Can poor posture restrict your breathing during exercise?

Can poor posture restrict your breathing during exercise?
At the gym I notice feelings of a tight chest. This is not a "my heart hurts" issue. My ribcage feels constricted, and it can be difficult to take a full breath. When I take a full breath, it feels like my lungs are pressing against the chest cavity. It's not a sharp pain, more of a dull ache.

And this is not after a grueling workout, either. The situation today happened prior to the workout, while I was doing stretches.

I had thought it might be because I work at a desk, on a computer. You tend to hunch over. So when I'm working out I need to focus on pulling my shoulders back. Could it be that my body is just not used to breathing with good posture?

Great observations. I would say that you are probably right, at least in your own case. Proper posture will probably not only help you with your breathing, but, will subconsciously work out muscles that wouldn't be normally worked out with bad posture.

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