As a personal trainer in Tokyo, I explain how to improve your posture effectively : Why stretching alone isn’t enough
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Stretching alone can’t fix posture — professional insights from a personal trainer in Tokyo
I often hear this from new clients during the trial sessions:
“I stretch every day, but my posture never improves.”
That’s a common frustration. Stretching helps you feel lighter and relieves tension temporarily, but it doesn’t teach your body how to hold itself properly.
True posture correction requires both mobility and strength training.
Working as a personal trainer in Tokyo, I’ve helped many professionals who spend long hours sitting or looking down at screens. Their chest and hip flexors become tight, their glutes and upper back weaken, and gravity slowly wins. Without strength, your body simply drifts back to its old habits — no matter how much you stretch.
In short:
- Stretching increases flexibility and releases tension.
- Training improves stability, endurance, and control.
That’s why I combine flexibility work with targeted strengthening exercises. Stretching prepares the body to move, while strength training teaches it to stay aligned. The result is sustainable posture — not a temporary fix.
In this article, I’ll explain why stretching alone doesn’t work, how to combine it with effective strength training, and what areas you should prioritize for lasting posture improvement.
Why Stretching Alone Doesn’t Fix Your Posture
Stretching lengthens tight muscles but doesn’t activate the weak ones that support your spine.
That’s why you feel good right after stretching, only to slump again the next day.
For example, people with rounded shoulders often have tight chest muscles and weak back muscles. Stretching the chest helps temporarily, but unless you strengthen the back, your body returns to poor alignment.
Posture correction requires muscle balance — releasing tight areas and activating underused ones.
As a personal trainer in Tokyo, I always start by assessing which muscles are overactive, underactive, or misaligned. Only then can we rebuild the structure that holds your body upright.
What to Strengthen for Better Posture
1. Core Stability — The Foundation of Upright Posture
If posture were a building, your core would be the foundation. A weak core causes everything above it to collapse.
Your core isn’t just your abs — it includes your diaphragm, deep spinal muscles, and pelvic floor. Together, they stabilize your spine and allow efficient movement.
I’ve seen many people who can do crunches but still have poor posture.
That’s because visible “six-pack” muscles (rectus abdominis) don’t provide the internal support your body needs.
You need to strengthen deep stabilizers like the transverse abdominis and multifidus to create inner tension that supports your spine from all sides.
Top 3 Core Exercises for Posture:
- Plank with breathing control – Builds deep pressure, not just flat abs.
- Dead Bug – Teaches spinal stability while moving your arms and legs.
- Bird Dog – Trains coordination and balance across the spine.
These exercises improve your control, endurance, and awareness.
I often cue my clients to imagine “tightening a belt around your waist.”
This type of core stability training not only strengthens your posture but also reduces back pain and improves breathing.
From my experience, improving your core first makes every other posture correction exercise more effective. Once your center is strong, your body naturally holds itself upright without effort.
2. Back and Shoulder Blades — Strengthen Your Postural Support System
Modern lifestyles weaken the upper back. Sitting, typing, and scrolling lead to tight front muscles and lazy rear ones.
Your rhomboids, trapezius, and rear deltoids are key to keeping your shoulders open and stable.
Best exercises for posture correction:
- Seated Row or Resistance Band Row
- Face Pulls
- YWT Raises
These movements restore balance between the front and back of your body.
Remember, good posture isn’t about “forcing your chest out.”
It’s about using your back muscles so your chest naturally opens and your neck relaxes.
As a personal trainer in Tokyo, I emphasize this principle: proper posture should feel easy, not forced.
3. Glutes and Hamstrings — The Hidden Pillars of Alignment
Your lower body directly influences your upper body posture.
Weak glutes and hamstrings tilt the pelvis backward, flatten the lower back, and throw your spine out of alignment.
Recommended lower-body movements:
- Glute Bridge – Activates your glutes and stabilizes the pelvis.
- Lunges – Improve balance and pelvic control.
- Squats – Strengthen your entire kinetic chain.
Training these areas creates a strong base of support.
As a personal trainer in Tokyo, I always combine glute work with hip mobility exercises to ensure the body moves as one functional unit.
As a personal trainer in Tokyo, I share how to combine stretching and strength training for posture correction
To make posture changes last, follow this sequence:
👉 Stretch → Mobility → Strength
- Stretch to release tight muscles (e.g., chest, hip flexors).
- Mobility to improve range of motion (e.g., shoulder circles, hip openers).
- Strength to reinforce alignment (e.g., rows, core work).
This process helps your body learn new movement patterns instead of returning to old ones.
I use this order because it allows flexibility and stability to work together efficiently.
If you skip strength training, your new flexibility will fade.
If you skip stretching, you’ll train on tight, restricted joints.
Balance both — that’s the key to long-term posture improvement.
Why Strength Training Is Essential for Posture Correction
Stretching resets your muscles.
Strength training programs them.
Improving posture means teaching your body how to maintain alignment under gravity and fatigue.
Even 10 minutes a day of focused core and back training can transform how you move and feel.
As a personal trainer in Tokyo, I tell my clients:Stretching prepares your body. Strength training transforms it.
Posture correction isn’t about perfection.
It’s about resilience — building a body that supports your lifestyle, not one that collapses under it.
Final Thoughts: Real Posture Change Comes from Balance
You can’t stretch your way to perfect posture.
Lasting change comes when you combine mobility, stability, and strength.
Stretching makes your body adaptable.
Strength makes it stable.
Together, they create effortless posture that supports both confidence and comfort.
From a personal trainer in Tokyo’s perspective, true posture improvement is about teaching your body to remember how to stay aligned — not just pushing it into shape.
If you’re serious about fixing your posture, start combining stretching with structured strength training today.
Your future self — free of pain and stiffness — will thank you
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