Perfecting Your Posture

The foundation to building a healthy body is posture. Without the correct posture you are not only limiting your progress in the gym, but you are also putting yourself at risk of injury. Bad posture progresses from daily living and may often require some conscious effort to get it back in line.

A good posture should be one where the body is straight but not stiff and unnatural. Obtaining a good posture means obtaining a good musculoskeletal balance. To perfect yours take a photograph of yourself standing sideways. Now, draw a line from your ears right down to your feet using a ruler. If your ears, shoulders, hips, knees and ankles all align in one straight line then your are in the clear and your posture is perfect. If not, here are three great tips to help you balance, strengthen and perfect yours:

• Exercise your core — the core being your lower back and abdominal muscles. Simple exercises such as abdominal floor crunches, hyperextensions, as well as many pilates and yoga postures help to strengthen the core.
  
• Avoid wearing high heels as much as possible. Although they look great and give your calves a sexy shape, wearing high heels too often can result in an unbalanced posture.
  
• Don't slouch. When you are sitting at your desk at work or even at home, try to keep your body in alignment. Sit up straight and consciously align your ears, shoulders and the hips. Picture an imaginary vertical line running down the body to help you make the adjustment.

Perfecting your posture takes conscious effort,
but the results are all worth it.

Author: Dimi Ingle
Copyright: Remedium. This article may not be copied, in whole or in part, without the written consent of Remedium.