Female body care methods

The core of female body care has never been to pursue a unified aesthetic of "white and thin", "right-angled shoulders" and "peach butt", but to maintain muscle tension balance, joint alignment, body stretch, and long-term status management to adapt to daily activity habits on the premise of adapting to one's own skeletal structure and physiological stage characteristics. This is the most practical conclusion I got after spending three years in the fitness pit and having in-depth conversations with five body practitioners in different fields.

In the past two years, I followed online tutorials to blindly practice right-angled shoulders, lifting 2 kilograms of dumbbell lateral raises every day. After practicing for half a month, my shoulders hurt so much that I couldn't lift them. I went to rehabilitation and found out that it was acromion impingement. The first sentence of the rehabilitation therapist poured cold water on me: "Your own frame is the foundation for shoulder slips. The right-angled shoulders that you have trained hard are completely compensated by the trapezius muscles. Over time, not only will your neck hurt, but your shoulders will also become uneven." ”

There are actually two completely different ideas in the current body care circle. It’s hard to say who is right and who is wrong. They are suitable for completely different groups of people. One is the sports rehabilitation school, which emphasizes "aligning the position first and then exerting force." The premise of all training is that your bones should stay where they should be. Otherwise, the more you practice, the more mistakes you will make. I used to accompany a friend who had given birth to an evaluation. She always said that she could not reduce her belly. After practicing abdominal curls for half a year, she suffered from low back pain. After the evaluation, I found that her pelvis always tilted forward when she stood. The anterior superior iliac spine (the two protruding bones under the waist) protruded forward 3 cm faster than the pubic bone. The whole weight was pressed on the lumbar spine, and the lower abdomen was pushed out. No matter how hard she trained her abdominal muscles, it was useless. Later, she practiced core activation with a rehabilitation practitioner for three months without doing a single crunch. Her belly became much flatter, and even her dysmenorrhea was relieved a lot.

Oh, yes, there is another way of maintaining the lifestyle. Sister Zhang, who I know who does traditional Chinese medicine body management, is a typical example. She is 52 years old, has never applied for a fitness card, and rarely even practices yoga. Her back is straighter than that of many 20-year-old girls, and she does not have problems such as mother's hips or protruding neck. Her methods are all applied in daily life: she never crosses her legs when sitting. Even if she has a two-hour meeting, she always keeps her feet flat on the ground, with her knees and hips at the same height. ； When picking up things from the floor, I never bend down to reach them directly. I always squat down to grab them. Even when I go to the supermarket to buy things, I have to distribute the weight evenly between two hands and never carry a heavy bag on one shoulder. She always said, "You can't maintain your body shape by practicing for just one hour a day. How can it be useful if you spend the remaining 23 hours building it?" ”

Speaking of which, I have to mention the hotly debated issue of "should I practice peach buttocks?" The opinions of the two sides are very different. The point of view of the rehabilitation school is that if your acetabulum itself is shallow, over-training the gluteus maximus will push the femoral head outward, which may cause the hip to snap, or in severe cases wear the joint, which is not worth the gain. ； The traditional Chinese medicine school of medicine has a more direct view. The female pelvic cavity needs unobstructed Qi and blood. Deliberately clamping the buttocks all year round will cause long-term tension in the perineal muscles, affect the blood supply to the pelvic cavity, and easily induce gynecological problems. There is a girl next to me who deadlifts three times a week in order to train her peach butt. After practicing for half a year, her buttocks did not rise much. On the contrary, every time she got her period, she was in so much pain that she could not straighten up. She stopped training for 2 months before she got better. In fact, there is really no need to compare with others. Whether your natural frame is wide or narrow, and how much your hip joints can be opened are all given by your parents. Whether your hips are round or not is really not that important. Your hips don’t swing when you walk, and your waist doesn’t feel sore when you sit down. That’s better than anything else.

Oh, by the way, the maintenance priorities of different age groups are really very different, so don’t follow the trend blindly. Most girls in their early 20s lower their heads to check their mobile phones every day and sit for long periods of time in class and work. The most common problems they face are protruding necks and rounded shoulders. You really don’t need to spend a lot of money to get a fitness card. When you check your phone, lift your arms up to eye level, and then put them down when your arms are sore after 10 minutes. This is much more useful than practicing shoulder tunnel once a week. I used to wear it for half a month, and my shoulders were all covered with red marks. After taking them off, my shoulders were still rounded. Then I stood against the wall for 5 minutes every day before taking a shower. The back of my head, shoulders, buttocks, and heels were pressed against the wall. I breathed naturally without deliberately raising my chest. After practicing for a month, my rounded shoulders were mostly improved, and even the neck pain caused by sitting for a long time was gone.

Most of the sisters over 30 have given birth, or have started to lose muscle mass, and are prone to problems with wide false hips and protruding lower abdomen. Don’t just dance Pamela and do abdominal crunches. First, practice abdominal breathing smoothly. Put your hands on your belly every day when you lie down. When you inhale, your belly will expand, and when you exhale, it will slowly bottom out. Practice for 10 minutes each time. After two weeks of practice, you will find that your waist is no longer sore and your lower abdomen will be much tighter. After my best friend gave birth to a child, her rectus abdominis was separated by two fingers. She relied on practicing abdominal breathing every day and taking a walk. Within half a year, it was back to within one finger, and she never did any strenuous exercise.

For sisters over 40, estrogen has begun to decline and bone mass has gradually decreased. Don't compete with little girls in running and jumping. It is especially good to practice squatting against the wall more often. Put your back against the wall and your knees should not exceed your toes. Squat for 1 minute each time to train the muscles of the thighs and protect the knee joints. This is much more beneficial to the body than running a few kilometers every day. My mother is 55 years old and her knees hurt when she went downstairs. She practiced silent squats for three months. Now she can climb up to the sixth floor without gasping and her legs are no longer swollen.

People also ask a lot about whether wearing high heels will ruin your figure. This is also a matter of different opinions. Rehabilitation experts say that wearing high heels over 5cm long will cause long-term tension in the calf muscles, easily turning into carrot legs, and aggravating the anterior tilt of the pelvis. However, friends who do image management also said that as long as they are not worn for 8 hours a day, and occasionally put the focus on the soles of the feet when wearing high heels, instead of putting all the pressure on the toes, it can exercise the stability of the ankles, and there will be no big problem. I now only wear flat shoes for commuting, and 5cm thick heels for important occasions, and I haven’t had any problems with my calves getting thicker, so I really don’t need to worry too much.

In fact, body care is really not that complicated. In the final analysis, it means don’t compete with your body. You don’t have to have a concave figure that doesn’t fit your frame, and you don’t have to force yourself to practice until your whole body hurts every day. You are in the best state when you are comfortable, stretched, and healthy. Not long ago, I saw a 60-year-old aunt in the park. She does Tai Chi for 20 minutes every morning. She keeps her back straight, walks in the wind, and smiles very stretched. She is much prettier than those little girls with sag-shaped shoulders that cause pain in the shoulders. You see, there is no unified standard for body shape. The best method is the one that suits you.