Sweat Trainer Kelsey Wells Shares Upper-Body Exercises to Improve Your Posture

Kelsey Wells, a Sweat app trainer and creator of the PWR program, shares four upper-body exercises that will not only help you build strength but also help with correcting your postural alignment. From her new PWR 4.0 program, which includes new workouts and challenges that are higher intensity than the previous 36 weeks of workouts, these four moves will leave you feeling strong and standing tall!

During these exercises, Kelsey recommends focusing on the body-mind or muscle-mind connection. "If you're present in your exercises, it makes a huge difference. Whatever exercise you are doing, think about the muscles you are working and engage them in your mind," she told POPSUGAR. "When you're doing a row, you need to make sure you're not just wondering what you're going to be doing later; you're going through your form checklist in your head. You're listening to your breathing, engaging your muscles, holding at the contraction and releasing. You'll get so much more out of your workout with the same time spent." If you have the Sweat App, you can tap on the video of the exercises, and it will pull up guided step-by-step instructions like which grip to use and when to exhale.

The other essential tip Kelsey recommends as you work with dumbbells and weight is "you should always have your wrists straight and strong. You don't want any bending or flexion in your wrists, especially when working with a dumbbell, especially for a shoulder press." One way to achieve this is to think like you "have a metal cuff around your wrist." This will allow you to support the weight properly and prevent injury.

If you're someone who does bend their wrists when you work with dumbbells, you're not alone. Kelsey emphasizes that bent wrists is one of the most common issues she sees at the gym and with clients. She continues that bending wrists is natural: "in push-ups, you're bending because they're against the floor," and when you work with weights, "the weight is heavy, and if you're not mindful of it, you're going to automatically bend." As you try these exercises, focus on your form, and you'll get the most out of your workout.

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