Posture isn’t a pose you “hold.” It’s a moving agreement between your ribs, your shoulder blades, and your breath—one you renegotiate every time you scroll, drive, carry, reach, lift.
Rounded shoulders don’t arrive with drama. They accumulate in small, repeatable moments: the chin that creeps forward toward a screen, the sternum that softens inward when you’re tired, the shoulders that hover up by your ears during workouts that never ask them to fully release. For a while, your body compensates. Then one day you notice it: the neck that’s tight by midday, the ache between the shoulder blades, the pinch at the front of the shoulder when you reach overhead.
The fix isn’t “stand up straight.” It’s teaching your shoulders to move well again: shoulder blades that glide instead of clamp, rotator cuffs that stabilize instead of strain, ribs that stay stacked so your arms can travel without your low back stepping in to help.
This is the simplest way back in: three movements, one band, five minutes. No heroics—just precision.
Start with face pulls, the quiet antidote to modern life’s forward drag. Anchor the band at eye level. Stand tall, soften the ribs down, and pull toward your temples as your elbows widen. Think of your shoulder blades sliding back and slightly down, not yanking together. Pause for a beat—long enough to feel the rear delts and mid-back light up—then return slowly. You’re rehearsing a new default: open chest, stable shoulder, relaxed neck.
Then move to overhead band presses—not as a max-effort strength move, but as an alignment test. Stand on the band, handles in hand, and press straight up with a steady tempo. The rule is simple: the ribs don’t flare, the low back doesn’t arch, and the shoulders don’t shrug. If any of those happen, the weight is too heavy or the range is too ambitious. Done correctly, the press becomes shoulder mechanics practice: scapulae that rotate upward cleanly, a cuff that supports the joint, a core that keeps the stack.
Finish with wall angels, the honesty drill. Back to the wall, glutes and upper back in contact, ribs gently down. Bring elbows and wrists to the wall and slide upward only as far as you can keep the shape—no compensating with a peeling low back. You’ll feel where you’re tight: pecs, lats, thoracic spine. That’s not failure; that’s a map. Move slowly enough that your nervous system trusts the new range.
Do this sequence every morning for a week and you won’t just “look” better. You’ll move differently: carrying feels easier, reaching stops feeling like negotiation, your neck is quieter, your shoulders sit where they were designed to live.
Unlocked shoulders aren’t aesthetics. They’re access.
The 5-minute protocol
1) Band Face Pulls
3 sets × 15 reps
Cues: ribs stacked, neck long, pull to temples, pause 1 second, slow return
2) Overhead Band Press
3 sets × 10–12 reps
Cues: don’t arch, don’t shrug, press straight up, control down
3) Wall Angels
2 sets × 10 reps
Cues: ribs down, low back stays put, only slide as high as clean form allows