Combating Rounded Shoulders with George Jowett

Recently I read Key to Might and Muscle by George Jowett. One chapter talked about round shoulders. It really spoke to me because as someone who writes and sits at a desk, round shoulders can easily develop—and have.

Just catch your natural posture in the mirror from time to time. For me, it was a picture of myself vacuuming that spoke volumes to me. Chest caved in, shoulders rounded forward—ugh. It doesn’t look good and it doesn’t function well. How are you going to get deep full breaths with your entire breathing anatomy conspiring against you?

Jowett recommends a sequence of exercises which I have been doing. Check out the Youtube below to get the gist:

I cherry-picked one of his chest exercises and also added a bodyweight row to really make this effective at strengthening the muscles of the back to pull the chest open. Of course, stretching the pecs is important, and for me, doubly so since I’ve torn my left pec and it is now shorter than the right.

I am really enjoying this sequence quite a bit. Aside from the benefit of the exercises themselves, there is also the mental benefit of knowing that what you are doing is specifically designed to support your goals. It has a double-whammy effect.

Give this sequence a try: two times per week and it should take about 8 minutes per session. Increase the weight when it gets too easy.