posture
’ Straighten Your Posture Through ExerciseSaturday, May 8th, 2010
Your posture has a dramatic impact on your quality of life. Everyone remembers being told to “sit up straight” in school. That was good advice. Bad posture can lead to chronic neck and lower-back pain. These problems can snowball into serious ailments that restrict quality of life.
To prevent this from happening, it is a good idea to straighten your posture through exercise. The muscles of the stomach and back control your posture. Exercising and strengthening these muscles makes it easier to sit or stand-up straight.
To strengthen the lower-back muscles, lie on your stomach and lift your head, arms and legs off of the ground. You’ll look like your flying, that’s why this exercise is called the Superman. It strengthens the tube-shaped muscles along your lower-back that keep your spine from drooping forward.
Well-developed upper-back muscles prevent the shoulders and upper body from hunching over. Strengthen these muscles with chin-ups. Find a bar that is one or two feet over your head. Grab it and pull yourself up until your chin is over the bar. Repeat as many times as you can.
Exercise your stomach muscles with the plank. To do a plank, lay on the ground like you did for the superman. Now raise yourself up so your weight is on your forearms and toes and your body is in a straight line. Keep your head up and your abdominal muscles tight. The straighter your body is the more you’re exercising the stomach muscles and straightening your posture.
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