We’ve all seen a guy who practically looks like he left a hanger in his shirt when putting it on. You know, the guy with a perfectly flat upper back, whose clothes all look custom fit. The secret to his swag is something that a lot of us need work on: posture. With most people spending at least a third of their lives hunched over a desk, it can be challenging to stand tall and proud with your chest up. Let’s look at some of the ways that we can go about ending our postural devolution back to cavemen.

1. First off, if you spend 23 hours a day in bad posture, then go to the gym and hope your one hour of power cleans is going to fix everything, you’ve got another thing comin’. However much you can shrug or row, it won’t matter if you spend the remaining 90%+ of your day in a less than advantageous position. So, as simplistic as it seems, the key to maintaining good posture is to . . . maintain good posture!

There are a bunch of ways to help with this, starting with getting an ergonomic chair. Now, you don’t have to buy a fancy Herman Miller or one of those crazy swiss ball chair thingies, but it’s well worth the couple hundred dollars invested in a chair that gives you excellent support. You’ll want something that provides lumbar support, allows your shoulders to stay back, flat against the chair, and maybe something with a pillow for your head. Taller people need to take care with most pillowed chairs, as they’ll find the pillow hitting along the shoulder blades and forcing them to round forward. Instead, look for chairs marked ‘big & tall’, and consider specialty stores.

Now that you’ve got the correct chair, remember to get up and stretch at least once every hour. We’ll be doing an entire article on shoulder alignment exercises and stretches soon, so check back for some more ideas. You might want to set a timer on your computer (Outlook ‘tasks’ can work well for this) to remind you at first, and then it will become natural. Taking five to ten minutes every hour to stretch and refresh your body by moving around and getting away from the screen will make you more productive overall. Another good idea I’ve used is to put coloured stickers around your office and home. Each time you see the sticker, you’ll remember to check your posture and correct it if necessary. Put ‘em on the fridge, beside your mirrors and other places you’re sure to look. Now that we’re more conscious of posture on a continuing basis, let’s consider some other tips and tricks:

2. Practice low bar squats. You already know how to squat, and the low bar form is great for opening the chest and keeping your shoulders back. Some people have a hard time assuming the form at first, because it requires a hard shoulder retraction and good mobility. You can use the low bar position to stretch out your chest and increase your awareness of the upper back. I will frequently load the bar with 100%+ of my 1RM and walk it out of the rack. This provides a nice stretch and helps my body to handle heavier weights whilst squatting. Holding a 1RM+ load for 30 seconds or so will make walking around with good posture feel like a breeze.

3. Balance your back and chest strength. Brahs love to bench, but you gotta keep it in check. Not only will pushing more than you pull leave you hunched over, but it will also stall your process in increasing your bench numbers. Make sure to do one pulling exercise like a barbell row or inverted bodyweight row for every bench/incline press variation so that the front and back stay balanced.

3b. Practice incline shrugs and trap dips. For incline shrugs, get an incline bench at 30 or 45 degrees (you can switch it up), and perform shrugs with dumbbells. Pull the shoulders back rather than up as in a standing shrug. This will strengthen your lower traps and help keep your shoulder blades back by balancing them with your chest strength, as will trap dips. Find dipping bars and hold them with your arms locked out. Keep your arms locked out through the whole set, and practice lowering yourself as much as possible, then shrugging the shoulders back and down hard to push your body weight up.

4. Alternate how you carry your bags. Many of us constantly tow briefcases, laptops and other bags, and this repeated load can result in postural imbalances. The simple answer is alternating sides. If you’re wearing something on both arms/shoulders like a backpack, ensure that your shoulders are in a good position. Get used to the feeling and avoid pulling your shoulders forward to pitch the center of gravity.

Now that we know a little more about how to stay in good posture, keep it locked to INNERLEVEL.net for more tips, including a whole series on shoulder mobility and flexibility.

Not only do I know how to safely increase my strength and lean mass, but I’ve been noticing more and more benefits in my entire life that seem to have sprung directly from my dealings with the iron.  If you need a few more reasons why you should get into the gym three or more times a week, I compiled a list of nine:

1. Weight training improves your quality of life.  As I mentioned above, there are tons of reasons why you need to get in the weight room regularly, but in general, you’re going to notice that your life is just *better*.  From your improved physique to the ease of your daily activities, the added strength and muscle will do wonders for every aspect of your life.
2. Weight training builds muscle.  Whether you want to look good, be better at sports, avoid injuries or just get stronger for the hell of it, lifting will help it all.  Consider a boxer, sprinter or Olympic lifter.  These athletes have among the most beautiful and functional bodies imaginable.  Since we’ve evolved to select our partners for traits that indicate health and potential for successful breeding, there’s no coincidence that healthier = sexier.  Then again, maybe you’re a monk.  Even so, there’s no better way to concentrate than locking out the last reps of a limit-weight set of squats.
3. Weight training strengthens bones and joints.  You didn’t think that it was all about big round muscle bellies, did you?  Lifting with good form loads the bones and joints in a way that makes the bones denser and protects the joints by strengthening bones, tendons, and the muscles around them.  I know plenty of people who work desk jobs that had nagging discomfort . . . *had*, because once they got into the satisfying habit of training with good form, their imbalances and injuries disappeared.
4. Weight training burns fat and makes you leaner and more attractive.  This one’s simple: muscle burns fat.  Your body stores fat for energy because a long time ago, we didn’t always have regular meals.  Now that we can eat whenever and whatever we want, this adaptation has helped some people put themselves at risk for a ton of different disorders.  The key to losing excess body fat is to build muscle.  Muscle uses fat for energy, and the more you have, the more fat you burn, even while resting!  Add to this that exercising burns calories and weight training will make you a fat melting machine!
5. Weight training builds confidence.  Not only are you going to be leaner and more attractive than ever before, but once you start to succeed by meeting and surpassing your goals, you start to feel more confident than ever before.  The mental aspects of training are often overlooked, but there’s little doubt that someone who can get through a 20-rep set of squats will be able to deal with life’s stressors a little more easily.
6. Weight training builds a pattern of success.  Once you commit to training regularly and eating to fuel your workouts, you’ll find that it’s easier to get stuff done in your daily life.  The things that used to seem so hard will now be easier, because you have a mindset to get stuff done.
7. Weight training builds cardiovascular fitness.  If you thought lifting weights was only good for brute strength, think again.  Lifting increases your total work capacity, which makes it easier to perform endurance exercises.  Consider this: if your one rep max squat is 315lbs., it’s far easier for you to do a set of 10 with 135 than if your 1RM is 155.  As with the increased reps, something like running is just a series of sub-maximal efforts.  Now, it’s not accurate to say that squatting in the 1-3 rep range will make you a marathon champion, and I’m not trying to say that.  Anyone who says that ONLY lifting weights is sufficient to train for the IronMan is lying to you.  However, it’s absolutely true that the body is better prepared for enduring long bouts of exertion when strength levels are improved.
8. Weight training improves flexibility and mobility.  When you use the full range of motion of barbell and dumbbell exercises (plus kettlebells and tons of other implements, but don’t even get me started on machines – MACHINES SUCK!) – when you use the full range of motion, you’re building strength and mobility.  Not only will you be strong through that entire range of motion, but you’ll be able to bend into positions that carry over into sports and all kinds of daily activities.
9. Weight training is extremely versatile.  Depending on how you tailor your nutritional intake, you can use your lifting regimen to build muscle, burn fat, get stronger, get leaner, or a combination of these.  Stay tuned to HOPEisSTRENGTH and we’ll show you how to meet these goals!

It should be clear to you now that weight training can help you achieve a wide variety of goals, plus equip you with the confidence to make them into reality.