Author Resource: 36 Pictures To See Which Muscle You’re Stretching

Reblogged from SpeedViralIdea.xyz

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36 Pictures To See Which Muscle You’re Stretching

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You should all know that you need to stretch, whether you are a chronic sitter, a weekend warrior, or a daily exerciser. Stretching helps your blood reach your muscles and your joints move through their full range of motion, but it also improves your posture and athletic performance and reduces the risk of injuries and pain.

How do you know which muscles you are actually stretching or if you are performing each stretch the right way while you do yoga or the flexibility routine?

Well, here is a little knowledge on the topic, and having this in your back pocket, you can opt for the best stretches that best fit your goals. In case you start feeling pain, and not the regular, good pain, but the stretchy one when you know that something does not feel right, you should pinpoint the muscle that gives you the trouble and change the technique you have been using in order to avoid getting injured.

These stretches should be felt in the belly of your muscle. However, you should not feel pressure or strain in your joints, and if you do, it means that you are pushing too far. During the stretching, concentrate on your breathing and make sure these movements are as natural as possible.

Stop thinking about the time you are holding the stretch, but instead, start concentrating on feeling your muscles relaxing and returning to their natural, resting length. This may take about five to thirty seconds. If a stretch does not feel like it is doing something for your body muscles, change it and try another one.

The beautiful illustrations we present you are made by Vicky Timon, a yoga expert and author of “Encyclopedia of Pilates Exercises”, and James Kilgallon, CSCS, creator of Mazio’s Body Maintenance Program, contributed by giving the expert commentary.

1. Camel Pose

Muscles emphasized: Rectus Abdominus and External Obliques. This stretch is though most appropriate for people who already have a good flexibility. Sitting on your heels, put your hands behind you, pushing your hips up and forward. Do not put too much pressure on your lumbar spine. Also, in case you have problems with your neck, do not drop your head back.

2. Wide Forward Fold

Muscles emphasized: adductors. This exercise is great for stretching the adductors and the hamstrings, and you just need to open the hips. Start with your knees bent, holding your spine straight. As you start feeling your muscles starting to release, straighten your legs, round out your back and reach for your feet. Pull easily on the bottom of the balls of your feet in order to release the calf muscles. If you are beginner, you might not be able to reach your feet, so then you will need to use a belt or a towel. This stretch can also be performed while you lye on your back and push your legs up the wall.

3. Frog Pose

Muscles emphasized: adductors. This stretch for your groins can put pressure on your knees as well, so it is recommended that you perform it on a soft surface. Rest your hands and knees, and then bring your knees wider until you feel your groin muscles well stretched. You will feel a bit differing stretches as you actively push your hips back and forward.

4. Wide Side Lunge Pose

Muscles emphasized: adductors. Begin by putting your both feet forward in a wide stance, holding your legs as straight as possible. With your hands, walk to your right foot and then bend your right knee and rotate your left toes up to the ceiling, sitting in your right hip. Make sure your right foot maintains flat on the ground.

5. Butterfly Stretch

Muscles emphasized: adductors. Sitting, bring the soles of your feet together and sit tall through your sit bones. Develop this stretch by putting pressure on your knees, using your hands. If you want to stretch your groin muscles better, hold your feet closer to your body. Now, make sure your feet are far from your hips and slowly round your upper body to loose your back muscles.

6. Forearm Extensor Stretch

Muscles emphasized: Forearm extensor. Pack your shoulders and your back down and rotate the shoulder towards outside in order to get into the optimal position to stretch the forearm muscle. After you have managed to bring your body into this position, put pressure on your other hand to start the stretch. You can develop this stretch by touching the tips of your fingers together in the shape of a tea cup.

7. Lateral Side Flexion of the Neck

Muscles emphasized: sternocleidomastoid “SCM”. Prolong your neck as much as possible and slowly drop your ear to your shoulder, ensuring that you are not collapsing your cervical spine. This stretch can be further developed and advanced by sitting on a chair and holding onto the bottom of the seat. This is going to make the tension down your arm and neck consistent, and thus it will let you target the upper traps.

8. Neck Rotation Stretch

Muscles emphasized: sternocleidomastoid “SCM”. Begin by rotating your neck in a slow manner, while keeping your chin a bit elevated to isolate the SCM. For a deeper stretch, you will need to put pressure with the opposite hand from the direction that you are rotating.

9. Neck Extension Stretch

Muscles emphasized: sternocleidomastoid “SCM”. Begin by putting your hands on your hips, and in meantime, keep your spine long start to tilt your head back, ensuring that you are not collapsing your cervical spine.

10. Lateral Side Flexion of the Neck with Hand Assistance

Muscles emphasized: sternocleidomastoid “SCM” and upper trapezius. Prolong your neck as much as possible while you slowly drop your ear to your shoulder. While you do this, make sure you are not collapsing your cervical spine. Advance this stretch by sitting on a chair and grabbing the bottom of its seat. In this way, you will create consistent tension down the arm and the neck, and it will let you target the upper traps.

11. Half Kneeling Quad / Hip Flexor Stretch

Muscles emphasized: psoas and quadriceps. Begin in the position of half-kneeling. Then you should bring forward the right hip, and you should also start feeling a stretch in the front of your hip while you do that. Take your back foot and squeeze your back glute in order to add to the stretch on your hip flexors.

12. Forearm Extensor Stretch

Muscles emphasized: forearm extensor. Begin by packing your shoulder and your back down. Next, rotate your shoulder towards outside to get into the optimal position to stretch the forearm muscle. When you have come into this position put pressure on your opposing hand to start the stretch. You can advance this stretch by touching the tips of your fingers together in the shape of a tea cup.

13. Lateral Shoulder Stretch

Muscles emphasized: side deltoid. With your arms across your body, put pressure on your arm to add to the stretch on your shoulder.

14. Standing Assisted Neck Flexion Stretch

Muscles emphasized: trapezius muscle. Stand on the ground with your feet together. Make sure your spine is prolonged and slowly sit your hips back and round your upper back, pushing your chin to your chest at the same time.

15. Lat Stretch with Spinal Traction

Muscles emphasized: latissimus dorsi. Begin by taking a firm grip on a bar and slowly lifting your feet off the ground. The stretch needs to be felt in your chest and lats. In case you have totally taken your feet off the ground, you will feel traction in your lumbar spine. If you have recently undergone a shoulder injury or you have impingement of the shoulder, do not perform this stretch.

16. Lat Stretch at the Wall

Muscles emphasized: latissimus dorsi. Put your both hands on the corner of a wall or post. Maintaining your spine prolonged, push your hips out to the side in a slow manner. If you have problems with your lower back, do not perform this stretch.

17. Child’s Pose

Muscles emphasized: latissimus dorsi. Being on the ground with your hands and your knees on the floor, slowly bring your hips back until your forehead is on the floor. If you want a better stretch in your hips, you should bring your knees wider. Your upper back should be positioned in the shape of an arch, and then you should externally rotate your shoulders to stretch your lats and chest muscles.

18. Standing Calf Stretch

Muscles emphasized: soleus and gastrocnemius. This stretch can be performed on a rack or on the edge of a stair step. Rotate your ankles a bit towards inside and outside to actively stretch your calf muscles.

19. Front Split

Muscles emphasized: psoas and hamstring. This stretch is not suitable for beginners, as it is kind of advanced, and it should be performed with caution, especially if you have any hip problems. Begin in a position of kneeling lunge. It can also be beneficial if you have the support of a chair while your hip flexors and hamstrings release.

20. Seated Forward Fold / Seated Toe Touch

Muscles emphasized: hamstrings and calfs. Sit into your seat bones and bend your knees if you need to. Your legs will become stronger as your flexibility gets better. Make sure your spine is as straight as possible, especially if you have back problems. This stretch can also be done lying down on the back, with your feet up the wall.

21. Single Led Forward Bend

Muscles emphasized: hamstrings. Begin by having your feet positioned one in front of the other. Keeping your back straight, bring your hands to your hips and start bending from the hips.

22. Deep Squat

Muscles emphasized: glutes. This movement has general impact on all areas of your body. If you have problems with your knees, or if you cannot keep your heels on the ground, perform your squat before proceeding. Begin by standing with your feet apart in the width of your shoulders and then start gradually lowering into the deep squat. When you get to the position of deep squat, bring your arms inside your legs and put a little pressure to the inside of your knees, sitting into the hips and heels. This stretch can also be performed lying on the back with the feet against a wall.

23. Seated Half King Pigeon Pose

Muscles emphasized: glutes. Begin in a seated position and gradually pull your leg to your chest and rotate your hip towards outside, while keeping your spine straight. This stretch should be felt in the glute.

24. Standing Calf Stretch at the Wall

Muscles emphasized: soleus and gastrocnemius. Initiate in the lunge position, having the back of your foot a bit turned out. Gradually bring the back of your heel to the floor to stretch your calf muscles.

25. Lateral Flexion at the Wall

Muscles emphasized: external obliques. Keep your spine prolonged and slowly push your hips outside. If you have troubles with your lower back, do not perform this stretch.

26. Supine Twist

Muscles emphasized: glutes and external obliques. This stretch is especially good and beneficial for people who suffer from sciatica pain and try to get rid of it. Begin by lying flat on your back and then bring one leg across your body, and gradually rotate your gaze and upper body in the opposite direction. What’s important about this stretch is the fact that you use your breath to open up your rib cage and sacroiliac joint and hip area without putting too much pressure on the lower back. If this stretch is too hard for you, stack both of your knees on top of each other, and when you are positioned this way you will feel more stretch on the upper spine when the knees are higher, and more stretch on the lumbar spine when the knees are lower.

27. Lateral Flexion with a Dowel

Muscles emphasized: external obliques and latissimus dorsi. Keeping your spine long, gradually push your hips out to the side while keeping your shoulders rotated outwardly. In case you have problems with your lower back, do not perform this stretch.

28. Triangle Pose

Muscles emphasized: external obliques. Begin with a wide stand and with your front foot straight ahead, and your back foot at 90 degrees. Put your hand on your front leg or on the floor, and sit back into your front hip, keeping your back straight. Rotate away from your front leg and maintain your look on the hand that it is in the air.

29. Chest Stretch at the Wall

Muscles emphasized: pectorals. For starters, face the wall with your thumb up. Gradually rotate away from the wall in order to stretch your chest muscle. This stretch should be felt in the belly of the muscle, but be careful not to stretch too far, as it will result in a pain in the shoulder joint.

30. Assisted Chest Stretch

Muscles emphasized: chest and latissimus dorsi. Begin by lying down on the floor and holding your palms faced up. Your partner should be seated in a deep squat and hold your hands, thus, you are supposed to feel a stretch in your chest and lats. The stretch should also cause some traction in your spine. If you have shoulder impingement, do not perform this stretch.

31. Seated half Pigeon Variation

Muscles emphasized: anterior tibialis. Begin by sitting with your feet positioned in front of you. Put one hand behind you and rotate your hip outwardly and put one foot above your knee. If you want to add to the stretch on your hip, gradually lean forwardly and start the movement by hinging at the hips.

32. Supine Shoulder External Rotation Stretch

Muscles emphasized: subscapularis. Begin by lying flat on your back. Then, place your arm straight out to the side with your elbow at an angle of 90 degrees. Next, gradually bring the back of your hand to the floor. If you cannot bring your hand close to the floor, and it is still far away, it means that your rotator cuff and other muscles that control internal rotation are tight.

33. Down Dog Variation at the Wall

Muscles emphasized: pectorals and latissimus dorsi. Stand far enough from a wall or rack so that when you touch the wall your body gets into parallel position to the ground. Move into this position by pivoting at the hips and make sure your spine is straight all the time. Once in this position, move your chest forward and make a slight arch in your upper back and stretch your lats and chest muscles. If your hamstrings are tight, try bending at the knees.

34. Assisted Chest Stretch Variation

Muscles emphasized: pectorals. Lye down on the floor with your face down and your palms faced down. Your partner should pull your hands back and you should feel a deep stretch in your chest muscles. In case you have a shoulder impingement, do not perform this stretch.

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Source: beyoungbegreen.com, www.lifehack.org, makeyourlifehealthier

How to: Make an Audio Book Using ACX (Step-by-Step)

Reblogged from Mike Fishbein

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The Amazon Kindle ebook market is getting more crowded by the day and it’s increasingly difficult to stand out. No matter how good your books are, there are a lot of fish, both big and small, to compete with.

One of my solutions to drawing a wider audience has been to turn my ebooks into audiobooks. Doing this helps me to tap into a whole new audience on Audible who, otherwise may never even have heard of me, adds more versatility to my current products, and boosts the professional image of my book pages.

I now reach more people than ever before and am able to serve a whole new sector of potential customers who prefer listening to audio over reading.

Creating audiobooks boosts the professional image of your book on Amazon, not to mention, you get a $50 bounty from Amazon if yours is the first audiobook an AudibleListener member buys. So far I’ve sold over 3,000 audiobooks and have earned over 30 bounties.

In this post, I’ll walk you through the whole process of how to make  an audio book using ACX. I’ve captured and detailed every step involved from converting your book to auditioning and working with the best narrator for the job. By the end of reading this you will be well on your way to reaping the benefits of a whole new market. Log in to ACX now and follow along as you read.

Step 1: Go to www.acx.com

Log in or sign up at www.acx.com and enter in either your book title, ISBN, or author name. Amazon will then search Amazon.com for rights you might have using your name.

If this is your first audiobook or even if you have created a few already, ACX provides some very helpful guidelines to get you started. Read them to get an idea of the process.

Step 2: Select Your Book

Select the book you’d like to turn into an audiobook.

Step 3: Choose the best narration option for you

Here you get to choose whether you are looking for a narrator, have already converted you book into audio and just wish to sell it, or if you will be doing the narrating yourself. I outsource my production so I select the first option.

Step 4: Agree to the terms

Read through ACX’s book posting agreement carefully before continuing. Each time you turn a book into an audiobook using ACX, you enter into a separate agreement.

Step 5: Enter your book description

Provide potential Audible listeners with information about your book, giving them a sense of the content and value for readers. It’s best to just use your Amazon book description for this.

Step 6: Enter your copyright information

Confirm yourself as copyright owner for your original book as well as for your audio book. For the copyright year, enter in the current year.

Step 7: Select a category

First indicate whether your book is fiction or nonfiction and then select the category most suited to your book.

Step 8: Specify narrator voice

Here is where you specify what type of narrator voice you want. Give some careful consideration to tone, accent and gender as this will influence how readers interpret your message. For my books I tend to stick to the above requirements.

Step 9: Add in additional comments

Add in additional comments that give narrators a good indication of who you are, your accolades, the value of your book, and who your target readership is. Get narrators excited to collaborate with you!

Step 10: Add an audition script

Either type in or upload an audition script to get the best narrator fit for your book. Do you want to hear how well they tell stories? How captivatingly they retell facts or data? Can they get your unique sense of humor across? Choose a script which will give you a good sense of the narrator’s scope.

If you prefer, you can upload your script. Make sure it is in either Word, PDF or TXT format.

Step 11: Enter your book’s word count

Once you enter your book’s word count, you have finished the first section of how to create an audiobook using ACX and we are on to next: Distribution. This is where you will set the parameters for the distribution of your audiobook. To start, type in your book’s word count.

Step 12: Specify your territory rights

Unless you have a limitation on the areas your book is allowed rights within, select “World”. Choosing this means you have permission to sell your audiobook in every country.

Step 13: Select payment method

Select how you wish to pay your ACX narrator. You can choose either a revenue share model or a pay-per hour production fee. If you are unsure which one you want, select both for now and make a final decision once you have secured a suitable narrator.

Step 14: Select distribution type

Choose between exclusive or non-exclusive. I prefer the exclusive option. The royalty percentage is higher and I prefer to have all my books and audiobooks sold in one place.

Next, click save and continue to move on to the final section in the process.

Step 15: Review and post

Ok, now we are on to the third and final step of creating an audiobook using ACX: Review and post.

Click “Post to ACX” so narrators can pick up your script and start auditioning for your audio book. The sooner you do this, the better!

Step 16: Review auditions

Now comes the fun part; narrators will start auditioning for your audiobook. You will receive an email notification each time a new audition comes through. I usually wait about 5 days to let them come in. If you have a specific narrator in mind, you can invite them to audition for your book.

Step 17: Click on New Auditions

To listen to the auditions, log in to your ACX profile and click “new auditions’ in the top menu bar.

Step 18: Listen to unheard auditions

You will find all the auditions you haven’t listened to yet in the right sidebar.

The listening process is simple on ACX. Click on the play button to listen to the audition and then click either “like” or “dislike” depending on your preference.

Step 19: Set your schedule

Once you have decided which narrator you want to use, and alerted them, set your schedule to indicate what timeframe they have to work within. This must include edits and correction time.

Step 20: Choose a payment method

This is where you decide whether to choose a royalty share or pay for production method. So if you were previously unsure and selected both, this is when you will need to make your decision. Discuss it with your narrator to see what suits both of you best.

If you’re paying, you have to coordinate with your narrator and most likely pay via PayPal. If you select the royalty share option, ACX will handle it.

Before you send your payment proposal off, click “preview” to check it’s correct.

Step 21: Send offer

Once you are happy with your payment proposal, click “send offer” to send it off to your narrator.

Step 22: Send your narrator the manuscript

Once your narrator has accepted your offer, the first step in your collaboration is to send them the manuscript for your audio book. Click “In Production projects” to bring up the tab below.

Here you can select the manuscript you wish to send your narrator. Click on the title and then click browse to upload it. Your manuscript must either be in Word, PDF, or TXT format.

Your manuscript will then have been sent to your narrator. Now you need to wait for them to review it and record the first 15 minutes which they will then upload for your approval.

Step 23: The first 15 minutes are ready for you to hear

Your narrator will review your manuscript and record the first 15 minutes of your audiobook as a sample for you to listen to. You will receive an email notification when it is ready for you.

Step 24: Listen to the first 15 minutes

Click “play” to listen to the recording and select “approve” if you are happy with it. If you have queries or concerns about it, you can click “send message” to contact your narrator.

Once you have listened to the recording and clicked “approve”, sit back and relax. You will need to wait for your narrator to finish recording the rest of your audiobook. You can check the “produce audiobook” tab to see if any files have been uploaded.

Step 25: Create or upload your cover

While you are waiting for your narrator to finish recording your book, you can create your audiobook cover. The image and technical requirements can be seen above.

Step 26: Covert book cover to ACX format

I use Fiverr to convert my cover images to ACX format.

Step 27: Upload cover art

Once I have converted my image and saved it to my computer, I click here to upload my cover image.

Step 28: Do a final review

You will receive an email notification when your audiobook is ready for a final review. Click on the link to open it up.

Listen to each chapter separately by pressing the play button on the track you want to hear. If you’re not quite satisfied with it yet, you can request more changes from your narrator.

Otherwise, if it’s good to go,  click “approve audiobook”.

Step 29: Wait for the quality assurance checks

Once you have confirmed the audiobook, you will receive an e-mail with the above information. This clearly lays out what the next steps will be. You just have to confirm your bank information and wait.

Step 30: Your audiobook is now live

(Image Screenshot for amazon)

A week or two later, you will get an email confirming that your audiobook is now live on Amazon and Audible!

Once your audiobook is live, make it a habit to regularly check back to yourdashboard to see how your sales are doing.

Key-takeaways

Making an audiobook using ACX is a great way to stand out in a competitive market. You can reach a whole new marketspace of Audible listeners and cater to customers who prefer listening to audiobooks rather than trying to make time in their busy schedules for reading. Providing both ebooks and audiobooks (and paperbacks too!) boosts your professional image as an author and adds another stream to your passive income.

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