Instant Stress Relief Exercise

Today, I'll show you one simple exercise that will help you reduce stress in only 10 repetitions.

But first...

When does it hit you?

When does stress take control of your upper back and neck and settle into a dull pain that lasts all day long?

Do you at least make it into the office and get a chance to read a couple of emails before the tension drives a nail between your shoulder blades?

Or does it strike 10 minutes into your long drive into work?

I'm willing to bet that if you sit at a desk all day and don't have the proper workstation set-up, that you suffer from chronic upper back tension.

Go ahead, put your hand on your traps and squeeze. Are they rock hard? Do you have your shoulders shrugged up to your ears all day long? Is your computer screen well below eye level, causing your head to slump forward? Do you slouch when you drive, adding to the stress and tightness in your upper back?

Allright, enough reminders of what's wrong with your posture and work set-up. Let's focus on what we can do to fix this...

Because even I'm not immune to it. Yesterday, after 7 training sessions, after answering over 100 emails from readers, and after reviewing several client's programs, the stress in my upper back was beyond annoying, and downright debilitating.

I had to do something about it. And fortunately I knew exactly what I needed.

10 reps of the Y-squat.

The what squat? The Y-squat.

This exercise requires you to contract your rear-delts and use your rhomboids and middle-traps to bring your shoulder blades together and hold them in position for all 10 repetitions, all while stretching the pecs. (Basically, you are holding the opposite position of the posture we tend to assume for the other, oh say, 9 hours and 50 minutes of regular workday).

So after 10 reps of this exercise, taking no more than 30 seconds in total to complete, the stress was gone from my upper back. With that stress relief, and the energy from a simple set of squats, I had a huge swing in motivation. I finished up the program I was working on and headed out to the gym to complete some more bodyweight exercises.

And that was almost 4 hours ago...and I'm still going strong and stress-free, despite being back at the computer working on more of your programs.

Now to learn how to do the Y-squat and get rid of your upper back tension. Add in a set of spiderman pushups or decline pushups, and you'll be stress free for hours.

(If you have the luxury of having your own office, I recommend taking a break every 60-120 minutes and doing 10 reps of the Y-squat. It will energize you, reduce your back tension, and eliminate some of your workplace stress. A simple secret to a much more productive and enjoyable day.)

Office or not, always focus on sitting with good posture.

Craig Ballantyne is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and writes for Men's Health, Men's Fitness, Maximum Fitness, Muscle and Fitness Hers, and Oxygen magazines. His trademarked Turbulence Training fat loss workouts have been featured multiple times in Mens Fitness and Maximum Fitness magazines, and have helped thousands of men and women around the world lose fat, gain muscle, and get lean in less than 45 minutes three times per week. For more information on the Turbulence Training workouts that will help you burn fat without long, slow cardio sessions or fancy equipment, visit http://www.TurbulenceTraining.com