Exercise is always a part of New Year’s resolutions. In fact, in January, various exercise facilities including fitness centers are crowded with people. It is easy to continue exercising regularly for the first 1-2 weeks following starting with the start of the new year. However, starting from the Lunar New Year holiday, exercise habits are often forgotten. After the holiday season and a few public holidays, sports facilities that were crowded in January often find leisure once more. It is difficult for anyone to start exercising once more with a heavy body following spending a little bit of motion during the holiday season with many food temptations.
In addition, during the holiday season, you consume far more calories than you would normally consume. In addition, holiday food has a lot of meat, and most of it is greasy, so it is difficult to digest. Aside from dieting, it interferes with basic health care and maintaining a vigorous physical condition. Even if you eat well and rest, you feel tired and heavy because you eat too much and move too little.
Proper movement is essential for optimal body functioning. Abundant breathing has the effect of gently massaging the organs through the movement of the diaphragm (the dome-shaped muscle that blocks the ribs and abdominal space). The gentle movement of the spine and hip joints helps with digestion by providing multi-faceted stimulation to the organs in the abdominal cavity. Improving your digestive function allows you to better use the food you eat as a source of energy. Food stagnant in the organs causes abdominal distension and fat accumulation, but if digested smoothly, it can supply nutrients to the places where my body needs it and become a source of energy for powerful movement. This is why you have to move at least a little for your health and diet if you can’t avoid the routine of eating plenty during the Lunar New Year holidays.
However, in reality, it is not easy to devote a long time to match the assortment to exercise in earnest during the holiday season. Exercise plans and goals that are difficult to implement are rather negative in forming exercise habits. Instead, if you set up a minimum exercise plan and goal that you can practice at any time without burden and practice it, you can avoid neglecting health care even during the holiday season. Let’s use the minimal exercise movements introduced below to stimulate the whole body and digestive system in between meals. Even following the holidays, you will be able to return to your daily life with a softer and lighter body condition. It is a bonus to reduce self-blame for neglecting dietary management.
recommended exercise
➊ Lunge stretch
– Stand side by side with your feet hip-width apart. – Step your left foot forward and bend your knee at 90 degrees to lower your body. It’s easier if you move your right knee as if you were lowering it to the floor. At this time, firmly press the left heel to the floor and tighten the left and right hips so that the pelvis does not tilt forward.
(Action ➊-1)
– Raise your right arm above your head while inhaling through your nose. Be careful not to overextend your back.
(Action ➊-2)
-Exhale through the nose, extend the right arm diagonally to the left and tilt the spine. Tighten the hips and inner thighs to keep the pelvis from moving along.
(Action ➊-3)
– On an inhalation, straighten your spine once more and lower your arms. – Repeat on the other side. -Recommended 2-3 sets of 5 or more alternating left and right
-If lunge motion is difficult, it is okay to do stretching motion while kneeling. However, try to maintain the strength to firmly press the lower body to the floor.
-The body side stretching performed in the lunge movement not only activates the left and right flank muscles, but also expands the space in front of the pelvis more strongly. If you stay in the stretched position while holding your breath, the space between the ribs expands further and you can feel the deep stretching stimulation from the armpit to the waist. After the exercise, notice if your breathing is easier and your lower back is soft.
Recommended exercise ➋ Hip bridge
– Lie on your back on the floor. Knees bent 90 degrees.
(action ➋-1)
-Prepare the torso firmly by pressing the shoulders and wing bones to the floor while inhaling through the nose and inflating the waist circumference. Between movements, the lower back does not bend or recline.
– On an exhalation, press both feet into the floor and lift the pelvis. Tighten your buttock muscles and press your heels and balls of your feet evenly into the floor.
(Action ➋-2)
-Come down to the inhaling breath and repeat.
– Recommend 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps – If you want a more intense action, you can perform it with one leg straight.
(Action ➋-3)
– It activates the hamstring muscles, including the hip muscles, and has the effect of stretching by opening the space in front of the pelvis.
Recommended exercise ➌ Leaning down and bare body chin-ups
– Spread your feet regarding hip-width apart and lie on the floor.
– Lightly lift only the chest and head from the floor above the pit. Be careful not to lift your chest too high, as this can put too much strain on your lower back.
(Action ➌-1)
– Breathe in through your nose, raise your head and chest, and stretch your arms toward the top of your head. Keep your gaze on the floor and avoid overextending your neck.
(Action ➌-2)
– Exhaling through the nose, pull both elbows down toward the sides and tighten the shoulder blades together behind the back. Imagine shoveling a wing bone into the back pocket of your pants. At this time, be careful not to drop your hands below your elbows.
(Action ➌-3)
– As you breathe in, extend your arms back to the top of your head and repeat the movement.
-Recommended 2-3 sets of 10-15 times -If you want to increase the difficulty of the action, you can tighten your hips and lift both legs together. When lifting your legs, make sure that your pubic bone does not float off the floor so as not to strain your lower back.
– You can repeat shoulder movements similar to pull-ups with your bare body. Strengthening the muscles in the middle of the back can help straighten up a forward tilted neck and shoulders. After the exercise, make sure your arms are higher above your head and that your shoulders are working.
First, always start by regulating your breathing.
If you sit for a long time in a slouched position with little movement, it is easy to distort your breathing pattern first. Shallow and restricted breathing not only easily causes tension in the neck and shoulders, but also negatively affects digestion and energy metabolism, as mentioned earlier. Frequently sit or stand with your spine straight and practice breathing only through your nose without lifting your shoulders and chest. The torso inflates 360 degrees around the belly button on inhalation, and the naturally inflated torso enters on exhalation. If it is difficult to easily relax the tension in your neck or shoulders, you can practice lying flat or face down. Breathe slowly and lightly as you repeat. Imagine breathing softly enough that the light feather on the tip of your nose doesn’t fly away. Soft, slow breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system in the autonomic nervous system, helping to relax and promote digestion. If you cannot avoid stress due to holiday syndrome, breathing exercises like this are essential.
Second, let’s wake up the buttock muscles that were sleeping.
(Recommended exercise ➊ ➋) Not only during the holidays, but also during normal times, we spend a lot of time sitting. If you are stuck in a sedentary life, the function of the hip muscles quickly weakens among the lower body muscles, and on the contrary, the hip flexor muscles in front of the pelvis tend to become tight. The buttock muscles are very important as they are essential for walking upright and standing upright. Just by waking up and training your hip muscles from time to time, you can reduce back fatigue and maintain a comfortable state of walking and running once more. If you have to drive for a long time every holiday, two recommended actions are essential.
Third, protect your neck and shoulders with back muscle exercises.
(Recommended exercise ➌) If you emphasize the buttock muscles in the lower body, you cannot leave out the back muscles in the upper body. The back muscles straighten the spinal superstructure and hold the head that keeps bending forward. It also serves to keep the shoulders from rounding out. So the back muscles, along with the buttock muscles, are areas that need to be managed through separate training. The bare-body exercise motion introduced as a recommended exercise can activate the back muscles easily without any special tools. Even if you have neck and shoulder discomfort whenever you sit for a long time, it is quite effective, so let’s do it from time to time.
