6 Reasons Your Posture Stinks (And How to Fix It)
Let’s face it—most of us spend nearly every waking hour hunched over our laptops, peering down at phones, and slouching on couches like we're trying to become one with the cushions. And it’s wrecking our posture.
But here’s the good news: improving your posture isn’t as complicated as you think. Here are six common reasons your posture looks more like a croissant —and what to do about it (backed by both clinical insight and real-life coaching experience).
1. You’re Living in “Upper Cross Syndrome”
This is the classic “tech neck” and slumped shoulders combo. Thanks to all the time we spend at desks and on devices, our chest and upper trap muscles tighten, while the deep neck flexors and mid-back muscles become weak and overstretched.
Fix it: Strengthen your postural chain; everything from your upper back to your hamstrings. For the upper back, look up Y-T-W exercises, grab a light set of weights (2-10 lbs), and focus on higher repetition ranges and time under tension versus heavy weight. Posture is all about muscular endurance, not max strength.
Additionally, place a strong emphasis on horizontal pulling movements like rows. We recommend a 2:1 pulling to pushing ratio for optimal shoulder, hip, knee, and back health.
🧠 Research tip: Janda’s Upper Crossed Syndrome remains a foundational model for understanding postural imbalance in clinical settings【PubMed ID: 12701520】.
2. Your Glutes are Asleep on the Job
Lower Cross Syndrome is the other half of the equation. An anterior pelvic tilt (think: lower back arch, belly out, and hips dumped forward) means your glutes and core are underactive or weak. At the same time, your hip flexors and low back muscles are working overtime, often causing pain and discomfort without proper strength in those areas.
Fix it: For your lower body, incorporate exercises like glute bridges, hip thrusts, and clam shells to reset your pelvic tilt and bulletproof your back and knees. Train your core with both anti-rotation and traditional movements to reinforce pelvic stability and decrease back pain.
🧠 Research tip: Glute medius strengthening has been shown to reduce patellofemoral pain syndrome in runners and general populations【PubMed ID: 22419487】.
3. You Sit… a Lot
It’s not just that we sit—it’s that we sit for hours at a time in the same position. Over time, this leads to feeling stiff, weak, and tight in our hip flexors, setting the stage for low back pain and poor mobility.
Fix it: Use your warm-up as a time to focus on improving hip and shoulder mobility. Incorporate mobility movements like the couch stretch and doorway stretches to combat the effects of prolonged sitting. Bonus Tip: engage the antagonist muscle group (opposite side) during these stretches to tap into reciprocal inhibition, which helps relax certain muscles and get a deeper, more effective stretch. For example, when doing chest stretches, try to squeeze your shoulder blades together and engage your upper back muscles to force your chest and shoulder muscles to relax. For your lower body, squeeze your butt muscles during a quad/hip flexor stretch to deepen.
🧠 Research tip: Prolonged sitting has been linked to spinal flexion and altered lumbar mechanics that increase the risk of low back pain【PubMed ID: 26761386】.
4. You’re Training Only the Mirror Muscles
We’ve all seen it: the gym bro who benches five times a week but can't touch his toes. When we overtrain the front of our body and ignore the back, we reinforce postural imbalances.
Fix it: Aim for a 2:1 ratio of posterior-to-anterior exercises. That means two pulling or posterior chain exercises (like Romanian deadlifts, glute bridges, hip thrusts, rows, and upper body pulling movements) for every pushing movement like the bench press or squats.
5. Your Core Training is One-Dimensional
If you’re only doing crunches, you're missing most of your core. Your core includes deep stabilizers (like the transverse abdominis and spinal erectors), obliques, and the glute-lower back complex - everything from your hips to your armpits (or “axillae” in medical terminology). Side note: if it’s a six-pack you’re after, direct core training is actually the LAST thing you should be focusing on. Increasing muscle definition or “toning” is more about your nutrition, strength training, sleep, and stress habits— especially if we’re talking about the midsection.
Fix it: Incorporate anti-rotation work (like Pallof presses), planks, bird dogs, and back extensions. Isometric strength and endurance are critical for long-term posture improvements.
🧠 Research tip: Core endurance, especially in spinal stabilizers, is a better predictor of low back pain than raw strength【PubMed ID: 15277279】.
6. You Never Move Through A Full Range of Motion
Fun fact: You don’t actually need to stretch at all to improve your posture. Do it if it feels good, of course, but if better posture and mobility are what you’re after, you can accomplish both while you strength train. Focusing on the full range of motion during your strength training will improve your flexibility and mobility just as well, if not better, than static stretching. Incorporate both to feel your best!
Additionally, trying to keep your back from bending and twisting can do more harm than good. If you never train your spine through flexion and extension, you’ll be more vulnerable when life inevitably forces you into those positions (ie. winter shoveling).
Fix it: Once you're strong and stable, start integrating safe, controlled back extension movements like toe touches, supermans, and back extension variations. Build up your capacity for spinal movement, just like any other joint.
Research tip: Gradual exposure to flexion exercises may improve mobility and reduce fear-avoidance in chronic low back pain populations【PubMed ID: 26176454】.
Final Thought: Posture is a Habit, Not a Trait
You’re not doomed to “bad posture” forever. It’s not a character flaw—it’s just a side effect of how you move (or don’t move) every day. The antidote? Frequent movement, smart training, and strengthening the stuff you’ve been neglecting.
If your posture stinks, it’s time to fix it—one glute bridge and one row at a time.
P.S. Ready to get some help? Click here to walk with a trainer!