How to Grow Taller With Exercise
Tight muscles, weak muscles, and poor body awareness can cause a person to slump or not stand up straight. Through stretching and corrective exercises, you can become taller by releasing muscle knots, increasing your muscles' elasticity, and straightening your spine. You'll also be stronger and will counteract the effects of gravity.
Instructions
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How to Stretch to Increase Your Height
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Stretch your hamstrings by standing on your right leg with your knee bent. Put your left leg in front of you and lock your left knee. Pull your leg toes up and lean over until you feel a stretch in the back of your left leg. Hold for thirty seconds and then switch legs. Do this twice a day.
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2
Lie on your back on a mat and draw your knees up to your chest to stretch your lower back. Place your left leg straight on the ground and hug your right knee to your chest. Switch legs. Hold each stretch for thirty seconds.
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3
Cross your left leg onto your right thigh. Rest the outside of your left ankle on your right knee. Bend both legs. Grab behind your right knee and pull it into your chest, bringing your left leg up too, until you feel a stretch in your left buttocks muscle. This stretches your piriformis muscle. Hold for thirty seconds and switch sides.
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4
Sit up straight with your legs straight in front of you and your feet flexed with toes pointing up. Reach your arms up to the ceiling and then bend from your waist and try to push your belly to your thighs. Relax your neck and arms down. Grab your feet if possible, or your ankles or calves if not, and hold for thirty seconds.
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5
Stand facing a wall and place your hands against the wall at chest height. Lean forward until you feel a stretch in your calves. Back up if you do not feel the stretch and start again. Hold for thirty seconds.
How to Do Corrective Exercises to Look Taller
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Lie face-down on a mat with your arms at your sides and your legs straight. Exhale and lift your upper body off the mat. Pull your shoulder blades together and hold for two seconds. Inhale and slowly lower yourself to the mat. Do two sets of twelve to twenty reps.
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Lie face-down on a mat with your arms straight out on the mat in front of you. Straighten your legs. Exhale and lift your upper body and your legs together. Reach your arms forward and extend your legs backward. Hold yourself up in this Superman position for two seconds. Inhale and relax back to the mat. Do two sets of twelve to twenty reps.
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8
Combine two exercises into the locust pose. Lie on a mat with your arms at your sides and your legs straight behind you. Lift your upper body up and pull your shoulder blades together. Also, lift your legs. Hold this pose for thirty seconds. Relax for thirty seconds and then do it again.
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Tips & Warnings
Yoga is great for improving your flexibility to increase your height, especially the inversion poses. Try a class or buy a DVD.
