better, like backspace's, through my regimen. Doing shoulder strengthening exercises as well as exercises that work the serratus anterior, will help out. But ultimately, being conscious of your posture like backspace pointed out goes a long way. You'll notice that if you keep a conscious tab on your posture, the next day you'll be sore from utilizing muscles that weren't getting used previously. BUT, overtime, like anything, it will become second nature and feel odd if you DON'T maintain a good posture. And overall, you'll avoid problems down the line from the bad posture, not to mention you'll start feeling less fatigued throughout the day.
 
Hi Ace82. I'm 30, and always had horrible posture, sitting at a computer all day. It was so bad my body just sort of adapted around it with the shoulders wrapping around the front - it's terrible - but not irreversible.

The last 6 months I'm been working out and made sure to include back exercises from say, exrx.com. I also stretch my pecs daily, as well as doing isometric exercises on my romboids (such as hitchhikers). It works quite well, my posture is tons better now, not perfect, but better.

Good posture is achieved by reprogramming the tension between your various body parts. So in a nutshell build strong abs, strong romboids, and strong glutes - that will tighten them - then stretch your pecs and hip flexors - to loose them. Just search around the net for exercises, and terms like 'neutral spine'. Good luck!
 
As Backspace was saying, yoga can be very beneficial
whenever it comes to retaining a stable posture. Depending
on the type of posture your going for, keeping your mind
on the task of keeping your back straight will help you a great deal.
 
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