When your back muscles and abdominal muscles (your ‘core’) are not strong enough to hold you up, you end up with forward head posture–collapsed posture.  That creates the posture of  ‘old age.’

You see, a lot of the problems of old age are caused by losing the fight to gravity.  Gravity wins.  Boo!

Bodies like to have long, strong muscles.  Not short, tight–long, strong is what they like.

Here are a couple of easy ways to strengthen your core muscles in a way that will help them be long and strong:

1.  Lay on your back.  Place your arms up and back so you feel long.  Now squeeze your belly button to your spine and hold the squeeze.

You can do this same movement while sitting on a flat chair and squeezing your belly button to your spine while reaching for the ceiling.

2.  During the work day, sit up in a chair.  Lift the crown of your head toward the ceiling.  Feel how that lengthened your whole sitting posture?  Again, hold in your stomach muscles.

You can do these movements 4 or 5 times each day.  As your muscles get stronger, it will get easier and you can do them even more often.

It may feel a little strange at first but soon you notice your body saying:  “Hey, that feels good!  Let’s do it again!”

It’s really is that easy to get strong abdominal muscles and feel better all over.

Just squeeze your shoulder blades together.  S Q U E E Z E  them to your spine and hold them there for a few seconds.  Repeat 3 times.

Do this only 3 times a day for the first few days or your muscles will ache from overwork.  You have to adapt to new movements gradually.  After a few days, you can start increasing the amount of shoulder blade squeezes by a couple a day.

You can do this when you are sitting, standing or laying in bed on your back.  Or all three ways! 

Please watch the positioning of your head when you do this move.  The reason I like doing this on a flat surface is because your head is in a fairly neutral muscular position.

When you are standing or sitting, some people want to move their head forward.  That strains neck and upper back muscles.

Squeezing your shoulder blades toward your spine will strengthen all of the muscles in that area of your back and will help improve your posture and your comfort, too.

And, if you suffer with muscle knots in your upper back, I’d like to invite you to go to http://KnotsInYourBack.com and pick up a free report about the causes of those miserable knots.

By letting the shoe do the motion rather than the joints in your feet, you are not using your foot and leg muscles fully.

Here’s an article about this very thing from my friend, Dr. Brian Rothbart.

click here –>  The Truth About Rocker Shoes

You DO want strong legs.  They will help with balance and they will help keep you young.

You can easily strengthen the fronts of your lower legs simply by lifting your toes or your feet toward the front of your knee.

Your calf muscles, though, should be long and soft rather than short and tight.  They tend to need stretching and lifting your toes (as described in the previous paragraph) will stretch your calves at the same time.

So, what’s the answer to rocker shoes?  Just say,  “No thanks.  I’ll use my own muscles.”

I learned this from a physical therapist.  The easiest way to strengthen your abdominals is not to do crunches or sit ups.

I don’t like crunches or sit ups for a few different reasons and sometimes they can actually cause back pain.

The easiest way is to simply pull in your stomach!

And did you know that you can pull in the lower abdominals or the upper abdominals?  Or all of your stomach muscles?

And if you pay attention, you can even contract the muscles that run on the sides of your belly.

You see, you have layers of muscle that run lengthwise, sideways and also cross-ways on your abdomen.

If you have forgotten how to pull or suck in your belly, the easiest way to remember is to lay on your back.  That way gravity can help a bit.  And then just “pull” or move your tummy toward your spine.

You might even feel the muscles getting tired from this simple movement.  That’s okay.

Muscles like to move!   That’s their job.

And since you want muscles that are both long and strong, while you are holding in your stomach muscles, stretch.  Lift your arms over your head or lift your breastbone.

This will help make your abdominal muscles long and strong.  Long, strong stomach muscles will help you look better and feel better, too.

This video will show you two simple movements that you can do to help re-balance your shoulder muscles.

Do these movements thoughtfully.  Take your time.  Try to make your circles perfectly.  Feel what is happening as you do these moves.

And pay attention to your arm, too.  These movements are like having a massage for your arms and shoulder muscles.

A body that is strong and balanced has much less pain and functions better.

I get letters and emails from people all over the world who took action when they started to understand how their bodies work.  They started to understand that maybe they could become pain-free naturally.  The key is:  They took action.

They took steps to feel better rather than relying on their doctor to do “the push-ups” for them.  (You can’t hire someone to do your push-ups.)

Here’s a letter from Garry Allen.  Garry “got it” when he read some of my articles.  He understood.  He wrote previously to tell me he had found a massage therapist who helped a tremendous amount and had relieved a lot of his symptoms of muscle pain.

“G’Day Kathy,

While I have a moment I thought it would be courteous to let you know my health is continuing to improve.

I have taken the opportunity to receive some personal instruction from a qualified “gym master” whom I feel confident in to develop my back, neck and stomach muscles in a controlled manner.

While I have had only 3 one hour sessions so far, I most definitely feel not only stronger but more relief from the years of pain and sleepless nights.

The thing is, YOU are the one who empowered me to believe there is a real possibility to feel better and give the simple encouragement to “have a go”.  I believe most people will exert themselves to improve at most things if given that right encouragement.

You are a fine, gentle lady and should be commended for your unselfish work.  I sincerely do commend you.

Cheers,

Garry Allen”
(AllenSigns.com.au)

Now here’s the thing:  Garry gave me credit but I am not the one who took action.  He did!  Therefore, he should get the credit.  All I did is provide information, same as I’m doing for you.

You have two choices:  Take action.  Don’t take action.

Or, I could put it another way:  Get better.  Don’t get better.

That may sound a bit harsh, but the truth is you really can’t hire someone to do your push-ups.  And not that I think you should be doing push-ups, either; that’s just a saying.

By the way, Garry took steps in the correct sequence.

• First, he got rid of the tightness in his muscles by going to a skilled muscle or massage therapist who understood how bodies work.
• Second, he began his strengthening program.

You can get muscle pain relief, too, and you can start with a simple strengthening program right here.

Let’s think about this for a moment.  When you were little, you were running, sliding, hopping, jumping, climbing.  You were skipping, swinging, squirming, wiggling, jiggling.  Hula-hooping and jump-roping.  You were up and down, up and down.

You even used the muscles in your face.  And when you cried, you cried with your whole body.  If you were like most healthy children, you were moving all the time.  Unless you were asleep.

You used ALL of your 600+ muscles every day!

And, now?  Or, like most of us, do you use only the same 60 or so muscles, just the bare minimum to get through the day?

You might be able to lift and carry that little child, so you think you’re stronger.  But, the reality is, that little child is strong ALL OVER while some of your muscles are strong and some are weak.  Some are used too much, some not enough.

If you were as strong as that little child you used to be, you wouldn’t have that achy back and neck or those headaches.  Your posture wouldn’t be collapsing forward.  You’d feel really good!

Well, good news!

You can feel a lot better than you do now.  All you have to do is make a few changes, do some things differently, and start using more of your muscles again.  Like you did.  Remember?  When you were little?

Right here at SimpleStrengthening.com you can discover simple, easy ways to start getting strong again and use of all of your muscles again.  You can get a strong back.  You can relearn how to hold your head over your body.  You can become as strong as you were when you were that little active kid.

There’s no time like the present!  You’re gonna start feeling better and feeling stronger.

A mini-trampoline is also called a “rebounder” because you rebound when you jump on it:  It bounces you around.

They start at about $30 and go way up from there, but the $30 model seems sufficient to me.  If you feel real unsteady on your feet and think you would do better with a handle (hand rail), some come with a handle!

Once you get it set up (it has legs about 6″ long) just leave it up.  If you have to move it out of the way, you could push it under your bed or lean it up against a wall.

Kids think trampolines are fun and hey!  Why should they have all the fun?

So, once you have your mini-trampoline, what do you do with it?

First, get on it gingerly.  It’s going to feel strange beneath your feet and you’re going to do a little wobbling.  Get the feel of it.  Just feel it.

You can “jump” with bare feet or with tennis or athletic shoes.  Socks might cause slipping.  Bare-feet and shoes-feet don’t feel the same on the tramp.  You might feel more steady with your shoes on.

After you start to get the hang of it, try bare feet sometimes and shoes sometimes.  That way, you use different muscles.

It’s not necessary for your feet to ever leave the security of the trampoline.  You don’t have to jump into the air with space between your feet and the tramp.  All you have to do is…bounce.  Press down a little and let the rebounder move you up a little.  That’s called ‘contact bouncing.’  Down a little, up a little.  Try to get a little rhythm going.

If you need to hold onto a doorway, wall or chair for a while while “bouncing” or getting on and off, do it.   Safety first!

The simple act of moving slightly up and down will help your leg muscles grow stronger and improve your balance.  You can try marching in place, lifting your knees.  Try pressing in more with your heels or toes.  Whatever movement you make, it will be pretty gentle on your joints.

Rebounding is also a good way to get your lymph fluids moving.  That helps cleanse your system, so it’s a good thing.

You can do it for a minute or 5 minutes.  Start out slow and work up to 5 minutes.  If you’re having lots of fun, do it more.  Do it several times a day.  Play at your own speed.

When you first get on the mini-trampoline, and you’re feeling it and positioning yourself, this is what I’d like you to do:  Lift your breastbone.  That will put your head more over your shoulders where it should be (rather than in front of your body.)   Lifting your chest will help you stand straighter and let you move your arms in a comfortable, neutral position.

Your arms should get in on the fun, too.  Swing them at your sides with your elbows bent, just as if you were walking.  Your mini-trampoline will probably come with directions for movements, but all you have to do is little bouncy movements and you will start to have stronger legs and better balance.

Tai Chi is a movement program which is done standing up.  It uses all of the muscles in your lower body and legs (your leg muscles attach to your spine.)  The movements are slow and continuous.  You lean and sway and balance in a variety of positions.

All of this leaning and swaying causes you to use more of your muscles than you usually do.  When you were a small child, you used all of your muscles.  But, then you grew up.  And, now?  Most of us use only the same 60 or so (out of 600!) muscles everyday.  Only 10%.  Not so good.

But, Tai Chi causes you to use most of those lower body muscles again.

During the movement, your arms and upper body are also involved.  While your legs are doing one thing, your arms do another as part of the whole movement.  Your whole body becomes involved.  That creates whole body balance and strength.

Tai Chi is different from yoga.  Yoga does a lot of stretching and full range-of-movement and also uses floor and seated positions besides standing.  Yoga involves more of your body.

Tai Chi builds lower body strength as well as balance.  That’s why it’s so beneficial for older folks and those who have lost strength or are wobbly on their feet.

My only wish is that people would start practicing Tai Chi before they need it.  That would prevent a lot of “old age” complaints.  Old age complaints tend to be caused by poor or collapsing posture.

Yoga, and the movements here at Simple Strengthening, will help you correct your posture.  Tai Chi will help you keep or regain your balance and lower body strength.  That will help you prevent injuries from falling, make it easier to get up from chairs, and stay younger longer.

If you watch yoga instructors very carefully, you may notice that some of them aren’t exactly symmetrical.  The reason they started doing yoga movements was because they had pain from their asymmetry.  (That means their body wasn’t balanced from side to side; one side was shorter than the other.  There are many reasons for this.)

When they were successful in reducing their own pain symptoms, some went on to become yoga instructors.  They continue to practice so they continue to feel well.  They are now also able to help others become pain-free.

The part of yoga that contains the movements is called Hatha Yoga.

The reason yoga helps is because you use ALL of your muscles and ALL of your body. We have 600+ muscles.

But, most of use only the same 60 or so muscles every day.  When we were children, we used ALL of our muscles.  We ran, jumped, climbed, crawled, slid, hopped.  And, now?

Well, you can see the problem.  We need to use ALL of our body in order to function and feel our best.

You can take a class in yoga.  The advantage of that is the support of your instructor.  He or she will guide you in doing the movements correctly.

Yoga videos are available at stores and libraries as well as online.  The advantage of a video is that you can do it in the comfort of your own home.  That may help you to practice more regularly.

Yoga can be adapted for everyone.  If you cannot do certain movements, then don’t.  Do the ones that you can do, and over time, you will become stronger and more flexible and will be able to do more and more.

Here’s a tip for “doing” the movements you can’t do yet.  Do them in your mind.  Pretend you can do them.  “See” yourself doing them when you close your eyes.  That will help your body understand what it will do when you are finally ready for that movement.

And, when you practice a yoga movement in your mind, always do it perfectly.  That’s what the best athletes do and if it works for them, it’ll work for you, too!