10 Secrets About Your Health Hiding In Plain Sight Prevention
December 29, 2022 · 6 min · 1100 words · Rachel Quinn
The clue: slouchingWhat it reveals: tight hamstringsPoor posture and slouching at your keyboard when you sit can mean tight hamstrings (the muscles in back of your thighs), says Erika Bloom, founder of Erika Bloom Pilates Plus, NYC. “Your hamstrings attach into your pelvis, so if they’re tight, they can pull your sit bones forward and under when you sit, causing your spine to round.” Bloom recommends stretching your hamstrings to allow you to sit up straight with ease; see her favorite stretches below.
The clue: heavy-looking hips What it reveals: weak feetThey may sound unrelated, but outer hips that appear to be carrying extra fat may be due to weak feet, says Bloom. “When you drop your arches and collapse into your feet you’ll often sink into your hips, too. The tops of your thigh bones move out and forward, actually sitting in the socket differently, and your pelvis sinks down and forward as well.” Bloom says this gives the appearance of heavy hips, while also weakening the outer hip muscles, encouraging the issue to continue. To remedy it, she recommends the exercise below, which works both the feet and the outer hips while teaching you to stand lifted and centered.
MORE: Try The No Squats Belly, Butt, And Thighs Workout
The clue: a protruding lower bellyWhat it reveals to a Pilates expert: tight latsIf your lats (short for latissimus dorsi, large back muscles) are tight, they can cause your torso to compress and your spine to arch, says Bloom. “This moves all of your insides forward, giving the appearance of a ‘poochy’ belly. Simply stretching your lats can do wonders for realigning your torso for a leaner look.” Try this stretch: Stand in a doorway and bend to the right, reaching your left arm overhead to hold onto the door frame. Lean your weight to the left to deepen the stretch while breathing deeply.
The clue: protruding bellyWhat it reveals to a fitness pro: weak core, overarching backIf you cut out the ice cream and stretch your lats and still notice a puffed-out belly, your core and lower back may be weak, which allows your midsection to hang out, says Joel Harper, a celebrity trainer in NYC. Harper recommends alternating an abdominal exercise (like a plank) with a lower back exercise (such as a back extension). “Practice pulling in your stomach from your shirt while going through your day, too,” he says. Try the back extension in the video below to strengthen your lower back.
The clue: a butt that droops
What it reveals: weak back musclesTrouble filling out the back of your jeans? If your butt is flat or sags, it could be from weak deep core muscles, particularly the deep back muscles called multifidi, says Bloom. These deep core muscles stabilize the spine to give your low back a slight, natural arch forward, and also rotates your pelvis out of a posterior tuck. This neutral position is not only healthy for your spine, it has the added bonus of giving one the appearance of a round, perky backside. Try the move below to target this area.
More from Prevention: 5 Moves To Fight Gravity
The clue: one foot turns outWhat it reveals: a tight hipIf you feel you’re standing straight but notice one of your feet tends to turn outward, your hips may be tight and out of alignment, says Harper. A hiked-up hip requires strengthening the inner and outer thigh muscles (adductor and abductors), making sure to use perfect form. To strengthen outer thighs, try a sideways shuffle with fitness tubing around your ankles for added resistance (demonstrated in the video below). Good inner thigh moves include squeezing a fitness ball or Pilates circle between your knees.
The clue: one shoulder higher than the otherWhat it reveals: muscular imbalanceCarrying a heavy purse or laptop on the same side of your body every day can cause an imbalance where one shoulder appears higher than the other, says Harper. Fixes include shoulder presses and shrugs, and be sure to stretch the tighter side longer, says Harper. One good stretch: Stand in a doorway and place right forearm on doorframe, elbow at shoulder height. Gently press your chest toward the doorway, feeling a stretch in the right side of your chest and shoulder. Hold for 30 seconds, then repeat on the opposite side.
The clue: rounded shouldersWhat it reveals: a weak chest and overstretched backSitting at a desk all day can turn you into a hunchback with rounded shoulders, made worse by a weak chest and an overstretched back, says Harper. Strengthening your chest with push-ups and stretching against a wall can help. Perform push-ups, holding the lower position for one minute (or as long as you can) followed by a chest opening stretch. A good one to try is wall angels: Stand with your back against a wall, feet slightly in front of the wall, shoulder width apart. Bring arms up and out into a goal post position; slowly bring arms up and overhead until fingers touch while keeping elbows against the wall. (Watch the video below to see this move in action.)
The clue: forward headWhat it reveals: tight, weak neck musclesSleeping on too many pillows or poor posture in general can cause this forward head position, says Shaw Bronner PhD, director in the department of physical therapy, Northeastern University, Boston, MA. “Often this indicates tightness in muscles at the base of the skull and in the superficial neck muscles, while deep neck flexors are weak.” To begin to correct this, try the chin tuck exercise demonstrated in the video below.
The clue: standing with one hip droppedWhat it reveals: a weak gluteus mediusIf one of your hips drops lower than the other when you stand, you may have a weak gluteus medius muscle, a muscle critical for controlling the hip and knee, says Bronner. The side opposite the dropped limb is the weaker side. To fix it, Bronner recommends this move (also featured in the video below): Lie on your left side with your back against the wall. Make sure your head, buttocks, and heels are touching the wall. With your right (weak muscle) leg in parallel (knee facing forward), push back into the wall as you slide the right leg up the wall. You will feel the muscle along the right side of your pelvis tighten as your repeat the exercise. Repeat 15 times, slowly. Repeat for five days per week for four to six weeks.
More from Prevention: