As I am a student, I spent a lot of time (too much, actually) every day sitting. I have meant to follow a really strict fitness program at my local gym literally for years now, but I have lacked the motivation in the past to follow through, what with all the readjustments I'd have to make in my academic schedule to allow for a 3x-per-week training schedule...
I wouldn't consider my body unfit. For one, I can walk for whole hours without any great signs of fatique, but I figure it's expected of my body to be able to do so anyway, at the age of 22... I'm 6' 2" and weigh approx. 181 pounds, a normal BMI (23) for my age as far as I can tell.
However, there are things that have lately bothered me on my figure/posture/fitness, and in a flash of motivation I have decided to start addressing them once and for all. Unfortunately, I am at a loss of what to do, so I'd appreciate some fitness advice from fellow TFPers :-)
1) I have had this one condition for a couple of years now: ever noticed how Bruce Willis cracks his neck in the Die Hard films? Well, what he does pales in comparison to what I have to do many times a day. Every morning I wake up, it's like my head is "locked" in a position, and I just feel like I *absolutely* *have* to unlock it, so I jerk my head a little to the side, my neck produces this soft "crack" sound and it feels better afterwards. I usually have to do that more than once, otherwise I feel like some muscles around my neck are tensed. Sometimes it feels like something around my shoulder blades is tensed.
This also happens to my back muscles. The most distrubing thing is that since some months now, sometimes my breastbone does the exact same thing when I tense my sternum after having sat for a long time; it goes "crack" softly. Note that all this "unlocking" doesn't hurt at all.
I have consulted a doctor about this, and he had given me some muscle-relaxing medicine, which did something, but I stopped taking it because it made me kind of slump. Does anyone know what kind of gym exercises would help flex these muscles a bit more? How can I help my body fight these effect of modern sitting life?
2) What exercises can I do to improve my posture? It's not bad as it is right now, but I'd like to reach a point where my body sits up straight almost by itself.
3) I know this will sound ridiculous, but I recently noticed that I have kind of a fat ass
Usually I wear Levis 501s, so it doesn't show as much. Today I wore an older pair of 521s (which have thinner pant legs) which still fit me, and WOW, I thought I looked totally awkward in them. Like my ass is doing a curve and then my legs go straight down. It doesn't look good...
As a side note, I started noticing other guys today (not in a homosexual way, mind you
) and it's like everybody who is nicely and casually dressed has a FLAT BUTT! What exercises will help me achieve this noble goal?