Get The Most of Your Day

Get The Most of Your Day

 

Bernsie recently came home with a new fancy-shmancy pedometer that her company handed out to all of their employees.  A pedometer isn't a device that measures how many times you pet your cat, that's a pet-ometer.  No, a pedometer is a device that you wear on your body that counts the number of steps you take.   Each participant is encouraged to log 10,000 steps per day and for those who do there will be drawing with prizes and stuff. I’ve seen other people using similar devices.  Some even estimate calorie expenditure and come with a whole program where you can manage and track not only your physical activity, but your nutrition as well.  The accuracy of these products is not an exact science, even though they market them that way, but what the hell? – It’s all relative anyway.  I applaud almost any effort to get us moving more.

Last year I posted an article about a study that found that people who are active during the day are more likely to be physically fit than those who reserve their efforts for the gym.  Since then a few more studies have come up with similar findings.  Why? The most common theory is that when we plan on working out after work or plan on attending a weekend boot-camp class we consciously or unconsciously take it easy on ourselves the rest of the time. 

Upping the amount you move is easier than you might think and it doesn’t have to take much more time off your already busy schedule.  Below I’ve listed a number of ways you can get more exercise, burn more calories and tighten up that back 40 just living life.

I’m reluctant to put this first….

Wake up 30 minutes earlier.

Studies upon studies have shown that early risers are trimmer and mentally and physically healthier than their later rising counterparts.  Use the extra time to walk around the block, take Fido with you, he’ll appreciate the extra attention and show you by chewing up only one of your new Pradas.  Sit down and have a healthy breakfast rather than wolfing down that “healthy” egg sandwich thing Starbucks is pushing on you every morning.  Pray/meditate.  Leave for work 8 minutes earlier than usual. Being early lowers your stress and less stressed people are thinner.

Turn housework into an Olympic event.

I haven’t done this yet but it sounds fun.  First make a list of all the housework that needs to be done that day.  Second, stage all your cleaning stuff for easy access.  Put on some bumpin’ music and set the stopwatch function on your smartphone.  Now go to town. Work through all the items on your list as rapidly as possible.  Work up a sweat.  Post your time on your refrigerator and next week try to beat your record.  Better yet, challenge a girlfriend to do the same - loser buys lunch.

Park in the back of the lot

Whether you’re running errands or going to the movies, park in the far back of the parking lot.  You’ll reduce your stress level, there are always spaces available in the back and you’ll save your car doors because people with door-flinging kids tend to park up front.  The walk will do you good too.

Be active at the office.

Take the stairs.  We’ve heard this for years and the average commitment to it is about 2.6 days.  Even so, it's worth trying to make it a habit.  Rather than making inter-office phone calls, walk down the hall to meet with whomever for whatever. This personal touch will help boost your energy level and burn calories, but will also promote more buy-in to your needs and ideas.  Extra face time will make your co-workers, underlings and bosses see you as a player.

Stand up and stay standing when someone visits you in your office or cubicle.  Not only will you be getting more exercise, but it makes the other person feel valued and creates in them an impression of you as a leader.

Practice Perfect Posture

Maintaining a healthy posture is truly one of the easiest ways to feel better, look better and trim down, yes – trim down.  Sitting or standing with poor posture hampers your metabolism.  A slow metabolism lowers your energy level, causes lower back pain, makes your tummy stick out and promotes weight gain. Oh, it also causes depression. How?  Over 90% of your serotonin receptors are in your gastrointestinal tract, poor posture cramps that tract preventing healthy digestion and reduces your uptake of serotonin.  You’re sitting up now aren’t you?

Start a walking group in your neighborhood or at the office

A recent study found that when we exercise in groups we are 4 times more likely to stick to it.  Workout partners are less effective because in any given week one or both of you will have reason to cancel and once you start cancelling the partnership is doomed.  Groups are proven to be more consistent.  Each member will occasionally have a reason to cancel, but it’s unlikely that you’ll all have conflicts on the same days.  There will almost always be a few people around to walk with. 

I know for a fact that this guy will be walking around your neighborhood today.

See if your company will sponsor your group with T-shirts or an extra 15 minutes of lunch time, they might even subsidize your cross-trainers. Similar programs have proven to save the company money through better health insurance rates, fewer sick days, and greater productivity. 

If these little tips sound like commons sense it’s because they are, but in this world of adverscience and pie in the sky promises from supplement companies common sense is desperately needed.

Well, that’s my two cents and it’s worth every penny.

Jake Holmes

Attractiveness - Why We Want It and How To Get It

The Truth About Why We Exercise

One thing that differentiates my approach to fitness and specifically the Pilates Method from every other trainer out there is that fact that cardiovascular health, strength, and flexibility, although important, take a back seat to your back seat. In other words, my primary focus is to make a more attractive you. Is this shallow? Yes, but for you as the client, it gives you the biggest bang for your fitness buck.

Now before you read this you’ll have to promise me that you’ll keep in mind that this article reflects scientific and sociological research. Read the article all the way through because there is good news for everyone.

Study upon study has made clear that attractiveness is the greatest determining factor to a happy and successful life. I know this might suck a little, but the naked truth is we live in a world of subjective perceptions, first impressions and snap judgments. Whether we’re picking up the kids from school, interviewing for a job, or sipping margaritas poolside, the people who see us evaluate us and they do so in the blink of an eye. In less than a second an impression is made. As unfair or unqualified as they are, these impressions have an effect on our lives through the people we meet, the jobs we get, who we fall in love with and the children we produce. All those things affect our self-esteem and the whole damn thing goes around again in a Kinseyan death spiral.

In a 2004 study, Kanazawa and Kovar theorized that, attractive people were likely to be more intelligent. Why? None of the researchers committed to any one theory, but they did believe it related to natural selection. The superior cave man was taller than most, had broad shoulders, a small waist and could beat the living crap out of smaller, funnier and cuter cavemen; as a result he commanded more resources. He had a big, warm cave with an ocean view and ate out a lot. This caveman got the hot cavewomen. What’s a hot cavewoman? Broad hips for producing strong cavebabies, big boobs for feeding them and a bangin' backyard. After thousands of generations things haven’t changed a whole lot. The dudes who are most capable in our economy tend to have their choice of women – they will choose the most attractive ones to mate with. Whether or not this is fair doesn’t really matter, its biology.

We’d like to believe that we’ve evolved past this primitive coding, but Kanazawa and Kovar don’t believe we have. Even though men don’t need to possess the strength and club speed to whack a brontosaurus to death just to show a girl a good time doesn’t mean that women have given up on height, strength and a square jaw as desirable features. (eHarmony, in response to hundreds of thousands of complaints recently resorted to only matching women with taller men.) Even in the nerdy domain of high-tech where brains count for a lot its better to be a good looking geek than a homely one, especially when you’re trying to get others to follow your lead and invest in your ideas.

This doesn't always bear out. Women often choose less attractive guys for a boyfriends or husbands (called the Bernadine factor), but this is shoulder-hopping the biological wave. In fact, a UCLA and Univeriversity of New Mexico study indicated that no matter who a chick is partnered with at the moment she’s more likely to cheat with more attractive guys during ovulation. So even though she prefers to be married to the less attractive guy for any number of reasons, her ovaries know the difference and they want Kobe Bryant. Science sucks.

Now it’s important to define attractiveness because people, especially women, get attractiveness confused with beauty and thinness. In this context, attractiveness refers to the general perception of the majority of a society arrived at scientifically. One might believe that perceptions vary from one society to another, but international studies suggest that there really isn’t too much difference other than men in drought ridden areas prefer women with a bit more meat on their bones.

Another important thing to note about attractiveness is that facial symmetry (beauty) only accounts for a small portion of the attractiveness quotient. Body shape (shape, not size) accounts for a lot more schwing. For women, what counts in the eyes of males is different than how women evaluate themselves and each other. Males are much more attracted to lower waist to hip ratios than they are facial symmetry or over-all size. Sure, some studies show that in a “singles” situation men will go for the prettier faced, narrower hipped woman, but those same studies showed that this interest is more so for the prospect of a brief sexual encounter. In other words, he is less likely to consider those women to be serious candidates for marriage and children. It’s the curvier girl that’s proportionate that he wants to make babies with and science backs that up with sperm counts – hippier girls evoke higher sperm counts from their sex partners. I’m not dis’n skinny chicks, skinny chicks can also have dramatic waist to hip ratios. But if you’re in the less curvy beautiful faced category, finding quality long term partners can be a greater challenge, you’ll have to move more slowly and be more discriminating than your curvier friends.

So maybe by now you’re thinking you’ll never find a guy because you don’t have that stupid waist/hip thing, or you're a dude that doesn't fit the the square-jawed, 6'2" ideal, don’t despair because we can hack the program. Here’s how. The way we move is also an important factor in attractiveness as a 2007 study points out. In this collaboration between Texas A&M professor Louis Tassinary and NYU smarty Kerri Johnson, they found that the way women and men walked made a hella-difference to their perceived attractiveness. Over 700 people were shown videos of people walking and were told to evaluate their attractiveness on a scale of 1-10. The results showed that women’s scores jumped by 50% when they swayed their hips. When males swaggered their scores doubled. Sways and swaggers have nothing to do with beauty, they have everything to do with confidence. So maybe you’re a woman who doesn’t have such banging curves or you’re a guy who’s height or shoulders don’t have the Charles Atlas seal of approval, you can bridge the gap with a little attitude. Just work it.

So how does this relate to Pilates and specifically the way we do it? We get women of all shapes, sizes and levels of ability, but our goals are pretty much the same: trim the waist and lift the butt (the waist to hip ratio). Improving this ratio always yields positive results. Sure, some need overall weight-loss and that happens in time, some would like to be stronger and more flexible and those too will happen, but body shap and attitude makes the greatest impression on others and that impression counts. First impressions set the tone for all of our relationships, social, professional or otherwise and those relationships set a course for our lives. So, it should be clear… if you want a better life, do a better workout - the kind of workout that gives you the results that matter most.

 

Well, that's my two cents and it's worth every penny.

Jake Holmes

http://pilatesoflajolla.com

Protein in the Morning

I Love The Smell of Protein in The Morning...

Surfing the internet for the latest useful studies on nutrition is more fun than an OSHA seminar, but it’s especially rewarding when I find information that allows me to eat as a weight loss strategy. The University of Missouri recently concluded a study indicating that eating a high protein breakfast can help curb cravings for sugary snacks throughout the day and this data they hoped would be supported with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)measuring brain activity particularly in the areas of the brain responsible for stimulating cravings for chicken nuggets and chocolate covered prezels.

The study involved about 20 women, all overweight and under the age of 21. In order to get a base line of brain activity, Heather Leidy, the study overlord and her team first had the subjects fill out a questionnaire (no idea what kinds of things they asked them about) and then took MRI’s of each of their brains before dinner time. Next, they divided them into three groups, one group skipped breakfast, another ate a cereal breakfast while the last group ate a high protein(35 grams) breakfast. Otherwize the menus were matched nutritionally for dietary fiber, sugar, and fat and each totaled 350 calories.

During the study all the participants were interviewed in the afternoons and the protein group reported feeling satiated and largely craving free where the breakfast skippers and low protein cereal group just kept asking where they were hiding the Milk Duds. Each subject was again subjected to an MRI. The MRI’s for the high protein group showed that they did, in fact, have lower brain activity in the craving area of their brains while the same area of the cereal group’s brains had mutated into Mapquest screenshots of the closest Taco Bell.

This isn’t the first study to extoll the virtues of a high protein diet, but it’s the first that I’m aware of that actually employed magnetic imaging to back up the feelings or impressions of the subjects. Love it - Science.

The question on all your minds is what should we eat for breakfast? Well, the study subjects ate breakfasts of 350 calories or less with 35 grams of protein. Okay, this is next to impossible, packing that amount of protein into breakfast is like trying to stuff Niki Minaj’s backside into a pair of our own Dr. Laura’s skinny jeans. The study kinda pulled a fast one. In order to get to the 35g and stay below the 350cal threshold they served pork loin, and lean beef steaks for breakfast.

Below I’ve included some menus that contain actual breakfast foods and contain 35g or protein but wasn't able to stay below the 350 calories. (Some of these are a little high in fat, but at breakfast time fat isn’t too big a deal as you’ll probably burn most of it as energy throughout the day.)

The Farmer’s Daughter (257 calories, 29g protein, 13g fat, 0g sugar)

2 eggs (156 calories, 13g protein,10.6g fat, 0g sugar)

1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese(101 calories, 16g protein, 2g fat,

0g Sugar)

The Hippie Chick (3,330 Calories, 36g protein, 90g fat, 387g sugar)

9 22oz acai bowls(each: 370 calories,4g protein, 10g fat, 43g sugar)

The Lean-a Latina (564 calories, 33g protein, 20g fat, 0g sugar)

2 eggs (156 calories, 13g protein, 10.6g fat, 0g sugar)

1 cup refried beans(220 calories,12g protein, 5g fat, 0g sugar)

2 flour tortillas (188 calories,8 protein, 4.6g fat, 0g sugar)

The McHottie (600 calories: 36g protein, 24g fat, 6g sugar)

2 Egg McMuffins (each: 300 calories,18g protein, 12g fat, 3g sugar)

The Star-Buckwild(735 calories, 34g protein, 70g fat, 131g sugar)

1 Power Protein Plate (290 calories,14g protein, 19g fat, 31g sugar)

1 Café Latte w/ Soy Milk with enough Mocha Syrup for 11 lattes  

  (445 calories, 20g protein, 50.5g fat,100g sugar)

The Queb-ecky, aye (408 calories, 40g protein, 24g fat, 1.4g sugar)

4 pieces of Canadian Style Bacon (142 calories, 20g protein, 5g fat,0g sugar)

1 goose egg (266 calories, 20g protein,19g fat, 1.4g sugar)

My, My, My Delilah (398 calories, 39g protein, 19g fat, 27.5g sugar)

½c Greek Yogurt (65 calories,12g protein, 0g fat, 4.5g sugar)

2 Scrambled eggs w/ 1/4c feta(256 calories, 23g protein, 18g fat, 9g sugar)

1 slice whole wheat toast(77 calories, 4g protein, 1g fat,14g sugar)

The Bernadine, All American (686 calories, 35g protein, 43g fat, 6.5g sugar)

2 hard boiled eggs (156 calories,13g protein, 10g fat, 0g sugar)

2 slices whole wheat toast with a butt-load of peanut butter

(530 calories, 22g protein, 33g fat,6.5g sugar)

The Orangutan (840 calories, 36g protein, 3g fat, 144g sugar)

3 16oz Protein Berry Pizzaz Jamba Juice Smoothies

(each: 280 calories, 12g protein,1g fat, 48g sugar)

As you can see from the menus above it’s not so easy squeezing 35 grams of protein into breakfast. This is especially tough if you insist on eating fruit and fruit juices for breakfast. I guess the point is to try to fit some protein into every meal and you'll probably experience less cravings for the naughty stuff.

Well, that's my two cents and it's worth every penny.

Jake Holmes

http://pilatesoflajolla.com

Is Health Consciousness Making Us Stupid?

Marketing Tricks

That Make Us Fat

 

Does being health conscious make you… well, not so bright?  I don’t mean to offend anyone, but according to a couple of different studies published this month we find that people who consider themselves health conscious are more likely to fall for simple labeling tricks and could also use a little extra help reading menus. 

The first study comes to us from Cornell.  Yes, Cornell, a bastion of blue blood brilliance.  They wanted to know if the color of nutritional labels made a difference in the perceptions of consumers.  Specifically, if the nutritional information was printed in the color green would people assume the product was healthier than a similar product label printed in the color red. 

93 Cornell students were told to imagine that they were standing in the grocery store line and they were hungry.  42% of these kids had to first imagine that they were a housekeeper and that’s why they’d be standing in a grocery store line.  Anyway, they then showed these future Congress members images of candy bars with clearly readable nutrition labels, some with green font and some in red.  Regardless of the fact that the calorie content was identical they overwhelmingly chose the green as the healthier (lower calorie) choice.  The researchers pulled the same stunt with green vs. white labels and fooled them again. What’s curious and delights me to no end is that the students that considered themselves the most health conscious were the worst candy bar pickers of all. 

The next study comes to us compliments of the Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois and some promising young Oklahoma State students.  These smarties wanted to know how effective calorie values on menus were in helping people make healthier (lower calorie) choices.  They put three types of menus into a local eatery.  All had the same foods on them, but one had no calorie reference, another had a numerical value for the calories and the last had the numerical values and a traffic light with a red light, yellow light or green light (the red being the highest in calorie, yellow medium and green lowest).  Duh. 

Here’s how it all shook out.  There wasn’t too much difference between what the patrons ordered from the no listed calorie menus and the numeric calorie menus.  There was a difference however, in what people ordered from the menus with the traffic lights.  People actually ordered lower calorie entrées.  This is wonderful.  Our over-eating problems might actually be solved… Oh, wait a minute.  It turns out that the traffic light patrons made up the difference by ordering more desserts and appetizers.  Crap.  Here’s the fun part.  Once again, the most health conscious patrons were most affected by the traffic light menus while the least health conscious were not impressed by the stupid lights at all, they were able to evaluate their choices just fine with the numeral values. 

The authors of the study were very enthusiastic and want the government to add some sort of symbol requirement to the calorie content on the menus.  As a side note, the majority of patrons didn’t like the traffic light thing.  I don’t like it much either so let me know what you think about the symbols below.

 

 

                 

Now if you’re health conscious this isn’t meant to lessen your concern or make you feel dumb.  Eating healthy is super important.  What I think we should pull from these studies is that the advertisers and marketers are way ahead of us.  They know before we do what kinds of imagery, colors and fonts we are likely to associate with health and nutrition.  They think we’re suckers.  Just because that pasta comes in an ugly, recycled looking matt finished box baring the image of some Oregon hippy doesn’t mean it’s healthy.

Well, that's my two cents and it's worth every penny,

Jake Holmes

hppts://pilatesunited.com 

Bloomberg, Soda and Obesity

 Just yesterday a New York State Supreme Court halted Mayor Bloomberg’s attempt at outlawing any sale of sodas over 16 ounces.  This ordinance applied only to restaurants, ball parks and theaters, but did not apply to convenience stores and vendors of the like.  In short the Judge Milton Tingling (That's his real name) basically said that it wasn’t any of the government’s business how much soda a person drinks.

  Micheal Bloomberg       Judge Tingling

Bloomberg, in numerous press conferences and interviews claims that he’s only trying to help.  In his opinion, his constituents are too damn fat and if can get people to drink less soda he’s confident he can put a dent the in the city’s obesity epidemic.  I think obesity in our culture is certain something to chew on so I don’t blame him for being concerned and he’s certainly welcome to weigh in on the subject, but a law?  Hmmm.

Now I’m not gonna get all political on you – we all have different tolerances for how much authority we think the G should have, however if they are going to take a swing at obesity they should really know what they’re talking about.  After all, some the worst trends in our society are the unintended side effect of good intentions.  In this case it happens to be which soda’s they want to ban.  See, the ban only effected sugar sweetened beverages.  Diet beverages were not included as they are sweetened with aspartame or other forms of chemical slight-of-hand.  This is where the F train jumps the tracks, which would be the only thing able to jump a track, a shoe box or anything taller than a Kaiser roll if this ban were upheld.

Sure, people drink a lot of soda and yes, it most likely contributes to obesity, yet restricting sugary beverages only and leaving diet beverage sizes intact would double or triple their problem.  If Bloomberg had his way and New Yorkers started choosing diet sodas over sugar sweetened ones their population would sink Manhattan in a New York second.    

Way back in 2005, Sharon Fowler, MPH (I don’t know what MPH stands for other than miles per hour) of the University of Texas, completed an 8 year study on soda consumption and weight gain.  Sharon and her health posse rounded up 622 people of normal weight and between the ages of 25 and 64.  Over the eight years of the study about 1/3 of the participants became over-weight (which is consistent with the national average).  They broke the numbers down into non-soda drinkers, sugary or regular soda drinkers and diet soda drinkers.  Here’s the waist band popping results:

For regular soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:

            26% for up to ½ can per day

            30.4% for ½ to one full can per day

            32.8% for 1 to 2 cans per day

            47.2% for more than 2 cans per day

For diet soft-drink drinkers, the risk of becoming overweight or obese was:

            36.5% for up to ½ can per day

            37.5% for ½ to 1 full can per day

            54.5% for 1 to 2 cans per day

            57.1% for more than 2 cans per day

For each can of diet soda consumed each day, a person’s risk of obesity went up a whopping 41%. 

Okay!!!?  Holy crap!  Now that you’ve put down your Pepsi Max, let’s talk about this.  The researches were quick to note that they didn’t believe that diet sodas alone were the cause of the crazy weight gain among its’ fans.  Fowler theorized that perhaps when people sense they are beginning to tip the scales they resort to diet drinks to stem the tide.  Hmmm.  Some for sure, but no way does that account for 57.1%. 

Leslie Bonci, MPH, RD, nutritional consultant to the Pittsburgh Ballet (Like what does she consult those bun-heads on? How long should one wait to smoke after inducing vomiting?) believes that people are more likely to feel better about over-eating if they wash it all down with diet soda.  “Some consider that dieting”, she said.  I think we’re all guilty of some of that, but again, 57.1%?  I don’t think so. 

I think the most compelling answer comes from David Peirce and his jean jacketed band of science yahoos at the University of Alberta.  Yes, Alberta is in Canada and Canada has universities.  These guys fed young very low calorie and zero calorie foods to rats and found that, like me at the sushi bar, couldn’t ever seem to get enough to eat.  They were never satisfied.  Finally, here’s some science. 

Diet and zero calorie beverages and foods are sweetened with things like Aspartame which your body does not recognize as food.  Because it doesn’t see them as food the body does not initiate the normal digestive cycle it would for actual food.  See, when you or I take a bite of chocolate cake or a sip of regular Coke it triggers our digestive system in order to begin breaking down the foods we’re eating or about to eat.  Fat and sugar also trigger the release of cholecystokinin an enzyme that tells us when we’re full.  Super low or zero calorie stuff doesn’t trigger anything of that, it does, however, tend to trigger our hunger impulse.  So now you’re eating more and more and not feeling satisfied.

So here’s the deal.  Unless there is some reason (like sugar sensitivity) that prevents you from regular soda it’s advisable that you give up the diet and zero calorie stuff.  Come over the dark side, the sugary side, the skinnier side. 

 

Well, that’s my two cents and it’s worth every penny.

Jake Holmes

https://pilatesunited.com

How a woman's posture can set a course for her life.

 
As a pilates instructor in SoCal, I’m constantly surrounded by single women, beautiful, smart, fun, single women.  Sadly, most of them are over being single and would prefer to be in a relationship they just can’t seem to find available men.  Now, if you don’t live here you might think these women are nuts, everyone knows Southern California and specifically San Diego is crawling with attractive, fun, athletic, nicely tanned, single guys.  Guys, yes, but men? Well, that's a completely different story.  Men in this town are in extremely short supply.
 
Guys and men are two different things.  Sure, they’re both male like Pee-Wee Herman and Mark Wahlberg are both male but I think we’d all agree that they’re vastly different.  In the animal world a man is more like a lion while the guy is more like a hyena.  The lion is a hunter.  He’s strong, confident, and proud.  What’s interesting about the lion is that when they hunt they target a strong, healthy and mature member of the herd as that animal will have the most meat and will not pass along any disease when consumed.

 
Conversely, hyenas are not proud and confident like the lion.  They are scavengers who prefer not to hunt, but to eat the lion’s left-overs.  When they are forced to hunt they target the young, weak and diseased members of the herd as these animals are easier prey.

 
In the singles world it’s not that much different.  A man hunts for a strong and confident woman, after all, she may end up being the mother of his children.  The guy, not unlike the hyena, scrambles after the immature, weak and insecure women as these are easier prey.  Most single women would much prefer a man over a hyena – right?  Right. 

 So how does a woman attract the lions of the human world?  Well, it’s hard to know too much about a person just from seeing them across the room, but there is one tell-tale sign… Posture.  That’s right, good posture.  A confident, healthy and emotionally secure woman stands tall and sits up straight.  Whether it’s conscious or sub-conscious, the man is attracted to this type of woman.  When a woman slouches with her head down and shoulders rolled forward she’s not communicating health and confidence, she’s telling the world that she’s weak and broken and ready for more abuse.  The guy, the hyena, is attracted to this woman.

"Wow" says the lion            "Oh boy!" says the hyena

 
Don’t believe me?  Try this, the next time you’re out with the girls at some restaurant, bar or club, make it a point to slouch and take note of the type of guys who notice you.  After an hour or so, sit up or stand up with good posture and see who notices you.  I’m sure you’ll see a difference in the quality of male you attract.  Remain patient, you probably won’t have as many males approach you, but remember, you’re after quality, not quantity.  There are a lot more hyena’s (especially in the bar scene) than lions.

So, how does one attain good posture?  First and foremost, awareness is key.  Remind yourself to situp straight and stand tall.  I know this might sound a little simple, but good posture begets good posture.  Standing tall and sitting up straight might feel a little awkward and it might even strain your muscles for the first few days, but by doing this you’ll be building strength in the muscles that reinforce good posture.  As an added bonus your’ abs will strengthen and your’ tummy will be flatter.  By the end of the first week your posture will be a ton better and by the end of the month good posture will be natural. 

Good posture paysoff in so many ways.  Not only will you be attracting better quality males, but you’ll feel better about yourself.  You’ll have more energy and your metabolic rate will improve causing your body to burn unneeded fat stores.  When walking down the street you’ll be less of a target for crime because you’ll have better peripheral vision and you won’t look like a victim.  People will notice the difference at the office too.  You might be the junior person in your department, but if you walk in tall and sit up straight the higher-ups will regard you more as an equal or even as someone poised to move up in the organization. 

 

Well, that’s my two cents and it’s worth every penny.

 

Jake Holmes

https://pilatesunited.com