How Does Barre Help with Posture?

Standing taller with better posture can have a ripple effect in your life, from feeling amazing in your own skin to being able to communicate with confidence. If you’ve ever wondered “does barre help with posture?” the answer is yes! The Bar Method offers a range of dynamic benefits, including improved posture that would make your grandmother proud. These workouts help you feel your best beyond the end of class, leading to a stronger body, as well as the confidence and alignment to stand a little taller. Find out how to achieve this in the studio — and on your own — so you can access the full benefits of barre posture, below.

Does barre help with posture by incorporating exercises for good posture?

Yes! In addition to supporting your mental and physical wellbeing, consistently taking Bar Method classes also leads to improved posture. The Bar Method is a total mind and body workout, with a special focus on strengthening a specific muscle group that’s key to correct posture, keeping your chest open and your head over your spine. Now that you know the answer to “does barre help with posture?” let’s explore why that really matters. 

Why is correct posture so important?

Your posture is affected by external factors, such as genetics, as well as your daily rituals, positions, and habits. If you find your routine to be hectic or you’re often on the move, being intentional about maintaining good posture can require extra effort. Ordinary behavior like slouching in chairs, carrying a heavy bag, and staring down at your phone can all cause postural issues. Over time, these can lead to more severe issues like neck, back and shoulder pain, carpal tunnel, and injury. If you’re looking for simple better posture exercises, making the switch away from these habits can help you feel good in your body. In addition, a few simple changes in your fitness routine can help you correct your posture. 

What are some barre exercises that improve posture? 

Lat pulls and shoulder rotations

The Bar Method’s lat pulls are not only amazing for building back strength, but they are also an excellent way to stretch out your shoulders and chest, which have muscles that affect posture. Located on both sides of the back, lats help you stand tall and keep you safe from injuries. Shoulder rotations also help with postural alignment, and are often coupled with lat pulls. 

How to:

• To practice lat pulls, stand with your feet hips-width apart and parallel.
• Soften your knees, grip your glutes, and bend forward at your waist to align your shoulders over your hips. 
• Use 2-4 lb. weights and bend your arms into 90-degree angles. 
• Open your forearms out to the sides until your arms look like two L-shapes.
• Slide your elbows behind the plane of your spine. 
• Draw your elbows in closer towards each other and do about 30 reps to finish.

Barre posture tuck

Without strong back, ab, and glute muscles, we tend to slump, as these muscle groups affect posture. Bar Method exercises like standing seat and kneeling seat use what we call the “tuck,” to help prevent slumping and strengthen posture. The tuck lengthens the lower back, contracts the abdominals, and positions the spine upright. Together, these actions support students to stand taller with better posture, while addressing common posture problems that can be caused by daily habits. This alignment protects your spine, stretches hip flexors, improves coordination, trains and tones core muscles, and gives you fantastic posture.

 How to:

• Stand with your feet hip-width and soften your knees.
• Grip your glutes.
• Keep them gripped and tilt your hips upward as you pull your abs in.
• Bend slightly forward at your waist and draw your shoulders down to activate your posture muscles.

Rhomboid pulls

The rhomboids are postural muscles that pull the shoulder blades in towards each other. They help to hold you upright with good posture as you focus on flattening your upper back. Rhomboid pulls are among the most effective exercises to strengthen posture, with a stance similar to lat pulls.

 How to:

• Focus on bending your arms back into 90-degree angles and lifting your arms away from your torso until your elbows are 45-degrees lower than your shoulders. 
• Pull your elbows behind the plane of your spine while keeping forearms parallel to the floor. 
• Allow your weights to open slightly wider than your elbows, and angle your weights diagonally in towards each other. 
• Pull your elbows toward one another in a one-inch motion back, and continue for about 20-30 reps.

Standing seat

Standing seat is a full-body-seat focused exercise that’s designed to strengthen you all the way from your ankles to your neck. This exercise requires focusing on aligned posture while specifically targeting your glutes using a pelvic tuck. Building glute and back strength will not only help you walk around safely and comfortably; it will also have you standing a little taller.

 How to:

• To begin standing seat, face your support before placing your hands lightly on top of it. 
• Take a parallel stance.
• Soften your knees, grip your glutes, and tuck under. 
• Bend forward at your waist and place your right foot on the floor behind you.
• Use your glutes and hamstrings to lift your foot off the floor, and press your leg back one inch against your tuck.

Use your back muscles to draw your shoulder blades closer toward one another and downward.

Continue to press your leg back in one-inch movements.

Are these postural training exercises included in Bar Method classes?

Yes. The Bar Method is a comprehensive full-body workout, effortlessly integrating many of the above exercises that improve posture within your practice. 

 Our instructors are trained diligently to identify subtle postural changes in their students to improve alignment and muscle activation. This means during class, your teacher will guide you through postural training exercises, so all you need to do is show up, listen, and do your best. We also teach the value of concentrating on how you stand and move, as well as how you stabilize your body while working the muscles in your limbs.  

 What are some exercises to strengthen posture that can be practiced outside the studio?

Developing better posture starts with a quick inventory on your current physical stature. Assessing your posture daily will help to correct postural imbalances and maintain the posture progress you make by attending Bar Method classes. You can also practice the above in-studio exercises at home for continued improvement. If you’re looking for additional options, we have you covered.

Try these five simple exercises for good posture at home

•  Lift your chin and lengthen your neck — Looking directly forward and reminding yourself to lift your chin will help decrease any unnecessary stress on your cervical spine. Press your shoulders down, away from your ears to help elongate your neck.
•  Draw your shoulder blades down and back while opening your chest — Whether you’re sitting at your desk or standing in line for coffee, begin to perform small isometric squeezes of your shoulder blades. This will help to lift your chest and stretch our tight, rounded shoulders.
  
•  Pull your abdominals in — You can do this by bending slightly forward at your waist, and you can do it any time of day. This action will activate your deep abdominal muscles, which will protect your back and help to flatten your stomach.
• Stand with relaxed legs to avoid locking out knees — Like your instructor tells you in Bar Method class, avoid locking your knees. This puts increased pressure on your lumbar spine.
• Stand tall and be confident! — Be proud of your newfound posture and own your body by remembering to stand tall. Not only will your inner confidence shine through, you’ll also look leaner while doing so.

The key to making these exercises for good posture effective is to practice them consistently within your fitness routine. We’re only given one body in this life and it’s our job to love it, respect it, and nurture it. When you take the time out of your busy day to day to pay attention to your daily positions and make the necessary changes to improve your posture, you’ll find yourself with a healthier, happier body. 

These are just some of our favorite posture–improving barre exercises — there are so many more to explore. Discover your tallest, most confident self by booking a class at one of our studios!