You never get a second chance to make a first impression – who hasn’t experienced this? Just one look in the mirror shows how self-confident we feel or how self-confident our muscles allow us to be based on our posture. Despite a good mindset, sometimes we can’t present ourselves as confident, upright and strong as we would like. The reason for this is atrophied muscles and a sore back. But an upright posture can be trained. This article shows you how.
Use the workplace as a workout
Many people work in an office and have a sedentary job. This contributes to back pain and atrophy of the muscles and shortening of the tendons. Switching to a standing desk can be the first step towards a better, pain-free and upright posture.
The standing position maintains the natural curve of the spine and strengthens the back muscles. Alternating between standing and sitting keeps the body active and prevents typical postural damage. The position also automatically relieves the strain on our neck, moves the shoulders back and gently stretches the neck. In this way, we also train the muscles in the neck and lower face area for a more toned look.
Conscious standing and walking
We take one step in front of the other quite unconsciously, it’s an automatic process. However, we often make huge mistakes due to bad habits, which can also affect our posture. If the weight is incorrectly distributed on the feet and not balanced, this can cause damage to the hips. It is therefore important to take your steps consciously and with as much balance as possible. It can be a little difficult at first and almost as if we are learning to walk all over again. However, automatism soon set in here too – this time the correct and “healthy” ones. The right shoulder posture is also part of balanced walking and standing. The following applies here: pull your shoulders down and back in a relaxed manner to promote an open chest posture. The head is directed upwards.
Train the core muscles
Training the abdominal region and the temporal muscles is still an ideal of beauty for many people. However, the core muscles have significantly more tasks. They ensure that we can move upright and gracefully. If they are not sufficiently strengthened, we cannot coordinate our upper and lower body well, as the core muscles act as a link.
Yoga and Pilates are good ways to strengthen the muscles in the center of the body. Targeted exercises also help to strengthen the back muscles. If you like, you can incorporate about 10 minutes of exercise in the morning and evening and then slowly increase the intensity. It is important to perform the exercises in such a way that they have a beneficial effect and do not cause (severe) pain.
Tip: The center of the body can also be trained at the workplace. If you use a standing desk, you can support yourself with the palms of your hands and gently rotate the center of your body. This relaxes the center muscle area and trains it at the same time.
