Four Easy Ways to Help You Improve Your Posture

Editor

Having great posture goes a longer way than simply staving off a slouch and making you look tired or unconfident: great posture is also about keeping your body, and more importantly, your spine, aligned correctly in order to minimize strain. With proper posture, you will not only experience far lesser pain in your neck, shoulders, and back, but you also help strengthen otherwise weaker muscles, and even improve your overall breathing.

Here are five easy ways that will help you improve your posture:

Lifting

Maintain a straight back when carrying a load. Ideally, you should be lifting items with your core engaged and your heat upright while your knees are bent and taking most of the weight. As you lift the object towards you, position your shoulders and bend only at the hips and knees.

Sleeping

Maintaining proper posture when sleeping is just as important when you’re awake. Whether you’re lying flat on your back or on your sides, keeping your spine straight is a great way to reduce back pain and guarantee more, and better, sleep. To do this, be sure to maintain your spine’s natural posture by keeping only one pillow and let your head rest on it, rather than your shoulders on your neck.

Standing

Slouching when you’re standing not only gives other people the impression that you’re unconfident, but also add more stress to both your feet and your spine. To avoid this, it’s important to keep in mind that standing properly involves positioning your pelvis and your spine to take that stress, rather than the spine and the feet. Aside from wearing flat shoes for better support, be sure to follow these steps in order to stand upright properly:

  • Keep your head upright and center (chin must be parallel to ground)
  • Pull back your shoulders gently
  • Draw in your stomach slightly
  • Unlock your knees
  • Keep your feet shoulder-width
  • Center your weight on your feet

Aside from appearing more confident, which is a definite plus wherever you go, standing straight also gives you the boost of energy that you need to get through the day.

Sitting

When you’re facing a computer screen all day, it can be difficult to maintain proper posture when it’s much easier to simply slouch. However, this has the cost of straining your back muscles and ligaments, as well as adding unnecessary pressure to your spine.

Aside from choosing the right chair that accommodates your height, it’s also important to keep your arms bent to ninety degrees and allow your back to rest on the chair’s lumbar support, which you can do by standing straight.

Additionally, be sure to prevent unneeded neck strain by making sure your computer screen is within eye level.

5 Fun Workout Ideas for Your Kids

Editor

Kids actually love to exercise. But thanks to the presence of computers and video games, today’s kids live a more sedentary lifestyle. This is the very reason why it’s more important than ever to get them moving whenever possible. From trampoline tricks to fun games, here are five fun workout ideas that’ll surely pull your young ones off the chair and get them moving.

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  1. Swimming. Most kids love playing in the water, so capitalize on their enjoyment by giving them a regular opportunity to exercise while swimming. Visit a nearby swimming pool once a week and have them take on physical challenges on water like shark in the water or scavenger hunt. With this, your kid will be able to enjoy the pool while performing a fun and impact-free workout.

 

  1. Team Sport. Not only will this allow your kids to be active, doing team sports will also help your child in developing their skills in the sport of their choice. It will also aid in improving their coordination, cardiovascular fitness and spatial awareness. Aside from that, your child will learn to overcome his or her shyness, while developing his own sense of resilience and self-concept.

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  1. Mountain Biking. Cycling is known to be an excellent cardiovascular exercise that can provide a great overall workout as well. Aside from that, mountain biking also provides a good opportunity to get the entire family off the couch. Once you’re done cycling, you can go explore the mountain trails and stop off for an afternoon picnic. With this workout, you’ll be able to burn calories while spending some quality time with your loved ones.

 

  1. Kid-Friendly Circuit. By keeping your routine short, mixing and throwing up adult-type movements, you’ll be able to provide your kids with some great cardio-resistant combo workout. Just select eight exercise moves that they can perform for a minute each without any rest, then have them complete two to three circuits of the movements.

 

  1. Gamefication. Take advantage of your child’s obsession with video games by slipping in some exercise-related gaming applications. One of the best apps to try is Fitocracy, as it allows your child to progress through different levels as they work their way through physical challenge adventures.

Motivating your child to exercise isn’t really that difficult. You just need to be creative in coming up with their workout routines, and encourage them to have a balanced computer and exercising time.

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Muscle-Building Tips for Women

Editor

The society here in Singapore is leaning towards fitness and health. This is a good thing for a nation that is so busy about economics and finances. The government is encouraging all to be fit and healthy by providing subsidies and access to activities that promote fitness and health. If you want join, you have to act immediately before it is too late.

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Strong is the new sexy here in Singapore. There are women here who are inspired to lead an active lifestyle. These women are particular about toning and muscles. If you want to be strong and be like other women with muscles, you can consider the following tips:

1. Hit the weights. Many women are not particular about weights because they do not see and understand its importance and benefits. If you know what shape you want, weights can help you sculpt your body. If you lift weights, your muscle’s density and mass will increase. Even if you leave the gym, the muscle will still retain.

2. Do not overwork on cardio. If you think that cardio can help your shape, you have to think twice. Cardio alone is not effective when building muscles. Cardio can only help you burn calories. It is an excellent cardio-vascular exercise which can keep your heart healthy. However, cardio cannot help you build or tone your muscle. Cardio is after all a “neurogenic training” which does not promote muscular density.

3. Think of reps. You need to contact and stress your muscles. With that, you should aim for repetitions. Aim for at least 6 or 12 repetitions and the movement should be challenging.

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4. Remember compound. You have to consider compound movements. Compound movements are heavy movements like deadlifts and squats. These movements can improve your core.

5. Fuel up. Your body needs to fuel up. Sometimes you underestimate it and simply neglect fuelling your body. You have to know that fuelling entails taking amino-acid during and after your workout.

6. Diet. Apart from taking amino-acids, you also have to watch out for your diet. You need to lessen processed foods and start preparing your food from fresh. This can make your muscles harder and firmer.

The tips mentioned above are only effective if you put your heart to it. It should come together to be effective. Remember that all things are possible. You will enjoy it if you are with your friends. You can build your muscles in your house by securing different items but if you want to be trained professionally, it is time to hit the gym. Good luck!

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