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Exercises to help stretch upper body/pull shoulders back/lift ribs, etc.

Hunter/Jumper
#1

I have been working on my own for almost a year with my trainer coming in or trailering out. Lately I haven’t been taking lessons with mostly this past couple months without taking lessons and giving my horse a break.

What are some exercises that you do to help sit up straighter. My horse is extremely bouncy and has some serious suspension. I have developed a bad habit to round the top half of my back.

I have thought about putting a crop down the back part of my breeches so I can feel the connection the whole way up my spine & was recently suggested to start doing some yoga again to get a little stronger, especially since my riding workload is not at all what it use to me.

Once I am able to get my horse back in a full program. My plan is to start back in some dressage lessons with a local trainer at my barn that will actually get on me for my shoulders. Some trainers I’ve had never really did and I think between my horse being super young, jackets/winter, etc over the years my shoulders/upper body has suffered.

Any other thoughts/exercises would be very well appreciated!

#2

I struggle with my back, I am finally getting over the slouching after being very diligent about it for the past year. Now my shoulders stay back without my having to think about it all the time. I actually went to a PT who focused on sports med, he helped me a ton with my posture.

If you can go to some yoga or Pilates classes, they can help you feel the correct posture and start to get some muscle memory. Until I did the PT, I would think I was sitting up, but really was still slouching. At the beginning it really felt like I was going to fall over backwards when in reality I was just barely straight.

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#3

@Dutchmare433 thank you! That is how I feel. A huge part of it getting worse the past couple years plays into my posture at work. My desk job doesn’t help at all and it is harder and harder to sit up straight since graduating and sitting full time.

Did you have any particular exercise you worked on to encourage good posture that you worked on in lessons?

#4

I am having the same issues since starting a full time desk job in Dec. I think I am going to buy a shoulders back brace to wear off and on at work, since I am often at other people’s desks with chairs that are not the best fit for me to sit in correctly.

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#5

@kaya842 I am so glad I am not the only one! Desk job + baby horse and getting the focus away from me to my horse has ruined me.

I have a shoulders back brace and I just started using it. I do feel a difference because when I ride in it, it is that constant reminder that I’m needing. But I would love some stretches or other things to practice while I’m not working with a trainer focusing on it.

#6

I make sure to sit with good posture as often as I can, including at work. Sitting on an exercise ball part of the day might help. I also slide slightly forward in my seat when I’m driving and focus on sitting up straight with shoulders back with no back support. That makes you really aware of when you’re trying to slouch. I also periodically squat slightly with my back to a wall…not enough to really exercise my quads, I use it to get the feeling of a neutral spine/totally flat back. It was hard at first, I would arch my back in order to get my shoulders back, this helped get me out of that habit.

#7

I’ve struggled with my shoulders/upper body collapsing and rounding forward and one of the things that really helped was focusing on improving my core strength. I found that as I got fatigued my shoulders would collapse forward more easily but improving the core conditioning helped create a more stable trunk so I could hold myself in a better position for longer.

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#8

Strength training! for your core, upper back, shoulders and arms should all help. Lots of people like yoga and pilates, I prefer to just do weights. I actually go 2-3x a week, once on the weekend and I try for twice during lunch on the weekdays for 40 minutes to do total body weights (I also work an office desk job). I’m a few months in but I have a whole lot less problems since I started (have had a lot of shoulder and lower back issues in the past).

#9

I’ve had this issue for probably 10 years. For me there are 3 parts.

  1. I look down a lot, I think this stems from riding with a European coach when I was young who wasn’t very clear about riding back to front.
  2. I work at a desk and spend a lot of time driving so I’m very tight through my chest.
  3. Sitting, riding and long distance running have given me very tight hip flexors which has resulted in lumbar lordosis. This causes me to tip forward.

The solution (or attempt) is to constantly stretch my chest, neck, and hip flexors. Strengthen my upper back, lower back, and glutes (my abs are already very strong). And consciously remember to look up and stretch up and back.
I didn’t find that the 'shoulders back" contraption helped very much. I would notice it when I first put it on, but 5 minutes later the sensory effect was gone.

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#10

@GoodTimes I totally feel you on that. I try to also take time to get up and stretch but I feel like I don’t remember to do it often enough. I have a lift on my computer to not have to look so low but I’m afraid it’s not even high enough. Maybe the next step is to lower my chair?

Also - I looked into getting a lumbar support pillow. I use to go to the chiropractor a lot more than I do now and they have one and when I sat in their chair that had it, I felt brand new. It made me feel like I could stretch up and had room to stretch back.

#11

This similar thread in the Eventing forum also had some suggestions: https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/eventing/10057695-exercises-to-fix-floppy-shoulders-upper-back.

#12

I too have terrible posture.
These two things aren’t exercises but I thought I’d mention them because they’ve helped me recently:

  • a foam roller: because I can’t afford a massage every month to stretch out tight muscles. There are some good how-to videos on Youtube for targeting postural muscles.
  • more comfortable sleep: I bought myself a mattress topper and it has changed my life! I didn’t even realise how hunched over I was at night. I sleep much straighter now.
#13

I never thought of my mattress, although I have noticed that my chest seems even tighter in the mornings then it used to. I attributed it to always sleeping in the fetal position, but now I wonder if I have a softer mattress if I wouldn’t curl my shoulders in so much while I sleep.

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#14

I love yoga/pilates, and like a few other posters would also suggest a Shoulders Back brace. I have worn mine around the house and also riding, and think it helps with posture (although I was super sore at first!)

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#15

@GoodTimes I was honestly surprised at the difference it made.

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#16

Angel stretches. Google and watch youtYou. Game changers.

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#17

I have found Pilates very helpful. There are Pilates classes that are specifically created for riders, but if you can’t find one like that locally, go to a good studio and tell them that you want to focus on your posture. And what you want is not mat classes as much as apparatus classes.

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#18

Thank you all! I think I need to certainly ride in my Shoulders Back more. I do feel a difference when I do. My problem is when I’m at work mostly. I think putting a pillow mid back has been helping. I’ve been trying it for a couple days since posting and I feel some progress. It obviously will be something I am going to have to constantly think about unfortunately for a long time until I can fix it!

#19

If you think about the entire front of your upper body as hanging off your spine, you can fix all of this by thinking “straight (or flat) back”. If your back is pin straight, you physically cannot slouch, slump or otherwise sit in a bad position.

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#20

I have finally figured out HOW the Equicube seems to straighten my back and gets my shoulders back.

Carrying the weight of the Equicube (4 lbs.+) changes my body at the top of my shoulders. My collar bones go back and down which moves my shoulder blades down, and, at the same time, the bottoms of my shoulder blades come in to rest on the back of my rib cage.

I can now replicate the feeling without the Equicube by “shrugging” my shoulders up to my ears then letting them relax down and back. Then, after I get my shoulder blades down, I push out with my diaphragm, which straightens the rest of my back.

After over a decade of my riding teacher getting after my constantly about my slouching back it is really nice to hear her actually praise my back and how straight it is. My spine is very curved and I had despaired of ever getting it to work correctly, but I seem to finally be on the right track. Now my back muscles just need to get stronger since I had never used them like this before, so I get some pain in my back muscles after a few minutes, but every week my muscles are getting stronger and it is easier for me to keep my back straight and my shoulders back.

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