Correct Your Posture & Fix Nerd Neck (Forward Head Posture) With These Exercises

There's a strong connection between a nerd neck, a rounded back with forward-bent shoulders, an over-arched lower back, and problems in that area. A neck as stiff as wood, everything tight in the front, not enough mobility. Overall, everything seems restricted. If this sounds familiar to you, you should stay right here. We're going to work through all the exercises you need to have a chance of loosening everything up again. Let's start with relaxing everything that is tightened here in the front, causing a rounded back, and we do that by moving in the opposite direction. It would be the best if we do that in a corner or a door frame. You know, let's use this corner place. Let's start with working on this smaller pectoral muscle with your arms bent. Move your arms up a bit so you create a horizontal line here. Now you step back with one foot, step forward with the other one, don't arch your back, and move the upper end of your breastbone forward. And that starts a stretch directly in your shoulders, a deep stretch going in here, mostly along the small pectoral muscle. And you do that for two minutes. The first minute you spend on leaning forward, breathing in and out, and on your exhale you lean in even more. And after the first minute, you add some strength elements to the exercise. You push your hands against the wall, but without moving your body at all. You tense up for about three or four seconds, then relax, and you'll notice how you could lean forward even more. You could do that for the remainder of the two minutes, and that opens up everything here really nicely in the front. We stay in the corner, and in our next exercise we're doing the same thing, but this time with our arms stretched out, because now we're going to involve the brachialis muscle as well, which is usually shortened and pulls your shoulder forward. And we want to loosen that muscle up, and that means getting your arms up with your elbows locked. Completely same procedure, one step back, the other foot forward, the upper end of your breastbone is moving into the corner, and now you could feel a different stretch, right Ina? You'll feel the same when you do the exercise at home, because now you're stretching different muscle structures. And here again, for the first minute you lean into the corner, and in the second minute you're trying to push the wall away from you. With full force, give it your best, with a lot of force, then relax and continue to lean forward. And after you relax, don't leave the stretch, but lean into the corner a bit more, and that's what you do in the second minute. In the second exercise we're loosening the tension and the shortened muscles in the back of your neck, the cervical spine, and we do it like this. You could do it sitting down here, Ina is standing up, stand absolutely straight, no arched lower back. Straightening your lower back is an important instruction. You achieve this by tucking your belly button in, and if your belly button is pushed back enough, your pelvis tilts from here, from an arched lower back, into this straight position, as much as your muscles and fascia allow it. Now, take both hands and place them on the back of your head, not too far in the back, not on your neck, but at the top of your head to give you good leverage, so it becomes easier to pull your head forward. And now pull your head forward, more and more, a little tip, visualize the middle of your neck or cervical spine wanting to grow outward and up, the rest of your body stays straight, pull your head forward, and there will be a stretch that burns, a burning sensation along your cervical spine. Increase your effort for one minute, after that first minute you start pushing your head upwards, and that tense is up everything here, then relax and keep pulling it down again. You do that seven or eight times to finish up your second minute, then you slowly leave the position. And now we have another exercise that's important, that helps you keep your upper body erect. So, please get down on all fours, if you have a stretching strap or a belt, and you slip your arms through, so you can do the following. You try to slide your hands outwards, and then you can feel how your elbows become completely locked, that's important in this exercise. And now you move your buttocks backwards a bit, right, and adjust your position so that your thighs are more or less vertical, slide your hands outwards, and that locks your elbows, and now this point is going down. Control your movement as if your breastbone wanted to go towards your knees, that at the same time stretches your arms out of their shoulder joints. And again, same procedure, increase your effort for one minute, breathe in and out, and upon exhaling, increase the stretch. After the first minute, you try, while staying in this position, to push both hands into the floor, push with both hands, hard, as hard as you can with both hands, hard as you can, relax, and go down a bit more. And repeat that a couple of times until the second minute is done. And now we want to straighten your thoracic spine. Lie on your stomach, like Ina here, lie on your forearms, moving them out front a bit, and now we need to get you aware of your costal arch, the lower edge of your ribcage. Where is it? When you push your upper body slightly into the floor, and when you feel your costal arch, you push yourself up on your arms as you close in with your elbows, and push your upper body up as much as possible, but the edge, the lower edge of your ribcage stays in contact with the floor, so that the backwards bend happens only here. You also tuck your chin in towards your throat, and then you pull your chin up towards the back of your head, don't bend your head back over, stay like this, great, and pull. Breathe nice and easy. On your exhale push your shoulders up even more, but the edge of your ribcage stays in contact with the mat. Increase your effort for one minute, and now Ina, imagine that with the power of your upper body you're trying to push your arms into the floor, your stomach tenses up and pushes downward, relax, and push up even more, with your costal arch still in contact with the mat, and you do that for the second minute. The next exercise is developed from the previous exercise. You rise up even more, and with your groin or your pubic bone, if you could feel it, try to stay on the floor while you're pulling yourself up, but very very slowly and gently. Don't bend into your arched lower back, but try to stay here and keep that point at groin level in contact with the mat. That's a small but crucial difference. Give us a thumbs up if you like what I'm explaining here. In the first minute you increase your push upwards. Make sure your chin pulls back in this direction here, and after the first minute tense up your upper body as if you wanted to push your hands into the floor. Really hard. Can you feel it? But don't move while you're doing it. Relax again and go farther up. Exactly. Can you feel the small but crucial difference? Yes? That's what you do in the second minute. Now, after you've worked on all the shortened and restricted muscles and stretched them long, we use that for achieving a straight posture with a straight spine. Now we're going to lie on our back like Ina here. Your legs can be pulled up and now push your belly button towards the floor and at the same time also push your chin towards the floor and stretch out your legs while you keep on pushing your chin and belly button downwards. When you feel that in this position, for example, you can pull up your leg a little bit, bend it a bit, that in this position a stretch is going on in your back, you should stay like this and over the next couple of days or weeks of exercise work on getting your legs all the way down. If you could do the exercise right from the start with your legs being stretched out, all the better. It means that your muscles aren't as shortened as you feared and you could work on all three points right away. Pushing down your chin, your belly button and the back of your knees and then you take your arms like this, your upper arms are at shoulder level and the back of your hands are in full contact with the floor and now we're going to work with some force. You push your chin down, also your belly button, keep your knees down, you push your elbows into the floor and you also push your wrists into the floor, not the backs of your hand, mind you, but with your wrists and you'll feel that stretch all over the place. Push down hard, push here, your belly button, backs of your knees, your elbows push into the floor and so do your wrists. That's deluxe strength training, which after all those shortened muscles that have been stretched long, slowly establishes a more permanent straight posture again. Don't miss out on any of our videos, subscribe to our channel right now below this video and if you want exercises for a better posture, then click up there. Have fun with it, bye-bye and see you soon!