The most significant role in height belongs to genetics; still, during one’s development years, proper exercises can enhance growth potential. Regular exercise will go a long way in maintaining posture, strengthening muscles, and prompting the production of growth hormones. Among the various exercises known to improve height, Bhujangasana, or Cobra Stretch, is one of the top favorites on the list, followed closely by skipping and other stretching exercises.
In the article that follows, we bring you some of the best exercises that can help you grow your height. Know in detail how Bhujangasana and other exercises can help you enhance your chances of increasing height.
Science Behind Height Increase
Before getting into these exercises, it would be pertinent to understand how bodies grow. Mostly, the growth in human bodies is achieved by the elongation of bones, especially the long bones located in the legs, arms, and spine. Moreso, the most active period of growth for humans is during puberty, where the growth plates are open. Notwithstanding this, maintaining correct postures and performing bone-healthy exercises also provide emphasis on flexibility and would permit a taller individual with maximum growth.
You can’t change your genetic makeup, but you can adopt some exercises that stimulate bone growth and stretch your spine upwards and improve posture. Exercises in general lengthen the bones, muscles, and ligaments-all positive influences on your height.
Bhujangasana or Cobra Stretch
Sometimes called the Cobra Stretch, Bhujangasana is a fabulous yoga pose that may be used for flexibility development, strengthening the spine, and the growth of height. It stretches the lower back, chest, and abdomen, and in doing so, elongates the spine, this helps improve the posture. How does it work?
Spinal Stretching: Bhujangasana directly targets the spinal column, stretching the vertebrae, helping in rectification of posture-related height loss.
Better Blood Circulation: This asana enhances the flow of blood supply to the spinal column and the related areas, resulting in an enhancement of nutrient supply and thus helps support the body’s development processes.
Flexibility: Cobra Stretch is very often practiced to enhance flexibility in the bottom part of the back and in the spine, which, over a period of time, offers elongation
How to Practice Bhujangasana
Lay flat on your stomach with your legs stretched out and the tops of your feet resting on the floor.
Extend your arms forward and place your palms on the ground, pointing your fingers forward.
Slowly inhale. Push your head, chest, and abdominals onto the floor using your palms.
ELBOWS: Keep them slightly bent.
SHOULDERS: Relax them away from your ears.
Hold the stretch for 15-30 seconds and breathe deeply.
Slowly exhale, allowing your upper body to return slowly to the floor.
Height Increase Exercises
Exercises to increase height target numerous muscles, enhance flexibility, and help preserve bone strength. All these exercises promote good posture, giving the illusion of increased height while generally stimulating growth.
1. Skipping
Probably you are wondering if jumping really makes a person tall. The answer lies in how jumping exercises stimulate growth. Skipping involves the repetitive vertical movements that engage and stretch muscles and bones in the legs and spine. Here’s how skipping provides for height growth:
Bone Stimulation: Skipping exerts force on the leg bones, which may promote bone growth and density, especially in younger persons.
Release of Growth Hormones: Skipping favors the release of growth hormones. Growth hormones are very crucial in height expansion.
Body Posture Improvement: Skipping puts your back muscles and core in shape hence improving body posture. When you have a good posture, you tend to appear taller.
To experience tangible results, consider incorporating 5 to 10 minutes a day skipping activity as one of the height development exercises.
2. Hanging Exercises
Hanging from a bar is one of the very good exercises to gain height because it works directly on stretching the spine. Gravitational pull helps in decompressing the spine, giving it a more stretched posture that might even increase the height slightly.
How to Do It: Hang on the bar using both hands, letting your body dangle. Hold this position for 20-30 seconds and then rest. Repeat 3-4 times in a day. For better results, complement hanging with other stretchings.
3. Pelvic Shift
Pelvic shift exercise is meant to stretch and strengthen muscles around the lower back, hips, and spine. Since this exercise focuses on rectifying posture and lengthening the spine, it makes it one of the best exercises for height growth.
How to Do It:
Lie flat on your back, bend your knees, and place your feet flat on the floor.
Keep your arms by your side, palms facing downwards.
Lie on your stomach. Pushing with your feet against the floor, lift your pelvis up toward the ceiling. Your body should form a straight line from knees to shoulders. Hold for 15-30 seconds and release. Repeat for 3-4 sets.
4. Swimming
Swimming is a workout that fully engages one’s entire body, as it also stretches the muscles and ligaments, improving cardiovascular health. In fact, in freestyle and backstroke when your body is horizontal, you are practically alleviating gravity’s compression of your spine, which encourages elongation and flexibility.
Key Benefits:
Full-body stretch
Improves posture
Release growth hormones
Builds core strength
Best Exercise for Height Growth
It is very challenging to single out the best exercise that will augment height growth, because a combination of exercises usually produces the desired results, but stretching of the spine and elongation of the legs by Bhujangasana, hanging, and swimming are highly recommended. For those who wish to stimulate their growth hormones to increase height, skipping is an added procedure.
Other Tips for Height Growth
Hence, the tips for growth in height are wide-ranging, with everyone just needing to find the best combination to suit their needs.
Other than working out, here are some other ways which can help you in obtaining the maximum height possible:
1. Balanced Diet
Growth is largely achieved through a well-balanced diet rich in nutrients and vitamins. Keep track of and ensure you consume adequate amounts of:
Protein: This helps develop your muscles as well as your bones.
Calcium: Helps in developing as well as growing the bone.
Vitamins: More especially Vitamin D that helps your body absorb calcium and Vitamin A which promotes bone growth.
Minerals: Zinc and magnesium are necessary for growth and development.
2. Adequate Rest
Your body manufactures your growth hormones at night, so sleep is all important for the complete maximization of your height. Sleep for 7-9 hours to allow your body ample time to grow and repair itself.
3. Good Posture
Maintaining proper posture would be quite simple measures to prevent height loss, and you would make sure that you employ the optimal parts of your maximum height. Standing and sitting upright kept your spine aligned and avoided slouching, which made you appear shorter in stature.
Even though genes play a great role in the determination of one’s height, the correct combination of physical activities including height-increasing exercises, proper nutrition, and also healthy posture will contribute to the optimization of your growth. Engage in daily regimes including Bhujangasana or Cobra Stretch, skipping, hanging exercises, or even swimming and therefore you have wonderful postures, strength of your muscles, and sometimes a slight increase of height.
Actually, skipping is known to increase height with effects that stimulate the release of growth hormones and provide pressure to stretch the muscles in your legs and spine. For that reason, exercises like the best exercise to increase height, hanging, or swimming, are hybrid approaches to ascertain maximization of your possible height.
Combining these exercises with a healthy lifestyle and proper nutrition can increase the possibilities of growing taller or at least maintaining a taller posture throughout life.