During my classes I often suggest softening the belly a little. I sometimes use the term “embrace your jelly belly”! which has been met with a bit of shock horror on some fronts!

Of course, strictly speaking, this is not something we should embrace “all the time”. It is not necessarily healthy to have a complete jelly belly as we all know. Excess fat around the midriff is linked to diabetes, heart-disease and many other life-threatening illness. However, neither is it healthy for us to be walking around with super-tight abdominals (or super-tight anything really!). This extreme has been linked to digestive problems, infertility, back and hip problems and goodness knows what else. Put it this way; if I walk around with my shoulders tense and tight all day does it make them stronger? Nope – it just makes them tight and tense!