Exercises for Posture - Abdomen

Doctor Neil King: Hi, I am Doctor Neil King, founder of King Chiropractic with the office in Gaithersburg Urbana and Potomac Maryland. We are wrapping it up for how to have a dynamic posture. We are going to the floor now, and do some exercises but I want you to think about what we have done so far. Everything we have been doing is designed to pull your shoulders back and your head back and also we are working on strengthening the legs and to some degree the abdominal region.

The exercise I am going to go over with you now, are very straight forward but they are going to tone those abs and believe me your abdominal are the guy wires for your spine. They give your spine support and that's going to make all the difference in what can you do and can't do and how you age gracefully.

So, here is what we are going to do. Be careful of getting on the floor. You are like this, all force to start, very gently, I want you to just lower yourself to the floor in this posture. This is called the Superman Exercise. Both of your arms are straight out, your thumbs are up, your feet, your toes are touching the ground. What I am going to do is, I am going to subtly lift my upper body and my arms and my legs at the same time and here is how we do it.

One, two, three and relax. Notice, how my head is straight, it's not turned to the side, it's not lifted abruptly. Just like this, one, two, three and relax. You only have to five of those but five everyday because that works to pull you upper body and your shoulders back. Superman, they make a huge difference in your mobility, your flexibility and your strength. We have got two abdominal exercises. I need to go over with you and here they are. You are just like this, you are on your back. You lower yourself down. We are going to do a couple of different things here. I am going to work on abdominal tone by flattening out my back and lifting up my buttocks in this posture, just like this.

While I am here, I rotated that pelvis so I'm flattening that pelvis out , at the same time what I am going to do is, I am going to lift up my lower body in this posture. I am going to hold that simply, just like that for 15 seconds. That's the exercise and then I am going to lower it.

Flatten that back out, pelvic tilt, lift 15 seconds, five times. Every study has shown that the best abdominal exercise is the simple bicycle and that's what we are doing next. There is a lots of fancy equipments, there is a lots of things that you can do but I am going to tell you, the best thing you can do for your abdominals is bicycling maneuvers.

But here is how you do them. Gentle tone in the abdomen, flatten the back out, pull one knee up as you gently straighten the other leg. Notice that my head is not coming up. I am not pulling on my head or neck. My arms are relaxed here or straight out and all I am doing is just a bicycle maneuver, just like that. Stabilization, stabilization, I want you to notice, I am not flying all over, I am not jerking one way or another, my entire body is silent and then I am only working on that lower extremity. Up, back, ten times to start with each side. You will feel that, very subtle. Quick review, we did the Superman, we did the flattening with elevation and then we dropped down to the number one abdominal exercise that there is still is bicycling, just like this. So, what's our goal for you?

. Our goal is for you to have the best posture around. For people to look and say, "wow how do you stand like that?

" It seems to me that whenever I try to do that, my back, my neck hurts and it seems so natural for you. In my office, I always say, posture is resting on your ligament. It should not take any muscular involvement at all for you to stand up and look better, feel better and feel terrific all the time. So, have a great time doing these exercises, remember once or twice a day, takes care and we will see you soon. Thank you!