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Posts Tagged ‘stretching’

Many short adults who are seeking to increase their height have questions whether it is possible to gain any height even after puberty. But rest assured it is possible! Because even if most of your bones are fused, a large portion like the spinal column is not.

The vertebral column accounts for 35 percent of your height. It is made of 33 bones (vertebrae) out of which 24 are separate. 9 of the lowermost vertebrae are fused into two fixed bones. The 33 movable ones can be stretched out through exercise because the shock-absorbing material between them, the inter-vertebral discs, is expandable.

Explained here are 4 such stretching exercises that lengthen the spine and take it through its entire range of motion so that circulation and fluid content of the inter-vertebral discs increase, making you grow taller after puberty.

Cats Cow on Chair: Sit straight on a chair with feet flat on the floor. Tighten your buttocks and hold your knees tightly with your hands. Breathe in slowly, filling your chest and raising it up. Breathe out slowly, pulling in your belly button and rounding your back. Repeat several times.

Spinal Twist on Chair: Sit straight on a chair with feet flat on the floor. Place the left ankle on the right knee. Let your hands hang by the sides. Breathe in and stretch your upper trunk over the left ankle. Take 10 deep breaths. Relax with each breath. Repeat with change in leg positions.

Lower Back Stretch on Chair: Sit straight on a chair with feet flat on the floor. Interlock your hands behind your lower back. Squeeze hands together, bend forward at the waist parallel to the floor and stretch. Raise your interlocked hands straight above your back. Take 10 long breaths. Relax.

Shoulder Release on Chair: Sit straight on a chair with feet flat on the floor and arms resting on your thighs. Breathe in slowly and roll your shoulders up to the earlobes. Breathe out slowly and roll them down. Feel the stretch in your spine. Do 5 full circles. So these were four excellent stretching exercises on how to increase height.

If you perform these stretches daily and take care of other requirements for height gain like one intense aerobic session a day and good sleep at night, you can hope for quick increase in height.

To find out more on how to grow taller naturally even after puberty, check out Rodney Williams’ excellent articles on gaining height on the above mentioned links.

If you have ever had a serious backache, you can appreciate just how vital your back is – even for activities you think don’t entail the back. For example, squeezing a tennis ball utilizes more muscles than the ones in your hand; the latissimus dorsi and other back muscles are also employed during this movement.

The latissimus dorsi, or “lats”, are the large muscles down your sides – in men these produce the “triangle shape” when well defined. As an example, squeeze a tennis ball – do you feel it? You will feel a tensing of these muscles on the same side of your body as the arm used to squeeze the ball. And if you have back pain, you won’t miss this!

Any sport will require strong back muscles, for speed and coordination, for balance and movement and for providing a strong ‘pillar’ for all the limbs to move off of.

Here are some simple exercises to help stretch and strengthen those all-important back muscles. Most of them are better performed on a firm, but not hard surface. While you work the muscles, you don’t want to cause undue, painful pressure on bony parts of the body.

Knee to Chest: While lying on your back, clasp both hands behind one thigh. Pull your thigh towards your chest slowly while ensuring that you keep your other leg flat. Flex your ankle as you do this – alternate between pointing your toe and pulling it back towards your knee while stretching your leg. Hold each position for about five seconds, switch legs and do it over again. Repeat 10 times.

Rotations: Do this one while lying back with your feet flat on the floor, knees together and raised. Extend your arms but keep them close to your body and keep your palms flat on the floor as well. Lift your feet just slightly off the ground and by moving your knee, rotate your torso. Move your knees a little to the left, then right. Alternate the exercise by crossing your arms over your chest, then repeat.

As you continue to practice this exercise, you will build flexibility and develop a wider range of motion. Eventually, you’ll be able to touch your knee to the floor.

Pelvic Press: Lie down on your back, knees raised and feet flat on the floor. Push the small of the back into the floor, feel the tension in the lower abdominals. Vary the action by moving your feet together and performing the exercise, then slightly apart and repeat. As you press into the ground, hold for 5 seconds, but continue to breath slowly and normally.

Pelvic Lift: Lie on your back, knees raised and feet flat on the ground, arms crossed over your chest. Keeping the legs and knees together, raise the buttocks up slightly and hold for 5 seconds. Lower slowly, count to two, then repeat. Remember to breathe normally through the exercise, in and out slowly.

Dog Stretches: Starting position for this exercise is on all fours with your head raised – look forward to achieve proper posture for this exercise. As you lower your arms, arch your back and hold this position for two seconds before returning to your starting position. Extend one leg, parallel to the floor (or as close to parallel as possible). Hold this position for three seconds, then return to starting position again. This exercise can cause hip, leg or back pain in some – if it does this for you, stop this exercise immediately.

Repeat this exercise with the other leg. You can mix it up by extending your leg with toe pointed, then flex your ankle in a perpendicular direction to the leg; hold this position for two seconds, then repeat. You should do ten reps of this exercise for each leg.

Another option for improving the flexibility in your back muscles is to use a piece of equipment known as a back stretcher. There are various styles of this back stretching equipment that make it easy and safe for you to stretch your spinal muscles.

If you feel any pain while doing these exercises, stop immediately. While some mild discomfort is normal, pain is not, and you should talk to your doctor if this occurs.