HOW TO IMPROVE THE MOST IMPORTANT EXERCISE OF YOUR LIFE

If I were to ask you what you think the most important exercise of your life was, what would you think of? Probably, ab exercises or may be cardio?

The answer is an exercise you do every single day. I wonder how much conscious thought you give to it. If you do this exercise well you will look better and feel better. If you don’t, it can lead to aches and pains, injuries and even deformity later in life.

It is your posture: How you sit stand and walk.

LOOK BETTER

Sitting, standing and walking with good posture makes you look better.

Think about a leader, a person of influence or even an athlete or dancer. They carry themselves with an air of grace and authority with a nice elongated, upright, extended posture.

Adjusting your posture will influence how people perceive you.

Good posture can take an inch of your waistline.

To sit, stand and walk well you need to consider recruiting your abdominals by lightly draw in the belly button. This will help support the spine for good posture and narrow your waistline by a centimetre or two!

FEEL BETTER

Consider an athlete who has just won gold, punching the air in jubilation. Their posture is fully elongated and upright expressing energy, vitality and joy!

Now consider a sullen child deprived of a toy. Observe the shoulders rounded forward, head forward with chin to chest. The body heading towards a deflated fetal position expressing sorrow, low energy and enthusiasm.

How we carry ourselves effects how we feel.

If you want to feel better, walk sit, stand and walk like a winner with nice elongated posture.

AVOID ACHES AND PAINS

Working sedentary office jobs many people complain of aching, sore muscles. One way to reduce soreness is to have better posture. Muscles will ache if they are forced to over work being in poor physiological positions for extended periods of time. Good posture provides the optimal position for our skeletal system and muscles. Good posture also optimises physiological processes like blood flow, digestion and breathing. Imagine being hunched over all day and how this is lightly crushing your guts and lungs effecting digestion and breathing.

Good posture will optimise blood flow, breathing and digestion contributing to you feeling better.

GOOD POSTURE

Key things to be aware for good posture are:

ears, shoulders and hips aligned
head elongated and chin slightly tucked in
shoulder blades gently pulling back to open the chest
hips, knees and ankles aligned
abdominals recruiting by lightly drawing in the belly button
a natural curve in your lower back
feet hip width apart
Basically your joints should be aligned. Avoid rotating the body or hips, Watch for ‘forward head’ where the head is forward of the shoulders. This will put a huge strain on your neck and upper back as your head weighs unto 4kg!

Check your thumb position

When standing observe where your hands sit. Are your hands flat to your side or are they rotated in towards your body? In normal healthy standing your thumbs should point forward (not rotated in like a gorilla!).

HOW TO MANAGE YOUR POSTURE

There are two things you can do to mange and improve your posture, both are the subject for another article, for now at least be aware of them:

1, good abdominal strength

2, stretching

During your day consider getting up and stretching up and giving your body and light twist fro side to side. This is a great way to re-adjust your posture, improve blood flow and help to prevent aches and pains.

A twist a day keeps the chiro away

At the end of your day I recommend doing a lying twist stretch to release tension in your lower back. To do this lay on your back and slowly and gently fold your knee over to the side, keeping your shoulders flat on the ground. Hugging both knees into the chest is also a great lower back stretch.

So if you want look and feel your best become more conscious of better posture and sit, stand and walk tall.