If you love working out, there’s one factor that you need to pay attention to: your form. Dr. Shashank J. Davé, a physiatrist at Indiana University Health, points out that your posture is crucial because the human body functions optimally when all individual muscles and joints are in proper alignment. As such, people are often reminded to maintain good posture in order to prevent muscle pain and other conditions.
However, you should also pay extra attention to your posture if you want to achieve specific fitness goals, such as gaining stronger muscles. Here’s why it’s important to be mindful of your form:
How Your Posture Can Affect Your Muscle Gains
There’s a good reason why proper form is crucial in every workout. Austin Martinez, a certified trainer from StretchLab, explains that poor posture may prevent your muscles from functioning properly or place an unnecessary load on your muscle groups.
To illustrate, Martinez said that slouching during a bicep curl can end up straining your back because your muscles are working overtime to keep you upright. Likewise, jogging with poor form can cause micro-tears in your muscles, which can increase your risk for overuse injury and set back your fitness progress. Most importantly, poor posture can limit your mobility and impact your ability to accomplish exercises for various muscle groups. Therefore, it’s crucial to work out with proper posture so that you can build up more muscle groups and prevent any setbacks caused by injuries.
3 Ways to Fix Your Posture
Exercise is only one of the many strategies that can fix your posture. So if you want to maintain a proper form and achieve maximum muscle gain, you should try these three tips:
Support your sleeping position with tools
Your sleeping position has a big impact on your posture. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to be mindful of your posture when you’re sleeping.
As such, sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta emphasizes that it’s important to find a pillow that can properly support the natural curve of your neck and help you keep a proper posture as you sleep. Dr. Dasgupta states that pillows that are too fluffy or too big can cause your head to flex forward the entire time that you’re sleeping. Thus, it’s better to use a firm pillow that can stabilize your neck and support your posture during your hours-long slumber.
Use ergonomic equipment for work
You can also reduce the strain placed on your spine and maintain proper posture during your entire work shift by using ergonomic equipment.
Though normal office furniture can do the job, the articles on PainFreeWorking show that ergonomic office equipment can make it easier for you to maintain proper posture as you work. To illustrate, you can use one of the best lumbar supports to support your spine as you sit on your office chair. These types of equipment will make it easier for you to observe proper form throughout your eight hours of work.
Stretch your body regularly
You shouldn’t skip stretching exercises, even if you work out regularly.
Our article on the Importance of Stretching shows that the activity can keep your muscles strong and improve the range of motion in your joints. By stretching regularly, you can reduce your risk for strains that can affect your form while you exercise. So if you want to achieve maximum muscle gain, you can do different stretches for 30 seconds each before and after you exercise.
You can work on your posture and achieve maximum muscle gain through the right lifestyle strategies. You can start by joining the online fitness classes here at Z Physique. These online workout classes provide detailed and helpful instructions to make it easier for you to achieve your fitness goals at home.
Article written by Rachael Jacobs
Exclusively for ZPhysique