Being over half way through is certainly a weight off the shoulders. I can’t believe that once next week is over I’ll only have four weeks left! The last seven weeks have flown by, apart from the many hours spent on static cardio machines, during which every minute feels like a day. There is a TV in the screen of the cross-trainer I use. It turns out that Deal or No Deal and A Place in the Sun are great daytime TV shows to watch with no sound or subtitles… You can actually follow what’s going on! Most cardio sessions I wonder who I’ve become, actually doing cardio, and better still, scheduling it around daytime TV. I hardly recognise myself!

This week we have added lots of extra sets to my training, and also some horrible, painful drop sets. My workouts have been physically painful as opposed to just hard or slightly uncomfortable, but I am really pleased with the progress I’m seeing in my upper body in particular, and I have really been enjoying the challenge. Towards the end of last week, I did feel as if I may fall to pieces – knees popping during cardio, not being able to lift my arms, but this week I have managed to push through it and am feeling really positive!

Results wise, I have dropped another one per cent of body fat, which means I’m just two per cent away from being able to wear my new trainers – woohoo! I said a few weeks ago that my scale weight had stayed put. That’s still the case. Since I started this programme I have only lost 1.5kg. I am starting to appreciate more than ever the dangers of relying on ‘weight loss’ as progress to keep you going. Can you imagine how I’d be feeling seven weeks in if the only statistic I had was that I’d lost 1.5kg?! I would have given up. Knowing that I have lost six per cent body fat on the other hand, keeps me going. That’s a good start, and everyone can now see a visible difference in my physique, which is encouraging!

What I have appreciated more than ever this week is the enormous benefit that having a personal trainer brings during a project like this. There have been so many dark, cold mornings when getting up, de-icing my car and driving 40 minutes to the gym have been the last thing I’ve wanted to do, but I’ve had to because Michael (and Pete and George) have been there waiting for me, always cheerful, always ready to help me achieve my best. Accountability is key on such a tough regime. On my own I think I would have probably fallen off the wagon by now. If you ever decide to do something similar, work out who or what will keep you accountable first. It’s absolutely essential!

This blog post is a bit early, as I’m actually off on a weekend break this morning. We are going to the Christmas markets at Bruges, which will be magical and great fun, but also a huge challenge for my diet. I have front-loaded my training this week, getting in as many of my sessions and as much lunchtime cardio as possible, but I will still need to do cardio when I’m out there, and try not to eat all the Belgian chocolate/frites/mulled wine/wine in general/puddings. The only silver lining is that I really don’t like waffles, so I’m at least safe from those! Going away with heavy-drinking, non-dieting people will be my biggest challenge yet, but I hope I will be able to resist temptation. It’s too close to the end now.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

I haven’t been naming these blog posts so far, but if I was doing so, this one would be called “The two Me’s”, who have shown themselves in force this week.

The first me is the one I was this morning, who desperately didn’t want to get out of bed but then thoroughly enjoyed every second of the training session. The second one is the one who was curled up in a heap on the floor last weekend because there was no hot water and I wanted a bath, and then because I couldn’t iron a pair of trousers properly. This me was a sobbing, wailing wreck.

Unfortunately, over the last couple of weeks this second me has made a couple of appearances. A lot of it is down to sheer exhaustion – recently we’ve moved house twice, I’ve changed jobs and everything has been pretty crazy. This is not helped at all by my training schedule and the whacking great calorie deficit I find myself in. Although most of the time my energy levels are fine, when they drop my mood follows them down. When usually any of the things that are upsetting me would be just one straw on the camel’s back, now every straw breaks it. I am actually feeling worse about my body than I have been in a long time, which is silly because I’m in better shape than I have been in a long time, but somehow now perhaps as there are less imperfections, those imperfections seem bigger. I have been forcing myself to be more cheerful since the breakdown last weekend and that seems to help, but I hadn’t realised the impact this project was going to have on my mental health. It’s definitely something I am going to be monitoring closely going forward.

I have also had a couple of setbacks with my progress. My body fat only dropped 0.5% this week, which is nothing compared to previous measurements, and my strength plummeted in one of my gym sessions. For a motivated perfectionist, both of these things were bad news, but I am focusing on the next few weeks rather than the one just gone. I can’t expect everything to go perfectly all the time, because it won’t. What I can do is stick in a bit of extra cardio, try to rest a bit more, and keep a close eye on my eating. It’s tough trusting the process but hopefully over this week it will have worked. Since my bad gym session, I have had two good ones, so that’s a step in the right direction!

During this process I have already learned a lot about nutrition and fitness and my body. I am also learning a lot about what is possible. I am pleased with what I have achieved so far, but it is tough. I feel more strongly than ever about these personal trainers pretending that such an extreme, unsustainable process is easy or fun, or even to be recommended. I know the team at Hall Training would never usually suggest something like this to a client unless there was a bloody good reason, and now I can see why. In order to get anywhere your training has to become before anything else, and that’s not something most people are willing to put into action. My top tip for anyone else looking to go down this path would be to be fully prepared for everything that lies ahead before you commit: socially, emotionally and physically.

I am now half way through the regime. Over the last six weeks I have had some incredible highs, but also some beastly lows, and as a summary I am much leaner but tired. I am looking forward to the next six weeks, and most importantly to overcoming the challenges that they bring. At this point, I just need to keep going.

As we run up to Christmas every man and his dog will be talking about what they’re ‘going to do’ in 2017 so I threw together some of my favourite hacks for creating change and ultimately making it stick! Hopefully some of them will be new to you, and remember that although at Hall Training we’re mainly focused on changing your health for the better, these can be applied to all areas of your life, so Good luck!

Get Clear On Where You’re Going
First and foremost, you’ve got to know where you’re heading. A well-defined end goal provides you with the direction, and from there on it’s simply completing the necessary tasks each day that will afford you the pleasure of reaching that ideal! When things get tough it’s far too easy to fall into the trap of ‘analysis paralysis’ where you find every excuse under the sun not to start or continue to the end. Overcome this by finding someone who’s already achieved what you want and consistently reminding yourself of them, this will inspire hope and motivation for the emotional side of the brain. Also, on the road towards your destination, don’t obsess about falling off the cart, everyone does – recognise it, brush yourself off and get back on it! Keep that dream alive with hope and distinct direction.

Ensure You’re Using Large Contrasts
I was going to suggest breaking your larger goal down into smaller ones but everyone says that – let’s try something else.
Our brains are naturally pre-wired to ignore small changes, it’s just how they work. Checking yourself out in the mirror every day will give the perception of little to no progress because day to day changes are so small and incremental. That’s why I suggest taking progress photos every 30 days and using those as comparisons rather than relying on your daily vanity check in the mirror. Your brain will accidently trick you otherwise, don’t fall prey.

Simplify Your Daily Habits
Habits drive most of our everyday tasks and free up valuable thinking power for more complex situations. We want to build habits that are stitched into our everyday routine, essentially we want to create autopilot actions. Whatever change you’re attempting to make, whether it’s to stop nipping down to your favourite restaurant every lunch break or simply drinking more water each day, habits have to start easy and small otherwise they become overwhelming. Try making a simple salad for just one of your meals each day or carrying around a 2L water bottle – these are simple yet small nudges towards kick starting a new habit. As well as designing constructive habits we need to be wary of destructive ones.

As the famous investor Warren Buffett says – “The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they’re too heavy to be broken” What destructive habits are holding you back?

Use The Environment as Your Ally
By altering your surroundings, you can either make change much easier or significantly harder. Most people take a step in the right direction but let’s go a level deeper. No doubt you’ve been told that if you don’t have ‘bad’ food in the cupboards then you simply can’t eat it. This is definitely true and unsurprisingly works every time! Now, if you’re among the few that can resist the temptation to even place said evil item into your basket then well done, but some of us aren’t that lucky. Maybe a more effective strategy would be to order your shopping online as to avoid stumbling upon unwelcome items in the store. Or paying at the pump instead of in the shop where you spend 5 minutes queueing alongside some of the most tempting confectionery known to man. Yes, they know what they’re doing! Simply put, you can’t rely on willpower alone so how can you shape your environment and ease change?

At the end of the day, change requires commitment and effort, but it is possible, and small tweaks can achieve amazing results! Hopefully these tips have given you a few more ideas to take forward into the New Year. Why not start now, and see what you can achieve by then?

This week I am much more cheerful! Getting back to normal at the gym after taking it easy last week has actually been a relief, much to my surprise! It is so much easier to stay motivated and stick to my diet plan when I am training harder. I have always been a very ‘all or nothing’ type of person, and I think this is starting to come out across in my 12-week challenge. I have certainly learned some good lessons to take into my next deload period in three weeks’ time, namely don’t take your eye off the prize, pausing doesn’t mean you can stop.

My training has definitely upped in intensity this week and boy can I feel it. Today is the first day since Tuesday that I actually feel like I can walk again. My hamstrings have been so sore, and I also gave myself shin splints thanks to relying on the cross trainer a bit too much for my cardio. I’ve been forced to use the static bike to try and ease the work on my legs. Another lesson for this week: nothing is more boring than steady state cardio, but you can get through it if you’ve downloaded yourself a great playlist or audio book.

I had some good news on Monday: my body fat dropped another percent this week – I’m on a roll! Thankfully that meant that my calories have stayed consistent and didn’t need to drop, and that I have also maintained the same amount of cardio. So the only thing that’s changed this week is the one extra weights session. Considering how much I’ve been going to the gym, one extra hour doesn’t feel too bad. Bar the aches and DOMS I’ve hardly noticed it!

It hasn’t all been plain sailing. The dark, cold, early mornings are getting harder, and my mood has dropped on a few days. My caffeine consumption is definitely going up and funnily enough, other people’s positive reactions are also starting to dwindle. Where they started off with full support, some friends are now starting to get annoyed with my fussiness around meal times and obsessive planning in advance. I totally understand, and luckily the vast majority still think I’m doing a great thing, but it does hammer home just how self-obsessed and shallow you have to become to complete this process. Getting annoyed when other people eat a takeaway or making other people worry about what they eat in front of you is not sustainable, and I am starting to become more aware that the support I am relying on from other people is costing them as well. It’s an important consideration, but I’ve gone too far to worry too much – I’m just going to keep doing what I need to do to get to where I want to be!

My motivation is sky high at the moment and I genuinely think it comes from seeing consistent progress and having such great support. Towards the end of this week I’ve noticed my top two abs start to make an appearance – an incredibly shy appearance, but I hope they will be here before too long! I have ordered myself some new trainers, and I’m going to let myself wear them when I get to 15% body fat. New trainers for me are about as exciting as birthdays, so I am hoping that this promise to myself will keep me on track! They are currently in the back of my car and I’ve not even opened the box; I’m being good as gold.

Hopefully over the next week my motivation stays, my abs become more obvious (i.e. I get leaner still) and my strength doesn’t drop off. By the time I write my next blog post I will be half way through, so it’s getting exciting, but the pressure is on!

Fingers crossed…

In two days from now I will be a third of the way through the challenge, which is a worrying thought! This will be a short blog from me, as I haven’t got much to report – it’s finally deload week.
Deloadingmeans cutting back on the volume of work done in training sessions. This allows my body to properly rest and recover from the previous weeks ready to go into a new set of programmes from next week.

My programme is split into three four-week chunks, with a deload week at the end of each section. It has been absolutely lovely this week to take a step back from training and I can tell that my body was ready for it, because even my deload lifting days have been quite tough, even though they have significantly less volume than I was lifting last week!

I have taken this as an opportunity to try and stick in a bit more cardio, but despite my new, harsher diet and my extra cardio, my scale weight has still stayed the same. This is the third week in a row that it’s not budged. This isn’t an exaggeration, I haven’t even lost 100g! But my last body fat reading revealed that I have lost an extra 0.5kg of fat, and an extra 0.8% overall of body fat, so the trend is going in the right direction. Perhaps this is just how much I weigh? Who knows… but as long as my body fat keeps going down then that’s the main thing. So far it’s down 5% in 3 measurements – woohoo!

I haven’t noticed the drop in calories to be honest, but I have started to notice social situations becoming a bit trickier and a bit more tempting. Still going strong though!

Over all, so far I am starting to feel a bit more confident in my body and a bit more like myself again, which is really great, and definitely a nice feeling! But if I am honest, my attitude to training and nutrition has become a kind of sad acceptance… I know what I have to do and I just do it without questioning it. I find writing it all out on a post it note and then crossing it off really helps to keep me accountable, and having the post it staring at me on my desk gets me off my bum at lunch time to do my cardio!

Next week we step up another gear with my training, adding in an extra weights session and even some dreaded drop sets. I am looking forward to getting back into it, because although the rest has been lovely this week, compared to the previous intensity I am feeling really lazy!
I’ll let you know how I get on…

I’m going to be honest. Week three has not been fun, and saying that after the week in which I had a chronic ear infection is saying something! This is the first week I have found sticking to the diet plan to be hard work and mentally draining. There haven’t been any points when I’ve nearly cracked, but I have been craving loads of different foods, and becoming generally really food obsessed. When I realise I can’t have the foods I am craving I feel a resigned acceptance. I know in the long run it’s for the best, but it won’t stop me staring at the chocolate trolley when it trundles past on the train. Or wanting to inhale the whole lot.

I have also learned an important lesson about preparation this week. I’ve been all over the place with long train stints and relying on clients to provide lunches (pre-ordered chicken salads). This has meant long periods of hunger, not being quite sure what to track, and struggling to pick appropriate snacks at the endless train stations. I had thought that throughout this process I would be able to take quite a strict approach to what I eat, a relaxed approach to planning my eating, but as time goes on, it’s becoming clearer that everything needs to be planned down to the final detail when I’m not somewhere I can access food easily. Sunday afternoons will now have the extra fun job of planning meals as well as food prep!

In the last two weeks I have lost 4.1% body fat, which I am absolutely blown away by and really pleased with as a start. However, since my 1kg drop in the first week, my scale weight has stayed resolutely put. Now, there are many potential reasons for this: my body has been ill and therefore stressed, I could be holding onto excess water weight. But on a 12 week plan we don’t have time for any bad weeks, and if my scale weight stays the same over the weekend, there’s every chance my body fat won’t have dropped again on Monday, which is a delay I just can’t afford! To reach my target I need to lose an average of 1% every week until the end of the plan, which is a tall order.

This means that next week it’s more cardio, and less food. The thought of this isn’t doing my mood much good at the moment, but as long as I can fit a Grenade bar in my macros most days (these are manna from heaven and Jamie Alderton is a demi-God for inventing them/having those abs) then I think I will cope.

Saying this, my training has been great. I have managed to fit in a lunchtime cardio session (just 30 minutes) on one of the only days I’ve been in the office, and I’ve really enjoyed all my sessions. I’m training harder than ever, and this morning managed to get my hip thrusters up to 100kg (for 12 reps, after 3 sets of 8). So there are positives! I have one more weight training session to do this weekend, and am aiming to get 1 hr 30 of cardio in on top, plus a potential wintery walk somewhere!

I think it being Halloween this week is very apt for my doomy and gloomy blog post, but when I started this I knew it wasn’t going to be plain sailing. For now, I am just happy that my body fat has continued to drop, that my training is going really well, and that I am managing to resist temptation (even if it makes me sad inside).
Next week I am looking forwards to trying to hit the cardio a bit harder, hoping to get a slide on my scale weight and easing back on the weight training slightly to let my body recover! Fingers crossed it’ll be a good one!

Until then…

Week two got off to a flying start. We did my body fat on Monday, and I had dropped far more than I had expected to in two weeks, let alone one! But then on Tuesday I woke up with a really painful ear infection. I managed to push through my training session and that day of work, but ever since then I have been laid up with visits back and forth to the doctor, and I missed my training session this morning. At the moment there’s still some hope for the week – If I can get a decent night’s sleep tonight, then can try and fit in my remaining two training sessions over the weekend.

Food wise, I have managed to stick to the diet plan on the whole. I have eaten precisely 18 chocolate buttons (they had smiley faces, I hoped they may cheer me up) and a small serving of plain homemade popcorn last night to accompany The Fall, but those are the only two things that have been off-plan. That being said, I’ve been tracking but not making sure that I’ve been hitting my protein targets, so I have probably been quite under this week. Still, 12 weeks is a long time and although my goal is going to be really hard to achieve, I think it’s important to be realistic and cut myself some slack when I’m ill, as long as I get straight back on it as soon as I can. Not everything can go perfectly, and I can’t beat myself up about it all the time – better to learn that now than have a breakdown about it in week nine.

On last week’s blog I had a couple of questions about what plan I’m following, and as I don’t have much to report this week, I thought I’d share now!

I have started off relatively easy: three one-hour weight training sessions per week. They are all total body, but one of them has a greater emphasis on upper body, and another on lower, the final one is evenly split. I will follow this plan for four weeks in total (so two to go after this week, one of which is a de-load week) before the training ramps up a gear. As soon as my body fat or weight stops dropping, I will introduce a cardio session, but for nowI am trying to keep as many cards up my sleeve as possible. For those of you who’d like to see exactly what I’m doing, I’ll be sharing pictures of my programmes on my Instagram over the next few weeks: @georgey_r

My macros have been plotted carefully for me based on my weight, food preferences and exercise schedule, but I am currently aiming for 40 per cent of my diet to come from protein, with the remaining 60 per cent split evenly between carbs and fats. So far, this seems to be working a treat, but we will find out on Monday whether I’ve managed to lose any more body fat this week (if not I blame the chocolate buttons). Here are the drops I made from starting:

I am not expecting the same amount of progress on Monday, but a little bit would be nice!

Until next week…

Working behind the scenes at a personal training company means I am constantly surrounded by a team of incredibly fit, determined people. It also means that I hear the struggles their clients are going through to achieve their dream results, and the expectations of people who come to Hall Training looking for support.

I had hoped that being surrounded by this uber-fit team would mean some of their dedication would rub off on me, that all clients would find it super easy to achieve their dream bodies, and that people turning to the team for help would realise how hard ‘being super fit’ actually is. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case!

At Hall Training our focus is nearly always on health over aesthetics, and on sustainability over sudden, drastic changes, unless of course a client comes to us with a tight deadline such as a holiday or wedding. On other personal training websites, it’s common to see pictures of incredible transformations, from overweight to six pack in just 12 weeks. But how realistic is this, how much do you sacrifice, is it worth it? Well, I’ve decided to find out.

For the next 12 weeks (well, 11 and a half now you’re reading this!) I am going to try really hard to stick to the workout and nutrition plan that the team have set up for me. That means no weekend wine (huge sacrifice), no snacking on the yummy food in the office (more for my colleagues!) and a lot of early starts.

I am going to write a short blog every week so you can see how I get on. I promise now not to sugar coat anything – the highs and lows will be here for everyone to see!

So far, it’s day 4 of 84 and things are going well. Other than underestimating how many grams of carbs were in the sushi I grabbed on the go on Tuesday, I’ve managed to stick to my nutrition plan perfectly. It’s actually quite tough to get the calories in when you’re in diet mind set! I’ve only done one workout so far this week, the other three are all scheduled over the next few days. My hamstrings still hurt from that one, so we’ll have to see how the next three go…

We hope that this blog will make it clear exactly how much hard work a client and their trainer have to put in to make a big difference in a small space of time, but also show what can be achieved if you really put your mind to it. On a personal level, I’m just really hoping that I can stick to it and also that I end up feeling a bit more like ‘me’ again at the end. I can make all the excuses in the world – a new job, two house moves, stress at work – but I am hoping to find that the truth is, if you plan and make time, it is possible to achieve your health and fitness goals and have a life, even through Christmas party season! If everything goes to plan, my last day will be the 8^th January, and fingers crossed I will be a better version of myself by then!

Until next week…

Balancing lectures, essays and socialising with your health and fitness is tough – there’s no two ways about it. But despite the copious alcohol on offer, and resulting late night trips to the kebab van, it is possible to stay in shape while you’re at university. Our trainer Pete has provided his top tips for busy students:

1.   Buy a gym membership
This may sound obvious but it will give you some accountability. When I was a student money wasn’t exactly free flowing so, hopefully, if you are paying for a gym membership it will make you want to make the most of it and will keep you going. Luckily in Oxford there are cheap membership deals on offer. Whether you’re living in central Oxford, or based in Cowley, Pure Gym memberships often come in at under £20 per month, and lots of the Oxford colleges have their own offers or facilities you can take advantage of.

2.   Schedule your gym trips
Although every thinks that when you are a student you have unlimited free time to spend watching Jeremy Kyle, this is not always the case. Workloads can be heavy and the stress can make you think you need to spend every waking minute in the library. YOU DON’T. Set yourself a time to go to the gym. I used to like going in the morning as it was a more exciting prospect to wake up to than going to sit at a computer all day. Making the gym part of your routine will also make the habit stick. Try to go to the gym at the same time, on the same days each week. Half way through term you won’t even notice that you’re making time for it anymore – it’ll be natural.

3.   Plan a decent programme
The gym can be stressful if you don’t have plan. There is nothing worse than getting in, looking around and not knowing what you are going to do. Often, this leads to people doing the same thing every time, because they can’t think of what they should be doing. This can lead to you losing the enjoyment of going to the gym and it will also stop you making the progress you could be making. So try and plan what you are going to do, no matter how basic. If you struggle to do this or just don’t know how to then maybe go to some classes at the gym or think about getting a personal trainer.

4.   Get a gym buddy
Going to the gym with a friend can help on a number of different levels. Firstly, making the gym more of a social event will continue to keep it more interesting, thus keeping you going. Secondly, it means that if you are having an off day and can’t be bothered to train, then hopefully your friend won’t be feeling the same and will encourage/force you to go to the gym and I guarantee you’ll thank them for it afterwards. Finally, if you are a super competitive person it will make you push harder when you work out.

5.   Set a goal
You may have heard us bang on about goal setting before, that’s because its damn important! You wouldn’t do all your uni work if you didn’t know you were going to get a degree at the end of it, or if you didn’t want a degree. So why would you put in loads of work at the gym if you don’t know what you want the end result to be? Whatever it is, make sure you know what you want from your efforts and keep that in mind.

6.   Do things you enjoy
Obviously, it’s nice to optimize what you do at the gym but if for some reason you can’t do that, don’t get disheartened and just remember that something is always better than nothing. You have still made the effort to go, you have still burned calories and stimulated your muscles, you will still get that self-righteous feeling and can brag about going to the gym. Finally, doing things you don’t like will nearly always lead to you stopping doing it. So do things you enjoy when you go the gym whether it’s a Zumba class or lifting ridiculously heavy weights.

So next time work feels overwhelming, take a break, plan your gym trips, and refocus on your health and fitness. By the end of term, you should definitely be seeing some results!
If you need a helping hand, check out our student training page to see how our tailored sessions could point you in the right direction, at a fraction of the cost of regular personal training sessions!

For those of you who don’t already know, as well as being a personal trainer I am also a qualified sports therapist. A sports therapist works with musculoskeletal injuries such as muscle strains, ligament sprains and fractures, to name just a few. In my role as a sports therapist, I also analyse posture and any postural imbalances that a person may have. One of the most common types of posture issue I see is Upper Cross Syndrome (UCS).

Upper Cross Syndrome is a muscle imbalance which affects the upper body and to be more specific, the head and shoulder area. It is characterised by a rounding of the shoulders and an extended neck. If somebody is suffering from UCS, you will notice forward neck translation (forward told of the head), a hunched back, rounded shoulders, and pain and tightness in the upper back and neck.

Why does it happen?

Our bodies are fantastic at adapting to muscle imbalances, which sounds great but really it’s not. Adjusting for imbalances puts a lot more stress on other joints, which shouldn’t be loaded with the extra work. Due to the adaptation seen in UCS, muscles that tend to be relaxed when their buddies should be doing the work get loaded with extra responsibilities.
The main muscles which are affected by UCS are the pectorals, upper trapezius and levator scapulae, also weak rhomboids, lower trapezius and neck flexors. The image below describes which muscles are weak and which are tight in the condition.

What are the causes?

A sedentary lifestyle is the main contributor to UCS. This can range from sitting on the sofa watching TV to being sat at a desk while working. Training patterns can also be a contributing factor, especially in men. When I walk around the gym, I see a lot of men in the free weights area with UCS. I ask them what they’re training and the normal response is chest. They don’t give any attention to their backs and this is why this posture is visibly noticeable. The pecs become tight and when back training is neglected, the lower traps, rhomboids and serratus anterior become weak, which causes the shoulders to round.

Using your smartphone or tablet can also cause the muscles at the back of your neck to become tight and the muscles at the front of your neck to become weak. A lot of us keep our phones at a distance, and its because of this that we over-extend our heads, causing that long neck look that you may see.

How can I fix it?

The first issue to address is strengthening the muscles that have become weak. Any exercise that strengthens the upper back will help, however I would strongly recommend the High Cable Lateral Extension and Seated Rows.

High Cable Lateral Extensions
Stand facing the cable machine and hold the left cable with the right arm and the right cable with the left arm as shown in the picture on the left. Next create the letter T with your arms as shown in the picture on the right. As you make the letter T, squeeze the shoulder blades together (a good cue for this is try to get your shoulder blades into your back pocket). Return back to the starting position. It’s best to work with light weights focusing on high repetitions. Three sets of 15 reps will do the trick.

Seated Rows (Machine or Cable)
You can use either a cables machine or a fixed machine. What you want to do is pull either the cables/handles towards your chest and focus on squeezing the shoulder blades together. Again use the cue I mentioned above to help squeeze the shoulder blades together.

Upper Cross Syndrome is a relatively common condition, but by being more aware of your posture on a daily basis and working to strengthen your upper back, you can really make some ground in reducing the symptoms and improving your posture.

If you have any further questions or need more advice, drop me a line.