Ladylinx feature from My Lifetime

By learning to align your body better, opening your chest and strengthening your upper back, you can turn poor posture into pretty posture in no time.

Get Aligned

Proper alignment — the correct position of the body’s various components — is the foundation to good posture. It looks like this: Shoulders are back (collarbones open wide apart), the ears are stacked over the shoulders (jawline parallel to the floor) and the shoulders are stacked over the hips (upright spine). Just by pulling the shoulders back and rolling them open, you start a chain reaction that leads to better alignment. Try it right now and see for yourself! The chest lifts and the spine seems taller instantly.

Being aware of your posture throughout the day is the best way to set things straight with your body. Here are some simple posture reminders:
• When you pass your reflection in a mirror, take a peek!
• When you sit at your desk, take the time to slide the chair forward to support your spine in a straight line perpendicular to your seat.
• Imagine you’re wearing a corset, pulling in the core muscles and pressing the navel in to support your spine (and look slimmer!).
• Visualize a book balancing on your head while standing.

Open Your Heart

In order to roll your shoulders back, you’ll need flexibility in your pectoral muscles — the muscles that lie just below the front of each shoulder. Perform this exercise at least once or day and whenever you’re being overly hunchy:

Action: Stand straight with your hands clasped behind your back, fingers interlocked. Simultaneously straighten your arms and pull them away from your body. Breathe in and out deeply as you allow the shoulders to relax. Constantly try to lift the arms farther away from the body. You’ll feel a nice chest stretch. Do this for 30 to 60 seconds and release.

Strengthen Your Back

The one-arm wall push-up is a great do-anywhere option for the upper back muscles (the rear deltoids and the rhomboid). By strengthening this area, you can more easily roll the shoulders open, which sets up your frame for posture success.

Starting Position: Face a wall, standing 10 inches away with your feet parallel. Place your right palm on the wall at shoulder height and place your left hand on your hip.

Action: Perform a one-arm push-up against the wall by bending then straightening the right elbow. Try bending your elbow straight back like a grasshopper leg, so your arm stays close to the body. Make sure to keep your body straight. Perform 10 repetitions using the right arm, then switch arms, performing an additional 10 using the left arm.

If you credit a sedentary lifestyle for your poor posture, there is one more thing I highly recommend: Get up and move at regular intervals throughout the day — every half-hour is ideal. As your muscles tire or remain unused, slouching, slumping and hunching become your standby stances. Take a “good posture break” by standing up while talking on the phone or personally deliver a message to a coworker instead of e-mailing her.

Ladylinx feature from My Lifetime

What if a simple snack could help you to dodge the flu, sound smarter or amp up your sex life? It makes perfect sense that the food you fill up on affects how you feel and act. So we came up with the best grub to help you get the most of your everyday activities.

At the Gym

Fuel your workout: Eat a banana
When it comes to exercise energy, it’s all about carbohydrates. “Working out increases the need for carbohydrates thirty-fold, and bananas provide the carbohydrates and energy for muscles to work hard,” says Amy Jamieson-Petonic, RD, health education manager at Cleveland’s Fairview Hospital. There is a small amount of stored carbohydrates in the muscles and liver, but it will be exhausted quickly if there is a not backup fuel source. Bananas are perfect tank fillers — they are well-known for their vitamin B and potassium richness, but they’re also jam-packed with carbs. In fact, a medium banana has just as many carbohydrates as two slices of whole-wheat bread. On top of providing muscle fuel, bananas help maintain blood glucose levels, Jamieson-Petonic says. So pack one in your gym bag and peel it about 30 to 60 minutes before your workout.
Heal your muscles: Drink chocolate milk
During your workout you burned through your carbohydrate stores and broke down your muscle, so make sure that you get a combination of protein and carbohydrates post-exercise — both are very important for healing microscopic tears in the muscles, says Jamieson-Petonic. You need to heal these tiny tears to prepare for your next workout, and protein helps to build the muscle back again. Chug a cup of low-fat chocolate milk: It has about 26 grams of carbohydrates and 8 grams of protein, plus it provides the amino acid leucine, which also helps to build and repair muscle tissue. For rapid recovery, have a cup within 30 minutes of completing your workout.

At the Bar

Prepare for a long night out: Eat french fries
Pre-hangover, some of the best foods to consume are those heavy in fat and carbohydrates, such as a large basket of french fries. Putting anything in your stomach before drinking is a good idea, but fatty foods coat the stomach lining longer and therefore slow down the absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream, which means you’re less likely to get tanked, and less likely to feel the queasy aftereffects in the morning. If you’re looking to dodge a beer belly (and clogged arteries!), go for a slice of whole-grain toast with almond butter: This will absorb the booze and line the stomach in the same way as fries, without making your tube top too tight. At the bar, go for a caffeine-free mixer — caffeine increases the amount of alcohol you absorb and will probably lead to a heavier hangover in the morning.
Head off a hangover: Drink Emergen-C
After your night of one-too-many glasses of wine, pour a packet of Emergen-C into six ounces of water ($10 for a pack of 36 at GNC.com) and down it before bed. This fizzy drink has 1,000 milligrams of Vitamin C, 28 different mineral electrolytes and lots of B vitamins to help replenish the mineral reserves you lost during the night, and the water rehydrates what the alcohol stripped from your body, which means less of a headache in the morning. If you prefer to pop a pill, take vitamin B1 (about 500 milligrams) and vitamin C (about 1,000 milligrams) with a tall glass of water to help restore your energy level. And when the hangover hunger strikes, dodge the burnt toast and Bloody Mary, and order the eggs — they contain large amounts of cysteine, the substance that breaks down the hangover-causing toxin acetaldehyde in the liver.

In the Sack

Get in the mood: Eat a chili pepper
When it comes to aphrodisiacs, different foods have different effects on the body, says clinical sexologist Ava Cadell, PhD. One group of aphrodisiacs secretes capsaicin, a substance that stimulates the nervous system, causing the brain to release endorphins that can result in temporary euphoria — these are best for getting in the mood. So when you’re looking to amp up your sex life, have a chili-pepper snack, perhaps in the form of leftover Thai food or tortilla chips slathered in salsa verde, about half an hour before hitting the sheets. This will get your face flushing, heart pumping, pores sweating and blood flowing toward the genitals. (And as unappealing as that sounds, men can’t resist it.)
Achieve better orgasms: Eat licorice
If you want a more powerful orgasm, grab some Good & Plenty. Licorice contains plant estrogens called phytosterols that stimulate the sex glands, bringing oxygen to the genitals 40 percent faster than other foods. With the increase in oxygen comes an increase in blood flow, which causes the clitoris to become aroused, Cadell says. Munch on licorice about 30 minutes before sex for orgasms that are good and plentiful. While you’re at it, get your guy to go au naturel; ironically, the scent of men’s cologne may actually decrease blood flow.

In Your Head

Boost your brain power: Eat salmon
Looking to wow your hubby during “Jeopardy”? Add lox to your morning bagel. Salmon is a fatty, cold-water fish that contains healthy omega-3 fats, which are vital for the development of new brain cells and nerve cells. Other fatty fish options include mackerel, fresh tuna and sardines. The American Heart Association recommends eating two fatty-fish meals per week. Don’t like fish? Get your omega-3s from eggs, milk and orange juice fortified with the fatty acids.
Never forget where you left your keys: Eat an apple
Have an apple a day and your memories won’t stray. Research in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease found that eating an apple, or drinking apple juice, may protect against the cell damage that contributes to memory loss. The study showed that apple eaters suffered less brain stress, meaning more memories!

For Your Health

Build your immune system: Eat yogurt
You can boost your immune system and shorten, or prevent, illness with yogurt. The probiotics (good bacteria) inside each cup act as a barrier against the harmful bacteria that make us ill. In a 2005 Swedish study, 10 percent of people who took a probiotic supplement took sick days from work, compared with 26.4 percent who got a placebo. Researchers also found that daily use of probiotics could reduce sick days due to respiratory or gastrointestinal illnesses by 55 percent. Have one to two servings of yogurt per day, and be sure the label lists Lactobacillus acidophilus or says “live and active cultures.” If it doesn’t, Jamieson-Petonic says, you may not be getting the helpful bacteria to keep your immune system strong.
Fight off a bug: Eat Brazil nuts
Selenium, a micromineral known to protect cells from free-radical damage, prevents colds and upper-respiratory infections, says Jamieson-Petonic. And Brazil nuts contain the most, as much as 544 micrograms per ounce — that’s almost nine times more than tuna, which is noted as an excellent source of selenium. As for the amount you should eat to ward off the sniffles: Grab a small handful a few times a week, and go nuts!

Ladylinx feature from My Lifetime

In a perfect world, we would have the time and the patience to stretch both pre- and post-workout — each has specific benefits, and all you really need is a few minutes. But, whether you stretch before you exercise, after you exercise or both before and after, you’re doing your body a favor. Here’s how:

Stretching Beforehand:

Stretching your muscles first is a good way to get limber before cardiovascular activities like jogging or tennis. It gets your blood flowing to your joints and soft tissues, which helps prevent injury. “Before” stretches should be fairly short in duration (about 30 seconds), and gentle — not exceeding 75 percent of your maximum range of motion. In other words, they should be about an 8 on a scale of 1 to 10, if 1 is no stretch and 10 is as far as you can possibly go. They’re also less specific than “after” stretches because they primarily target the joints rather than particular muscles.

The two best locations to target with “before” stretches are the lower back/hips and chest/shoulders. One great “before” stretch is the knee embrace: Simply stand upright and hug your right knee up toward your chest. When you feel a subtle stretch, hold for 30 seconds, release, and repeat with your left leg.

Another good one is the pretzel stretch: Stand comfortably with your feet planted approximately 6 inches apart. With your elbows slightly bent, reach behind your back and grab onto each wrist or forearm with the opposite hand. Allow your shoulder blades to relax and drop. Now move the elbows up and away from the body approximately 1 inch. Hold for 30 seconds and release. It’s slight movements like these that initiate greater blood flow to the joints.

Stretching Afterward:

If you want to improve your flexibility, stretching after an intense workout is just the ticket, since cultivating elasticity within each muscle requires deep warmth, which exercise — especially the sweaty kind — creates. You should hold “after” stretches a little bit longer — for at least a minute. They should also be fairly intense, challenging your range of motion by slowly pushing you to the maximum (a 10 on the scale). And, these stretches should be muscle specific. You’ll want to make sure you hit the big ones — biceps, triceps, shoulders, back, chest, thighs and hamstrings — focusing on those you used the most during your workout.

I especially like stretching my hamstrings, which tend to be really tight on most people: Sit on the floor with your legs together and straight out in front of you. Keeping your back straight, bend forward as far as you can, reaching for your toes. Hold for 60 seconds and release. Oh, and here’s a bonus: In addition to making you more flexible, “after” stretches are also good for warding off muscle soreness.