Lose weight and eliminate shoulder pain ~ Spend 5 minutes every day practicing "forward bends"! 15 health benefits to know

15 Health Benefits of Good Forward Bend Flexibility If you want to get rid of your stiff body, in addition to practicing standing forward bends every day, spending 5 minutes every day doing "seated soleus stretch" will be more effective! The forward bend is a simple yet very effective stretch that can help increase flexibility while also helping to reduce body fat and eliminate shoulder pain.

Forward bend is a simple movement that everyone can do, but it is not easy at all to help your health! Keiji Tani, who once coached Japanese baseball player Ichiro Suzuki and soccer player Kazuyoshi Miura, mentioned in his book "Forward Bend, the Most Powerful Way to Relax Muscles and Activate Blood Circulation" that forward bends can stretch the erector spinae, latissimus dorsi, gluteus maximus, and hamstrings, "anti-gravity muscles" at the same time. The softer the forward bend, the healthier the body. Whether in terms of health or posture, you can get the following 15 benefits:

15 Health Benefits of Forward Bends

1. Reduce the chance of falling: When flexibility improves, the feet can be easily and fully raised, making it less likely to fall and preventing problems such as movement disorders.

2. Able to walk long distances: You won’t do any movements that waste your energy, so you can conserve your energy and walk longer distances than before without feeling tired.

3. Improve concentration: By increasing flexibility, body posture will improve, which in turn will increase blood and oxygen circulation rates, thereby improving concentration.

4. Not easy to get tired: With a correct posture, you will not be easily affected by gravity, so the amount of physical energy consumption can be controlled to a lower level, so you will not easily get tired.

5. Improve posture: The pelvis is actually erected and the shoulder blades will return to the correct position, so you can get rid of bad postures such as hunchback and shrugging.

6. Increase walking speed: Overall flexibility is improved, which increases the arm swing amplitude and walking stride, so the walking speed will become faster.

7. The distance between each step becomes larger: Because the back of the thigh becomes softer, the feet can take big steps forward, increasing the distance between each step.

8. Maintain a slim figure: Increased flexibility makes the body easier to move, which increases calorie consumption and makes it less likely to gain weight or gain weight again.

9. Reduce body fat: When breathing becomes smoother, you can absorb a large amount of oxygen, effectively burn fat, and achieve the effect of easy weight loss.

10. Relieve shoulder pain: The shoulder blades can be fully utilized to relax the back muscles and improve blood circulation, thereby improving problems such as shoulder and neck pain.

11. Improve low back pain: Since the back, waist and buttocks muscles can be fully stretched, the effects of nerve compression can be reduced, thereby alleviating low back pain.

12. Relieve knee pain: Knee pain is sometimes caused by muscle fatigue. When the muscles behind the knee become softer, not only will fatigue be reduced, but pain will also be improved.

13. Breathing becomes smoother: Once the pelvis and shoulder blades are able to move freely, the chest can expand more easily, making breathing smoother.

14. Prevent metabolic syndrome: When the body can move freely, the amount of exercise will increase, which can reduce body fat and prevent metabolic syndrome caused by abdominal protrusion.

15. Improve the metabolic function of internal organs: When the range of motion of the joints is expanded, the amount of body exercise will naturally increase, thereby activating and improving the function of internal organs, and metabolism will also increase.

Seated soleus stretch. (Photo provided by Caishi Culture)

To increase flexibility, do the seated soleus stretch

Office workers sit or stand for long periods of time. If they don’t want to suffer from symptoms such as low back pain, hunchback, obesity, poor physical strength, pelvic tilt and breathing problems all day long, Gu Qisi believes that the simplest way is to do forward bending movements every day to let the muscles get used to the feeling of being stretched; but if you want to further increase flexibility, you can try the "seated soleus stretch". It only takes 5 minutes a day to build healthy "soft" strength!

Seated soleus stretch

Purpose: To improve body flexibility and relax the area above the calf.

action:

1. Sit up, raise your left knee, straighten your back, relax your shoulders, and place your hands lightly on your left knee.

2. Lift your left heel, bring your chest close to your left thigh, straighten your back (avoid arching it), and use your body weight to press your entire upper body down. With your standing foot, place your toes on the floor, lift your heel slightly, and stretch your left calf for 20 seconds.

Repetitions: Do 1 time on each side, for a total of 3 sets.