My posture improved significantly after I started doing climbing (specifically, indoor bouldering). This is of course a single data point, but “it stands to reason” that it should work at least for those people who come to like it.
Physical activity in general should improve posture (see Nancy’s post), but as far as I can tell bouldering should be very effective at doing this:
First, because it requires you to perform a lot of varied movements in unusual equilibrium positions (basically, hanging and stretching at all sorts of angles), which few sports do (perhaps some kinds of yoga would also do that). At the beginning it’s mostly the fingers and fore-arms that will get tired, but after a few sessions (depending on your starting physical condition) you’ll start feeling tired in muscles you didn’t know you had.
Second (and, in my case, the most important) it’s really fun. I tried all sorts of activities, from just “going to the gym” to swiming and jogging (all of which would help if done regularly), but I just couldn’t keep motivated. With all of those I just get bored and my mind keeps focusing on how tired I am. Since I basically get only negative reinforcement, I stop going to those activities. Some team sports I could do, because the friendly competition and banter help me having fun, but it’s pretty much impossible to get a group doing them regularly. In contrast, climbing awakes the child in me, and you can do indoors bouldering by yourself (assuming you have access to a suitable gym). I always badger friends into coming with me, since it’s even more fun doing it with others (you have something to focus on while you’re resting between problems), but I still have fun going by myself. (There are always much more advanced climbers around, and I find it awesome rather than discouraging to watch their moves, perhaps because it’s not a competition.)
In my case, after a few weeks I simply noticed that I was standing straighter without any conscious effort to do so.
Actualy, I think the main idea is not to pick a sport that’s specifically better than others for posture. Just try them all until you find one you like enough to do regularly.
My posture improved significantly after I started doing climbing (specifically, indoor bouldering). This is of course a single data point, but “it stands to reason” that it should work at least for those people who come to like it.
Physical activity in general should improve posture (see Nancy’s post), but as far as I can tell bouldering should be very effective at doing this:
First, because it requires you to perform a lot of varied movements in unusual equilibrium positions (basically, hanging and stretching at all sorts of angles), which few sports do (perhaps some kinds of yoga would also do that). At the beginning it’s mostly the fingers and fore-arms that will get tired, but after a few sessions (depending on your starting physical condition) you’ll start feeling tired in muscles you didn’t know you had.
Second (and, in my case, the most important) it’s really fun. I tried all sorts of activities, from just “going to the gym” to swiming and jogging (all of which would help if done regularly), but I just couldn’t keep motivated. With all of those I just get bored and my mind keeps focusing on how tired I am. Since I basically get only negative reinforcement, I stop going to those activities. Some team sports I could do, because the friendly competition and banter help me having fun, but it’s pretty much impossible to get a group doing them regularly. In contrast, climbing awakes the child in me, and you can do indoors bouldering by yourself (assuming you have access to a suitable gym). I always badger friends into coming with me, since it’s even more fun doing it with others (you have something to focus on while you’re resting between problems), but I still have fun going by myself. (There are always much more advanced climbers around, and I find it awesome rather than discouraging to watch their moves, perhaps because it’s not a competition.)
In my case, after a few weeks I simply noticed that I was standing straighter without any conscious effort to do so.
Actualy, I think the main idea is not to pick a sport that’s specifically better than others for posture. Just try them all until you find one you like enough to do regularly.