A failure to support the neck can make you end up with not only a stiff and sore neck but for some it can lead to headaches. The strap muscles, located in the back of the neck, are meant to support your head and shoulders. When these long straps become tight, they create tension in the neck and upper shoulders and this can then cause a tension headache. Not supporting your neck during sleep can cause you not to sleep very deeply too. Perhaps you cannot get comfortable or you are restless, sometimes with a feeling that you are falling over. When we do not get REM or deep sleep during the night, we are not as healthy or productive during the day.

A neck support pillow will help keep your natural posture aligned.

Getting regular headaches will slow you down too and it is not healthy. It is always easier to prevent a headache than to get ride of one after the fact. Using a good neck support pillow in the right way can give you the added support that you need.  Do not bunch up the pillow and make it too hard. Instead let the natural fold, of the pillow cradle your neck. A Memory foam neck pillow is very accommodating. They give you support and just the right amount of give at the same time.

A memory foam neck pillow is very comfortable because it molds to the shape of your neck and head.

Modern science has come along way since memory foam was invented in the 1970’s by NASA. Tempurpedic neck pillows are one of the most popular brands of memory foam neck support pillows. They also carry other pillows for regular nighttime use and for therapeutic use. If you visit their site, they will send you a sample of their pillow materials. When you put pressure on this martial and then release it slowly, it goes back to the exact shape it originally was, just as your head does laying on it. The idea is to support the head, neck and shoulders but not to sink in and lose the body’s natural alignment.

Their pillows are not terribly expensive but some companies can be. However, if you think of all the down time you would potentially have from missed workdays and money you could lose from making mistakes, then you are better off thinking ahead. A small investment now could save you time, money and pain in the future.

A travel neck pillow can make a long car or plane ride much more bearable.

When planning a vacation you can get an inflatable neck pillow to take with you. Use it at the hotel and on the plane or car ride there. Normally a long plane ride could irritate your already sore neck but plane pillows just do not cut it. Travel neck pillows come in all shapes and sizes, are usually pretty small, and will fit into your carry on luggage.

If a previous injury is causing you neck pain then a neck pillow especially made for neck pain is what you should be searching for. During the healing process, the neck muscles can be over stained or even torn. Even with a neck brace, you still need to be sleeping on a pillow with adequate support. This is a time to let your neck rest and recover. You should get plenty of sleep to hasten the healing time as well.

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For those of you that have never stepped into a gym, people who are bodybuilding typically have a day of the week for each muscle group (i.e. – day 1 is legs, day 2 is chest, day 3 is biceps and shoulders, day 4 is a rest day, etc.).  Well the posture day at the gym is pretty much the same as the back day.  This is why people who are bodybuilders generally have great posture – if you are exercising your back regularly, you are working on the muscles that maintain your posture.

The back isn’t made up of one large muscle, it is made up of several smaller muscles that all work in different ways.  However, an easy rule of thumb to remember is if an exercise involves pulling with your arms, then it is a back workout.  Likewise, if you are pushing with your arms then you are using your chest muscles.  Also generally speaking, back exercises tend to use biceps as a secondary muscle, and chest exercises tend to use triceps as a secondary muscle.  In order to have a good, solid back workout you need to make sure to do both upper back exercises and lower back exercises.  There are A LOT of varying back exercises, but if you want to make sure to hit all areas of your back, a good solid routine should include some version of all these exercises:  the lat pull down or pull up, the seated row, shoulder shrugs, and the back extension.  If you do some version of those four workouts once per week, your posture should start to improve automatically, and if you are suffering from regular back pain caused by poor posture, these exercises will certainly help with that.  Please look at the posts on this website that describe each exercise listed in greater detail.  If it is your first time going to the gym or performing these exercises, it would also be wise to bring a friend who knows what he is doing or have a personal trainer show you proper technique and teach you some bodybuilding tips.

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Weight loss is about 100 times easier than anyone seems to think.  There is one factor and one factor only when it comes to weight loss: calorie intake.  That is it and nothing else matters.  If you are taking in less calories in a day than your body is using up in a day, you will lose weight.  From a mathematical standpoint, that is the only thing that could happen.

When you workout, you use up more calories, but if you are eating more than you are working off, then you will still gain weight.  So obviously exercising helps, but it certainly doesn’t mean you can eat whatever you want whenever you want (as a lot of people tend to think).  You can exercise any way you want.  Read best exercises to lose weight for more ideas.  Running on electric treadmills is a great way to get a good cardio workout at your own home.

Now that we’ve gotten that straightened out, we can go over a few more details.  The most obvious question is ‘if calorie intake is all that matters, why can’t I just eat hamburgers all day and just make sure I take in less calories?”  Its actually a pretty fair question, and technically, if you you eat less calories with hamburgers in a day than you do with broccoli, you will lose more weight.  However, there are two things to think about here:

1) Hamburgers have way more calories than broccoli, so you would have to eat a TON of broccoli to match the hamburger.

2) You still aren’t considering nutritional value.  Sure weight and health are related, but not 100%.  A skinny person is not always healthy; their diet could still be poor and they could end up having a lot of health problems.  Just because you can lose weight by eating one hamburger a day instead of three meals of healthy food a day doesn’t mean you want to.  When you start getting older your poor dieting habits will catch up with you.

Seriously, if you read the above and truly digest it, you should have no problems at all getting your body fit and maintaining a healthy life style.  Always eat healthy foods (you know what they are), and eat a little less overall if you are trying to lose weight.  That’s it!

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Our first topic provides great information for these coming winter months…information on the Homeopathic Flu Vaccine.  Be sure to read up before getting your vaccine.

The next topic is relevant reading material for women who have just given birth.  After a grueling nine months of pregnancy, you are now ready for post natal recovery.

Another health topic on a lot of people’s minds is hair restoration and replacement.  If you are considering hair implant surgery, be sure to read up on the facts first.

I am a particularly big fan of this site because it talks about ball room dancing, which of course really stresses maintaining great posture throughout the dance.  Be sure to check out Ballroom Dancing for Beginners.

The last topic on today’s health blog carnival is sleep apnea treatments.  Sometimes snoring can be a more dangerous condition than it seems, so if you snore, or know someone who does, you can find some very useful information in that article.

Hope you guys learn some good stuff from those articles!  Remember to take care of your bodies and take care of your backs.  Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

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1.    Never break form; if you can’t do any more repetitions, just stop.  People breaking form to get more repetitions is the number one reason people get injured.  Not only that, when you do an exercise with improper form, it is no longer effective.  You are only cheating yourself.  Do the full range of the exercise in correct form to ensure you get the most from your workout.  This is the most important bodybuilding tip of all of them.

2.    As a general rule, whenever you are doing an exercise, try to keep correct posture.  With these exercises, it is extra important, since these exercises are the ones focused on developing correct posture.  Make sure the rest of your body is in a comfortable position as well (feet flat on the floor, chair at a comfortable height, etc.)

3.    When exerting yourself, breath out.  When preparing for the next repetition, breath in.

4.    Don’t rush through the exercises or try to get through them quickly.  Do them at a controlled pace, focusing on correct form.

5.    The ideal amount of repetitions are between 12 and 15, three sets total.  It is especially important that you aren’t trying for more weight than you can handle.  Your primary focus should be on keeping correct form, and after a while you will develop muscle memory, and it will become more automatic.  Once you become comfortable with the exercises and have developed good muscle memory (at least two months), you will start to get a good feel for what weight level is good for you, and whether you should start going for more weight.

6.    This tip is hard to explain, but once you are at the gym and start lifting, you’ll understand what I am saying.  A lot of back exercises use your arms as a secondary muscle (specifically, your biceps).  The goal is to get the focus on the back muscles, so when you do these exercises, try to pretend your arms are an extension of your back.  In other words, flex and focus on your back, while pretending your arms are merely levers to get the job done.  This is one of the main mistakes a lot of beginners make, and they end up working out their arms more than their back (although you will develop some nice biceps!).

7.     Always do the same number of repetitions on each side of your body.  If you do six bicep curls with one arm, only do six bicep curls with the other (even if you can do more).  Most people have a side of their body that is stronger than the other, and if you always work out both sides of your body unevenly, they will never even out and you will start to look funny over time!  A good trick to do this is to always start with your weaker side, since the other side will always be able to match the number of repetitions.

8.    Last but not least of my bodybuilder tips, do a warm-up!  Nothing makes less sense than starting to lift weights out of the blue.  Do some jumping jacks, run on the treadmill, do some shadow boxing, or other warm-up exercises for at least 10 minutes.  Some people are very big on stretching, but there is a lot of controversy over how effective stretching really is, and some even believe it does more harm than good.  I’m not going to recommend one over the other (and personally I never stretch), but I will say ALWAYS WARM UP!!!

Those are all my tips on bodybuilding.  Keep them in mind when you are doing your posture exercises, and you will be well on your way to correct posture and no more back pain!  These tips will help you with any goal you may have, whether you are doing exercises to lose weight or to gain muscle mass.

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For the lat pull down:

1.    Grab the bar in an overhand grip at slightly wider than shoulder length.

2.    Grab the lat pull down bar (the long one that curves down at the ends) while maintaining your back straight, and bring it down to your chin.  During this motion you should be breathing out.

3.    Go back to your original position (although don’t fully extend your arms, just go until they are slightly bent).  During this motion you should be breathing in.

Step 1:

Step 2:

•    Side note for the lat pull down:  Some people believe it is more effective to put the bar behind your head.  I don’t like it because it forces you to bend your head and affects your posture during the exercise.  I also find it straining on the neck and uncomfortable.

•    Other side note for the lat pull down:  A good mental trick is to push your chest out to touch the bar.  This reminds you to focus on trying to pull your shoulder blades together in the back.

For the pull up workout:

1.    Grab the bar in an overhead grip at slightly wider than shoulder length.

2.    Pull yourself up until your chin goes slightly over the bar.  During this motion you should be breathing out.

3.    Go back to your original position (although don’t fully extend your arms, just go until they are slightly bent).  During this position you should be breathing in.

•    Side note for the pull up:  Once you are doing three sets of 15 comfortably, you can add extra weight by either holding a dumbbell between your feet or wearing a dip belt.

•    Side note for the pull up:  You can also do pull ups at the assisted pull up machine.  Assisted pulls ups are just like regular pull ups, but you can put your feet (or knees sometimes) on the bottom of the machine on a counterweight, so you are still performing a pull up, only you weigh less and so its easier.  If you start with these, you eventually want to transition to regular pull ups, and even pull ups with the weight belt.  Remember: slow and steady wins the race!

•    Side note for both exercises:  There are a variety of grips that can be used for both exercises (i.e. – overhand/underhand, wider/closer together).  If you want to do some pull up variations, they all have slightly different muscles they work.  Its always a good idea to switch up your workouts a little bit; don’t fall into a mindless routine.

•    Side note for both exercises:  Both of these exercises are primarily back exercises, but they use the biceps as a secondary muscle.  When using the underhand grip, your biceps are worked harder.

If you are having joint pains, I found a great site about joint pain relief.  Be sure to check out the other posts for more posture exercises!

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1. The Seated Row

I like seated rows a lot.  Like the lat pull-downs / pull-ups, it is a crucial exercise to include in your repertoire of posture exercises.  You are mainly hitting your upper back muscles (the latissimus dorsi), but in a different way than when you do pull-ups / lat pull-downs.

1.    Sit down, grab the v-bar, and push back until your legs are bent slightly, and keep your back straight and slightly leaning back, while arms are fully extended.  Start pulling back, but ONLY MOVING YOUR ARMS.  The rest of your body should be stiff.  Pull the bar back while you keep your arms close to your body (so your elbows are always right by your side).  While pulling in, you should be breathing out.  There are three main things to keep in mind:

i.    Your posture must remain correct and fixed throughout the entire exercise.

ii.    Your shoulder blades should squeeze together in the back when the bar reaches your torso.  This will help you focus on maintaining correct posture throughout the entire exercise.

iii.    Your shoulder blades should not be elevated at any point during the exercise.

2.    Flex your arms back to the original position.  Remember to do this slowly; don’t just loosen your muscles (that could definitely lead to injury).  During this part of the exercise you should be breathing in.

Step 1:

Step 2:

The v-bar:

•    Side note:  Like the lat pull-downs, a variety of grips can be used on a number of different bars.  I recommend the v-bar because it is a close-grip pulling exercise, and we already do a wide grip pulling exercise when doing the lat pull-downs / pull-ups.  It also feels the most natural for this exercise.  Always remember that each exercise should feel like a natural motion for the body.  If you feel like you are straining your muscle in some strange and unnatural motion, you should stop immediately and ask someone knowledgeable if you are doing the exercise correctly.  This will help you avoid injury, or just wasting your time (exercises not done properly are much less effective at building muscle).

•    Side note:  This exercise also works the biceps as a secondary muscle.  Sounds good to me!

•    Side note:  Some people like to bend their lower back while doing the seated row exercise.  I personally don’t like to do this.  It can be dangerous if done incorrectly, and there are other exercises that focus exclusively on the lower back anyway.

•    Side note:  This exercise is also known as the seated pulley row, the seated lat row, and the seated back row.

Please be sure to read the other articles for more posture exercises!

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Shoulder shrugs are a very effective exercise, and actually very easy to build muscle with.  This exercise mainly works your traps (the trapezius muscles).  It is also a very powerful core exercise (core exercises are those that workout your back, abs, and pelvis).  Core exercises also increase stability and balance.  The shoulder shrug is a pretty fun exercise, and you’ll be surprised at how much you can lift.

1.    Stand up perfectly straight (with proper posture, of course), holding the dumbbells at your side, allowing your arms to hang, drooping your shoulders.  You should be standing as if you were a soldier.

2.    Then all you do is shrug!  Lift your shoulders as high as possible toward your ears, and then lower them back to their original position.  Besides your shoulders, no other part of your body should be moving.  Remember to do this in a slow and controller manner.  Like back extensions, with the shoulder shrug exercise it can be very tempting to rush through the repetitions.  And if you start to strain, remember to lower the weight or just stop entirely!

Step 1:

Step 2:

•    A lot of you will notice that one shoulder is able to go higher than the other after the first few repetitions.  If this is the case, stop lifting instead of just continuing with one.  After working out for some time you will start to notice that your muscles will start to become more even on both sides of your body.  However, if you were to continue working out the one side that could continue going, your muscles would never even out, and it might even start to look weird!

•    Side note:  Do not rotate your shoulders in a circular motion back and forth while lifting; this can lead to injury.  Just lift your shoulders straight up, and then straight down.

•    Other side note:  You can also do this exercise with a barbell instead of dumbbells.  If you prefer barbell shoulder shrugs, do everything else exactly the same, and grab the bar with an overhand grip slightly beyond shoulder width in front of your body.  I personally find it annoying that the bar scrapes against your body, and so I prefer the dumbbell shoulder shrug method.  Some people like the other method better though, it just depends what is more comfortable for you.

That’s all there is to the shoulder shrug exercise.  Be sure to check out more great articles on posture exercises on the rest of the website!

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To perform back extensions, you will need to find a back extension machine at the gym (also called a Roman chair or back extension bench).  There is a picture of me performing this exercise lower on the page to help you understand how to perform it better.

This is definitely my favorite workout of all the posture exercises on the website.  You feel your posture improve IMMEDIATELY after your first set.  This is a lower back exercise (technically, the erector spinae), which is critical to maintaining correct posture.

1.    Adjust the machine so that the cushion is up against your upper thigh.  Make sure to keep your back perfectly straight throughout the entire exercise.

2.    Lower yourself down while keeping your back straight.  Some people suggest rounding your lower back when you are lowering your body, but this could lead to injury, so I don’t usually recommend it unless you are someone who really knows what they are doing.  Your body should look like two straight lines pivoting at one point (which is your hips).  While lowering the top part of your body you should be breathing in.

3.    Come back up to your original position.  While coming up you should be exhaling.  Remember to do this exercise at a slow and controlled pace, no need to rush.  This rule is true for all exercises, but I stress it for this exercise in particular because it is a fairly easy exercise, and so it can be tempting to do it quickly.

Step 1:

Step 2:

•    Side note:  Since the back extension exercise is a little easier than most, some of you may pass well beyond 15 reps on your first run through.  Remember, ideally you want to hit 12-15 repetitions as your target.  If you find that you did three sets of 15 easily, next time you are at the gym, hold a circular weight to your chest to make it harder (can be 5 lbs, 10 lbs, 25 lbs, etc.).  Cross your arms over the weight to keep it secure in place.

•    Side note:  This exercise also works out your hamstrings and buttocks.  Nothing wrong with that!

•    Side note:  Hyperextensions also exist, where instead of coming back straight at your original position, you raise your torso and back past the point at which it forms a straight line.  This is unnecessary, as it puts pressure on your spinal disks, with no real benefit to your body.  In fact, it could even lead to injury.  So remember:  don’t do hyperextensions!

*   Side note:  I am not certain how effective or safe this exercise is for older people.  Please check out over 40 bodybuilding for tips on that.

That’s all there is to back extension exercises!  I realize that this exercise can make you feel a bit insecure since you are doubling over your stomach, so if that’s you, you can look over some diet plans here.  Be sure to check out the other articles on the site for more posture exercises.

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