Posts Tagged ‘Face Exercises’
Face Exercises – Why Doing Just One Facial Exercise May Not Be Enough
What face exercises are you doing?
I have been thinking about the face exercises videos that I’ve up on YouTube lately. Some of you might have already viewed those videos here on my blog.
By all means, these workout demos, “Lose Your Chubby Cheeks” and “Lift Your Sagging Jowls” are simple and effective face exercises you can all do at home.
However, a nagging thought bugs me.
What if my readers think that by following ONE face exercise exactly 100%, they could fix the problem there and then.
No. That would be misleading the readers.
So I have decided to put things in the right perspective. Hear me ramble.
Those face exercises are indeed the proper facial workout people are doing to lose chubbiness or to lift saggy jowls.
However, it is NOT the only ONE face exercise required of you.
Why do I need more face exercises?
Because each face exercise serves a different purpose(s).
For example, Face Exercise 1 helps to relax and release muscle tension. Face Exercise 2 works to tone and lift the face muscles. And Face Exercise 3 serves to build and strengthen the facial muscles.
The muscles in the face benefit from a variety of workouts. Each part of the face, whether it’s the cheek muscles or the jaw muscles require different forms of muscular stimulation to get it in top shape.
Also, in reality, the face area isn’t that big. The face is just about the length of an out-stretch palm. Hence the face muscles are small, unlike the body muscles.
As such, even with a face exercise that target specific sets of facial muscles, it is not exact science to be able to isolate one set of muscles from another set of neighboring muscles. And there are times when you want to work several sets of muscle groups simultaneously.
For instance, you want to lift sagging jowls. Your focus is on doing jowls exercise. But don’t forget, the cheeks are the jowls’ up-stair neighbor. You have to work the cheeks too.
Otherwise, when flabby cheeks slide downwards, the jowls become more pronounced.
That’s why we always have more than one exercise to address a problem area of the face.
Would doing a single face exercise be in vain?
Certainly not. Your efforts still pays off. Every exercise brings some benefits.
Whenever you exercise the face, it stimulates blood circulation and detox of the face. Muscles activity remove toxins and brings much needed oxygen and nutrients to the skin.
You also improve muscle tone to a problem area.
Often, this is one of the first steps you need to do when planning to slim the face or to improve the facial contour.
What should I do next?
If you are after a toned face and radiant skin, you should exercise the face so that you work all the muscle groups of the face. You want balance and symmetry when you workout the facial muscles.
The face needs “maintenance” as we age. Double chin, jowls, wrinkles … all areas of the face will be a concern to you. Sooner or later, the face will need your attention to help lift or tuck.
You can now learn the face exercises others are doing to get the face in shape.
Get your face exercises info here: Face Exercise Video.
Image Credit: Saffy
Lose Face Fat – What Causes A Fat Face?
Lose face fat - Sweet temptations
We often associate the person who wants to lose face fat with someone who is overweight. Most of the time, we think of a person with a rotund figure, chubby cheeks and a double chin.
However, that kind of stereo type image might not always be correct. Things are different now.
The truth is, many slim or average size individuals want to lose face fat too.
That’s right, slim and trim people can also developed facial fat and double chin.
This can be due to a genetic disposition. But more likely, it is a result of our modern day lifestyle habits.
Let’s take a look at some of the causes of a ‘fat’ face.
1. Water Retention
You think it’s facial fat. But sometimes, it can be water retention.
Water retention gives you a bloated facial appearance. A high sodium and low fiber diet can easily cause an imbalance of water retention in your body.
Strictly speaking, puffy cheeks are not due to face fat. Many people confused puffy cheeks with chubby cheeks. Knowing the difference will help you eliminate the root cause of looking fat.
2. Lack Of Exercise
The majority of people do not exercise the facial muscles.
Why?
Because not that many people know about face exercises.
The face is made up of facial muscles and fat pads. Facial fat usually accumulate in the cheek and chin areas. Without proper exercise, the face can look flabby, with pronounced jowls or a double chin.
3. Incorrect Sleeping Habits
Lack of sleep, too much sleep or erratic sleep patterns can interfere with the body biological clock.
This results in poor metabolism and terrible skin. Instead of burning calories, a sluggish metabolic rate cause the body to store more fat than normal. Your face looks chunky. Some people might develop belly fat even though they are not overweight.
4. Poor Nutrition
Are you eating healthy wholesome foods? Or are you more used to filling up your stomach with junk food?
Highly processed convenience food (eg microwave TV dinner, fast food, canned food) can satisfy your hunger, but are often poor in nutritional value.
A diet that is high in trans-fat, saturated fat, simple carbohydrate and sugar will eventually lead to a weight gain. Often, any weight you put on will also show up in the face.
As mentioned above, face fat is formed due to a combination of factors.
To lose face fat and slim a chunky face, a shift in lifestyle habits can be helpful. It might be difficult to make the changes initially. But I am sure the effort will be well worth it in the long run.
So, eat healthy, sleep right, and exercise your face. Keep these steps in mind, and you are ready to lose face fat anytime you want.
Image Credit: Cillian Storm
Face Muscle – Expression Lines Can Become Permanent Facial Lines
Face muscle says: Squinting again?
When the face muscle moves, it creates dynamic facial expression lines on our face.
For instance, raising the eyebrows induce horizontal lines across the forehead, whereas pulling in the eyebrows produce the vertical frown lines between the brows.
We don’t normally worry too much about facial lines created as a result of moving the face muscles. Most times, we are not aware of these dynamic facial lines.
On the contrary, we can’t help but notice the lines and wrinkles showing on a face that is ‘at rest’. We certainly pay more attention to the forehead wrinkles or crow’s feet that’s looking back at us in the mirror.
Will facial expressions lead to facial lines?
Yes. This happens over time, and the effect is accelerated with aging. The fine lines you see on your face is often associated with a certain facial expression or facial activity.
Repetitive, everyday facial expressions or facial activity(eg. smoking) can produce permanent facial lines in the long run. For instance, think about laugh lines, frown lines or smoker lines.
How did dynamic expression lines become static(permanent) facial lines?
This happens because a facial expression often have one set of face muscle constantly contracted, and the antagonist muscle remains constantly relaxed.
Take the all so common problem of the frown lines between the brows. Even though you might object and say, “I am a happy person, I don’t have the habit of frowning. Yet I have the 11 etched between the brows.”
Well, the 11 can be a result of your work habits. Do you tend to knit your brows together in deep concentration while looking at the computer or when reading important documents?
Poor lighting(too dim or too bright) at your work station might also cause you to squint your eyes while you are at work.
What happens when the face muscle stays contracted in the same position?
To hold the brows in a knitted position, groups of face muscle have to remain contracted constantly. Over time, the repetitive contraction cause these muscles to lose tone.
In other words, a face muscle that can previously pull back(smooth out) a frown has now lost the tone and strength to do the job. As a result, the frown lines become apparent.
Babies have no problem with frowning or smiling too much. When a baby is upset, he frowned and wailed to get your attention. Once pacified, his scrunched up face relaxes. The face muscles spring back and the skin is smooth again
There are of course extrinsic factors like sun damage, alcohol, stress and lifestyle that also contribute to facial lines and wrinkles. However, we keep the discussion here focused on the relationship between expression lines becoming static facial lines, along with the aging process.
How can you minimize facial lines caused by your everyday facial expressions?
There are three ways you can reduce facial lines.
1. Eliminate Bad Habits
Get rid of bad habits associated with any facial expression or facial activity. Top on my list are squinting, frowning and smoking. Examine your everyday routine. You might come up with other detrimental behavior.
Hey, you don’t need to keep an expressionless face. Laughing, smiling is good for you. You just need to kick the bad habits that are not doing you good.
2. Use Skin Care Products
Good skin care can keep your skin healthy and supple and help reduce fine lines and wrinkles.
3. Improve Face Muscle And Skin Tone
Prep up the muscle and skin tone. In order to maintain muscle tone, we need to use all of our muscle fiber to optimal.
A face muscle that is in a constant state of contraction or relaxation will degenerate. You want to get every face muscle moving to the optimal. One way to do this is by doing face exercises.
The important thing is to have a well rounded workout, so that every face muscle and neck muscle get to be toned and strengthened. Skin tone improves naturally when you exercise your face.
So get going. Keep the lines off your face.
Image Credit: striatic
Face Exercises – A Lower Face Lift Exercise Targeting Sagging Jowls
I have been looking at face exercises for the jowls. As usual, I need the face exercise to be effective, yet simple enough for anyone to do it at home.
But first, what are jowls?
Jowls form when the cheeks sag. Essentially, jowls are loose hanging skin and facial fat on either side of the face that descend down to or below the jawline.
As we age, the jowls become prominent and sag. This is a common feature of facial aging. Often, you would see people in their 50s with pronounced sagging jowls.
The lower face or lower cheek area is fuller. Jowls create an unflattering rectangle shape jaw line. The lower face can look ‘lumpy’ and soft.
Some people are bothered by the appearance of jowls. They can make one look older and fat in the face.
There are numerous face exercises that target sagging jowls.
Here is one effective lower face lift exercise that I like.
This face exercise work the following muscles:
Platysma
The platysma is a thin sheet of muscle positioned between the collar bone and the jaw, whose action is to depress the jaw.
Sternomastoid
Another name for sternomastoid is sternocleidomastoid.
This is one of two muscles located on the front of the neck which serve to turn the head from side to side.
Mentalis
The mentalis is a face muscle located at about the most pronounced part of the chin on each side of the face.
Masseter
The masseter is a face muscle located in the cheek area on each side of the face.
Lower Face Lift Exercise For Sagging Jowls
1. Sit up straight.
2. Push your jaw forward.
3. Hold for 10 seconds.
4. Draw your jaw inwards (back to its original position).
5. Do a set of 10.
Even though this is a very simple exercise, it is powerful because it works the chin, jaw and neck muscles at the same time. It sculpts and tones the jowls and chin and redefine a smooth jaw line.
Try this face exercise now to get rid of sagging jowls or a double chin.
Tone, firm and lift facial sag with face exercises. Let me know if you have other great jowl exercises to share.
Face Muscle – Sagging Jowls And Drooping Jaw Line
Sagging jowls? I am the perfect model
Poor face muscle tone and saggy skin become more prominent as you grow older.
And if you add drooping facial fat pads to the above(problems), you can end up having jowls.
The once attractive triangular shape face has now turned into a square face.
You would probably notice the clean straight jaw line has disappeared. And the jowly face makes you look older and overweight. Sigh … time to get to know about jowls.
So what are jowls?
Jowls are the areas of facial skin or facial fat that have sunk to hang along or below the jaw line.
Taking a simplistic view, jowls can be caused by a combination of factors: saggy facial skin, droopy facial fat and loss of facial volume.
In fact, one of the earliest sign of facial aging is the development of jowls. Jowling can happen as early as your mid 30s. You might not notice the subtle changes at first. But slowly and surely, the jowl problem becomes more prominent as the face muscle sag worsens. Sagging jowls and drooping jaw line become apparent after 10, or 20 years.
What causes jowling and why do the jowls sag?
1. Time And Gravity
The constant downward pull of gravity can change the appearance of the face over time. Gravity causes jowls to form and other parts of the face to sag. For eg. the tip of the nose droops and the ears elongate. Often, facial sagging is noticeable in people in their 50s.
2. Loss Of Face Muscle Tone
With age, the face muscles weaken due to wear and tear. The muscles lose the firmness, causing your facial features to sag. Jowls form when the cheeks sag. The sexy cheekbones disappeared, and you now have a flat, wide face with cheek pouches.
3. Reduced Skin Elasticity
The skin loses elasticity with age and sun exposure. Loss of skin elasticity causes skin to sag. Since the lateral and lower cheeks are not tightly attached to the facial bones, the cheek muscles tend to droop along with the sagging skin.
4. Loss Of Facial Volume
We have less facial fat as we get older. The face is less full and the overlying skin can become lax and sags.
Also, facial fat is positioned up in the cheek when we are young. With aging, the facial fat descends. Fat pads hide the jaw line and gives an unattractive square shape to the jaw instead of a more attractive triangular shape.
5. Smoking
Smoking cigarettes can speed up the normal aging process of your skin, causing wrinkling and sagging skin.
The nicotine in cigarettes causes narrowing of the blood vessels near the skin surface. This restricts blood flow to your skin. With less blood flow, your skin doesn’t get as much oxygen and important nutrients, such as vitamin A, which provides protection from skin damage.
Many of the over 4,000 chemicals in tobacco smoke also damage collagen and elastin. These are fibrous proteins that give your skin its strength and elasticity. Wrinkles and facial sag develop prematurely and this can contribute to jowling.
6. Weight Loss Or Weight Gain
Overweight individuals usually have more facial fat. Hence the jowls are noticeable.
On the other hand, a rapid weight loss can leave excess facial skin that droops and form saggy jowls. So do watch your weight and state of health. Choose your diet program wisely. Losing too much weight too quickly can leave you with sagging jowls.
7. Genetics
In some cases, your genes from your mom and dad play a role in the development of jowls. If older family members have developed jowls, you might be predisposed to getting them yourself when you grow older. It can be a hereditary facial feature.
How to get rid of sagging jowls?
The jowls can be treated by a number of surgical or non-surgical procedures. You have options like: facelift, liposuction, filler injections, and skin tightening using laser or heat generating devices.
If you want a DIY solution, consider doing specific face exercises that target the jowls. It might take some time before you see results. But it is safer and a less expensive approach.
Face exercises strengthen the face muscle tone and keep your skin healthy. It helps to firm the jowls and give you a leaner, younger looking face overtime.
Image Credit: claudiogennari