Revolutionize your posture and become 1-3 inches taller
"Oh my gosh," my mother exclaimed, "you've gotten so much taller!"
"No I haven't Mom," I muttered.
"No, I can tell you have. You're at least an inch taller since I last saw you!"
"Mom," I protested, "I'm 23 years old. I stopped growing years ago."
"Well, you should look at yourself in the mirror then."
I was mostly correct; people don't generally grow taller after the age of 20 or so. But my mom wasn't wrong either; I had grown taller, in a sense. The overall length of my body hadn't increased much, but dramatic improvements in my posture increased my effective height by a good 2-3 inches over the course of a year. My parents, who could go a few months at a time without seeing me, noticed it much better than I did.
First, let's define our terms: height can be defined two different ways. First, there's physical height: the total length of your body, from the bottom of your foot to the top of your head. This doesn't can't increase much, though it does tend to decrease later in life (more on that later). Then there's effective height, the actual distance from the top of your head to the ground. This can vary dramatically with your posture; slouching can lower it by several inches, while good posture can make it equal to your physical height, and make it appear even greater.
My posture didn't improve on its own. It required me to recognize my bad posture and take deliberate steps to fix the problem. The total process took about a year, although I felt and saw definite results within a day. I also wasn't that well-informed or disciplined to begin with; with the information in this article, you can see the same results in 3 months or less.
Diagnosing Your Posture
Stand with your back to a wall, two feet away from the wall. Try to stand up straight. Now, slowly back into the wall by shuffling your feet. Ideally, your heels, buttocks, shoulder blades and the back of your head will all touch the wall at the same time. More likely though, they will be out of sync, indicating that your posture is not quite straight.
Stand against the wall like this for 5-10 minutes a day, or just until it becomes too uncomfortable. Make sure your knees are not locked, but just slightly bent, and your weight is on your heels. Locking your knees may seem like it would make you taller, but it tends to cause you to lean forward at the chest and head. This alone will start to product positive changes, but to truly build stellar posture you'll need to do some exercises.
Stretching Exercises
Do all of the following exercises every day.
* Clasp your hands behind your back fingers intertwined, and rotate them so your palms face away from you. Press your hands away from yourself, extending your arms.
* Bend sideways, without also leaning forward or tucking your chin. Stretch your right arm over your head when you bend left, and your left arm when you bend right.
* Stand against the wall again. Place your left hand over your right buttock, palm against the wall, and let your right arm hang at your side. Bend at the waist to your right,keeping your head, shoulder blades, butt and heels against the wall.
* Stand side-on to the wall. Raise the arm that is closest to the wall so that your upper arm is parallel to the ground, and your forearm is pointed straight up. Place the palm of your hand against the wall, and twist your body away from the wall-that is, twist left if stretching your right shoulder, and twist right if stretching your left shoulder.
* Bend backwards- lay on your back on a swiss exercise ball and let your head drape back over the ball, so that your back takes on a concave shape. You can bend backwards over the arm of a couch if you don't have a Swiss ball.
👉 Real Height Enhancement (Part 2)
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