Has anyone had any improvements in posture using a head harness neck strengthener? I have a little bit of a slouch and it seems to be coming mostly from the neck area. My back is pretty strong, but after spending so many years working in front of a computer screen and not working out my neck I've developed the forward neck hunch. Any other advice is also welcomed.
Harness won't work. Focus on strengthening all the back muscles (lats, middle back and lower), shoulders (also all parts) and your core to improve your posture.
But that's what confuses me. I've done all that, and have always had a good balanced upper body with decent posture, but the forward head seems to be more of an upper neck issue. I still see room for improvement in my shoulders, rear part, as my chest is a little too tight and pulls in my shoulders in a bit, but that's also improving. Lats are pretty strong and well developed, middle back is pretty strong too, I've been focusing more on the lower back by doing hip bridges. I thought that if strengthening your back improves posture, maybe strengthening the neck would improve a forward head as well.
This^ Your biceps and front delts are over developed compared to your rear dealts and lats. Do you have a long neck? It also could be about core strength and just plane old sitting position. Sit up straight and push your chest out (not stomach). I had terrible posture but started to just force myself to sit and walk with good posture. It helped a lot.
Rear delts are definitely a weakness. I don't really have a long neck. My sitting position is absolutely contributing to the problem. Now, I need you all to trust me I'm not trying to be stubborn, but my back is actually stronger and more developed than my chest, which is why I was thinking of strengthening my neck for posture. I'll mention the exercises I do for back and let me know what exercises you all recommend to improve posture. Currently I'm only doing chin ups, pull ups and hip bridges. I used to do dead-lifts and bent over barbell rows as well, but I've taken a break from those and squats after spraining my knee.
I guess another question I have is; should I be going for strength only or trying to add muscle in specific areas of my back (upper back)?
I believe you. Do front squats. They will help with posture. I started doing front squats 3 weeks ago and they significantly work your muscles used for posture. The bar lying across your shoulders forces you to keep your chest up. Don't go below parallel btw. That is terrible on the knees but I don't think you could comfortably go below parallel on front squats anyway.
Add muscle. Work in the 6-10 rep range. Start high reps then gradually lower the reps as you add weight each set. (3 sets) The best thing to do is to just add muscle. Having low muscle mass could also be responsible for your bad posture. Muscle supports the skeletal system as well as your joints. Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy is fine for boxing. This form of hypertrophy increases the amount of glycogen storage in your muscle cells (pretty much more energy for your cells to do work).
Got it, thanks for the responses. I will have to wait for my knee to fully heal before getting back on the squat rack, but I'll add them to my routine :good
