How To Reverse Rounded Shoulders in 5 Minutes

BY jenfit Posture✨

Do you notice yourself rounding your shoulders whenever you’re working on your laptop or on the phone? When we have so much technology available at our fingertips, we get into a habit of hunching over and pulling everything down. We end up with an unintentional rounding of the shoulders.

So how do we start to intentionally reverse rounded shoulders and correct this posture? We don’t want to just do the opposite motion (sticking out our chest and arching our back) because that’s just introducing tension in the front of the body. What we want to do is teach our body how to find a neutral posture.

The best way to achieve this natural state of no pressure and no tension is to become conscious of how the body feels when it is in an open position.

Like any new habit, it takes consistency. Just think about how you brush your teeth every day. Practicing opening up and releasing that rounded shoulder tension can be that simple with consistency and effort.

I cannot stress it enough. If you’re going to be working on your computer or phone during the day you’ve got to take the time to release that tension. Teach your body on a daily basis what it feels like to be in a relaxed, neutral, and free position.

A misconception when it comes to rounded shoulders is a hyper-focus on the shoulders themselves. What we’re going to focus on is the chest.

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Reverse rounded shoulders fast: chest foam roll release

I like to take my Intelliroll foam roller for this practice because its unique grooves help me get into the pec muscle well. If you don’t have an Intelliroll, you can use a regular foam roller or even a tennis ball.

Lie the foam roller at an angle. The foam roller isn’t going to touch the front of the shoulder here; the focus is placed on the chest. As we lie on the roller at an angle you should feel it coming up towards your collar bone, offering access to the pectoral minor muscle.

Once you’re in the proper position you’re going to take your arm on the side of your body that is resting on the foam roller and release it down in a sweeping motion as if you’re waving. Come all the way up and all the way back down. As you get used to the rhythm you can even turn your palm up when you get down towards the back and notice what that feels like.

Make sure that you’re breathing. Think of breathing directly into tension to encourage release. If your head starts to feel a little heavy feel free to prop it up. Again, you want to be able to relax into this exercise!

I recommend doing this for about one to two minutes on each side.

Chest opening stretch

Lie flat on the ground with your arm stretched out and up at an angle. Try to roll the shoulder with the arm extended down and back instead of forward into the floor. You should feel your back muscles engage here.

Press the opposite hand into the floor with your bent elbow facing the ceiling. Bend the back your knee on the opposite side of the extended arm and rotate your leg up and over towards the opposite side of your body. You’re really going to feel this in the upper chest! Relax your head and keep breathing.

Feel free to mindfully play around here. Maybe you leave the foot static on the ground as the chest opens up. You can rotate the moving leg over and back again. You can press the extended arm into the ground and lift the chest up, opening toward the bent arm. Note that you might feel some manipulation in the back- that’s totally normal.

Repeat on both sides.

Back extension and chest opening exercise

After you’ve mobilized on each side, we’re going to take the foam roller and place the head of the roller onto the midback and lie down on top of it for a passive stretch. Hold your arms out with bent elbows and allow gravity to pull them towards the floor. Feel the release of your chest and breathe into this sensation of opening and relaxing. I like to stay here for about five minutes. (You can even do this exercise from your bed with a couple pillows! Check out my favorite evening bed mobility flow.)

Consistency is key!

Try this series daily and you’ll begin to notice that rounded shoulders are a thing of the past. The idea of daily stretches can be imtimidating at first, but once you get into the routine you’ll notice that the incredible benefits will have you looking forward to your mobility work!

More on posture:

Work from home postures that keep you pain-free and productive

My #1 text neck exercise…Just grab a towel!