How to Get Better Posture With Abdominal Exercises
Good posture is not only more visually appealing, it is also essential for better health. Along with making you look sharper and trimmer, correct posture will also help you avoid backaches, neck aches, and slumping shoulders, all of which are caused when the weight is not distributed equally throughout your body. If you are not able to maintain correct posture, however, there are a variety of abdominal exercises you can perform, to straighten and strengthen your upper body and improve your posture.
Instructions
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Start by assessing your current posture – seat yourself in a chair as naturally as possible, and pay attention to the way you hold your shoulders, neck, head, and back. Notice how you carry yourself, so you can begin to work on the areas where you need improvement. Then, tighten your body up into the right posture, to note the difference – push your shoulders back, keeping them in a vertical line that aligns with your hips, tighten your abdominal muscles, and then pull your entire upper body up and back.
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Next, incorporate posture-improving abdominal exercises into your daily routine, and make them a regular habit, all the while keeping in mind the sort of posture you are aiming to attain. Crunches are a great abdominal exercise, and perhaps one of the most popular ones – however, they are not the only method you can use to correct your posture. To perform crunches, lay on the floor with your back straight, your knees bent, and your feet flat on the floor. Roll your head and shoulders up as much as you can, feeling your abdominal muscles tighten in the crunch, then lower your head and shoulders, maintaining control and tightness all the while. Do as many as you can, to strengthen your abs.
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In addition to crunches, try out a couple more exercises for abdominal strength. Practice workouts like Core Contractions (kneel on hands and knees, inhale, and as you exhale, draw your belly in and hold it for 10 seconds), the Cat (kneel on all fours, inhale, and as you exhale, draw in your belly, round your upper back, and concurrently tilt your pelvis – hold for 10-20 seconds), the Plank (get down on the floor in a pushup position, but rest your forearms and elbows on the floor – then, draw your belly in, without letting your back arch, and hold it for 10 seconds), and the Tripod (kneel on all fours, inhale, and as you exhale, lift up your left leg and right arm – hold for 10 seconds, then switch arms and legs, and repeat). All these exercises will help you develop upper body strength.
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Once you have built up a fair amount of abdominal strength, and learnt to control your muscles, practice the subtle flexing and tightening of these muscles in your everyday routine. Whenever you happen to be standing or sitting, and have a moment to yourself, tighten the muscles and try to maintain a firm abdomen. As you maintain control of the muscles, your upper body will straighten itself into the right posture. Hold it and try to keep your muscles tight and firm at all times (even when relaxing), until it becomes a habit. Meanwhile, keep exercising, to continue to develop your muscular strength.
