Exercises to improve posture in car during traffic
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Houston is well below the national average for getting to work in less than 30 minutes and according to 'Commuting in America' author Alan Pisarski. Sitting for so long in bumper to bumper conditions, especially after sitting at a desk can take a toll on our posture.
Personal trainer Hilary Hall sits in traffic every day and often finds herself with poor posture. When we're stressed and slumped over like that, our muscles aren't engaged at all. They're completely relaxed and really, it puts more stress on our bodies than necessary.
So, she's come up with stretches and exercises to help stretch and strengthen our bodies and pass the time. While you're stuck in traffic, you can just squeeze your wheel -- just a10-second hold and release, doing this 20 times will get your chest and biceps burning.
If you're parked or at a red light - you can do a neck stretch. We hold a lot of tension through our traps, according to Hall. You're going to place your hand on your head, and gently drop your ear to your shoulder.
Now, we have scapula contractions. This one is really good for preventing stress. Squeeze your shoulder blades together in your back and release.
Scapula contractions force you to improve your posture and help work the muscles around the spine. And while sitting up straight, give the glutes a workout. We're doing bun squeezes. Do one at a time and then both cheeks at the same time. Squeeze for 10 reps, and then the other one for 10 reps.
If you're at a stop light, there is a really great ab exercise that you can do. Hands on the wheel, just lightly off, and you're going to try to pull your elbow to your hip bone and switch sides.
Hall says just trying a few of these while parked or sitting in traffic will improve how we feel when we step out of the car.
The best thing we can possibly do is get ourselves back upright, work on our shoulder blades, squeezing them together, work on the core, and this sets the stage for the rest of the day.
