Exercise for Occipitalis

[Stempleska]

Tom,
i asked you by email if just doing this exercise by continually pulling back the ears and not using the alternative eyebrow raise movement was possible. this works better for me but caused me pain in the back of my neck when i did it at first without doing the alternative eyebrow raise.(Is this the reason the alternative eyebrow raise is put in to prevent this?) the reason I say this is that i found raising the eyebrows seemed to emphasize the horizontal lines in my forehead.

I find just doing this exercise,ie pulling back the ears, the chin exercise and neck exercise works my whole face and the muscles almost internally
without having to wrinkle the skin in any way to perform them. On forums where cosmetic surgeons contribute they say this is a way that facial exercises give you wrinkles. But these exercises are a way round this so work very well and are a good compromise

What are your thoughts

Kind Regards
Stempleska

[Tom Hagerty]

Is this the reason the alternative eyebrow raise is put in to prevent this [pain in the back of the neck]?

First, there should be no pain in the back of the neck if the occipitalis muscles at the back of the head are contracted correctly. But I know exactly what you are talking about because I experienced that pain in my neck and even in my shoulders when I was trying to gain control of the occipitalis muscles. This is because in the learning stage people often tense their neck muscles, trapezius, and shoulder muscles when trying to get those difficult occips to contract. But once you are able to "isolate" the occips and get a strong contraction in them, you no longer will need the other muscles as a crutch. The pain in the neck will disappear.

i found raising the eyebrows seemed to emphasize the horizontal lines in my forehead.

Raising the eyebrows does cause the temporary formation of horizontal lines in the forehead. And sometimes these line remain if the occipitalis muscles are not toned-up and strong. The reason I stress gaining control of the occips is that these muscles, two muscular slips at the back of the head, continuously pull up and back on the upper face, smoothing out the forehead. My suggestion is to do just the contraction of the occipitalis until you have established full control of it. This is an important muscle that will keep your upper face looking young and expressive. Later, if you feel like it, you can add the frontalis contraction into the mix, but this is not necessary.

On forums where cosmetic surgeons contribute they say this [moving facial skin] is a way that facial exercises give you wrinkles.

Read my Contrary Opinion page. Paula Begoun says the same thing that cosmetic surgeons do. She thinks that the only way to keep line-free is not moving the facial muscles to a great extent. She also thinks that the only way to remove lines once they have formed is either Botox or cosmetic surgery. Paula is stating an honest opinion and articulates a strong case against facial exercise.

I wish I could say something to demonize Paula and the multitude of cosmetic surgeons. That would make my case for facial exercise stronger. I can't do that though.

Look closely at the photo of George Bush. You will see his deep forehead lines. These lines are caused not by the movement of his facial muscles; they are caused by the continuous contraction of his frontalis muscles. The scalp exercise keeps the muscles active and loose - not is a state of permanent contraction. My opinion is that the exercise when it's done right prevents lines from forming and gets rid of them if they have already formed.

[marval]

Raising the eyebrows does cause the temporary formation of horizontal lines in the forehead. And sometimes these line remain if the occipitalis muscles are not toned-up and strong. The reason I stress gaining control of the occips is that these muscles, two muscular slips at the back of the head, continuously pull up and back on the upper face, smoothing out the forehead. My suggestion is to do just the contraction of the occipitalis until you have established full control of it. This is an important muscle that will keep your upper face looking young and expressive. Later, if you feel like it, you can add the frontalis contraction into the mix, but this is not necessary .

This is a old topic from 2012, but I still wanna say something.

So gaining control of the occipitalis is priority #1 (because the continuously pull up and back on the upper face) and without frontalis movement there would be also some reasonable/nice results right?
Because I prefer to minimize frontalis movement, I don't want horizontal lines (and a other private factor, it's about a treatment I've done).