Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Suck it in


Our stomach muscles are composed of the internal obliques, external obliques, rectus abdominis and the transverse abdominis.

Their main job is controlling the 'hinge' between our legs and our upper body and protecting the various organs that exist behind them.

Western society has become obsessed with possessing a flat stomach. However, a much more important thing is to have strong, controllable stomach muscles. Our lower back relies on our stomach for support, and a lot of back problems are a result of poor posture caused by weak stomach muscles.

A simple exercise that will strengthen your stomach muscles and improve your posture, is to breathe out, then 'suck in' your stomach towards your backbone. Hold this posture for a few seconds, then gently relax. Repeat this as many times as you can before getting dizzy!

This exercise can be performed when sitting, standing or walking. The male of the species performs it instinctively upon sighting a human they find sexually attractive.
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