More exercises to keep you fit and healthy
As always, if you are new to this or have health issues, you should talk to your health professional before proceeding. If you have pain or difficulty breathing, stop what you are doing if the issue does not resolve itself.
The exercises are small steps to your begin a goal of improving one’s health, if you’ve been a couch potato for too long. You will not have massive changes quickly, but with continued effort you will get stronger and enjoy improved fitness. Don’t be discouraged, we all start from a different place. Just do what works for you and then the next time you work out try to do a few more reps. When starting, begin with weights that are heavy enough to challenge you but allow you to complete at set. Try keep a record by jotting down your work/accomplishments for a month. You will be pleased to see your progress. Give yourself a “high five”. 🙂
Basics:
Squats – Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointed out slightly; extend your arms out in front of you. Squat down as far as you can without losing the natural curve in your lower back.
Sit ups – Keeping your feet and hips on the floor (and your knees about a 45-degree bend) and your hands behind your head, use only your abs to lift your back off the ground until you’re sitting up straight. At first you might just raise your shoulders up a few inches.
Jumping Jacks -Don’t be tempted to sail through the set. Keep your knees aligned with your toes, your arms high, and your butt tucked. Think of all the fun you had in middle school PE class doing these.
Overhead Press – Hold the dumbbells at shoulder height, palms facing in. Extend your arms overhead, twisting them so your palms face away from you at the top of the lift.
Push-ups – f you need to; you can start out kneeling with your ankles crossed and your heels drawn toward your butt. As you get stronger, perform the exercise with your knees off the floor.
Plank – get in plank position with your forearms on the floor. Draw your butt down and your belly in so your body is straight and parallel with the ground. You can also do this with your arms straight and your hands under your shoulders (aka High Plank). Hold for 30 seconds to start, then increase to 45 and then a minute as you get stronger. As you get stronger, go from high plank to low plank, down with one arm, then the other, then back up one arm at a time.
Biceps curl – Hold the dumbbells down at your sides, palms facing each other. Twist your arms forward and raise the dumbbells up to shoulder height. As an alternate, raise the weight all the way up and give a squeeze to your bicep at the top. Or raise the weight halfway up, pause, then back down. Another, at the halfway point, curl all the way to the top and then lower only halfway down, pause, then back up without going down all the way.
Bent over row – Squeeze your shoulder blades together as you pull the weights from roughly your knees up toward your hips.
Here’s a sample workout over a couple of weeks.
DAY 1
45 SECONDS
10 JUMPING JACKS
8 SQUATS
DAY 2
90 SECONDS
15 JUMPING JACKS
8 SQUATS
8 PUSH-UPS
DAY 3
2 MINUTES
20 JUMPING JACKS
8 SQUATS
8 PUSH-UPS
8 BENT-OVER ROWS
DAY 4
2 MINUTES, 30 SECONDS
25 JUMPING JACKS
8 SQUATS
8 PUSH-UPS
8 BENT-OVER ROWS
20-SECOND PLANK
DAY 5
REST
DAY 6
2 MINUTES, 30 SECONDS
15 JUMPING JACKS
8 SQUATS
8 PUSH-UPS
8 BENT-OVER ROWS
20-SECOND PLANK
15 JUMPING JACKS
DAY 7
3 MINUTES
20 JUMPING JACKS
10 SQUATS
10 PUSH-UPS
10 BENT-OVER ROWS
25-SECOND PLANK
20 JUMPING JACKS
DAY 8
3 MINUTES, 45 SECONDS
25 JUMPING JACKS
12 SQUATS
12 PUSH-UPS
12 BENT-OVER ROWS
30-SECOND PLANK
25 JUMPING JACKS
DAY 9
4 MINUTES, 30 SECONDS
30 JUMPING JACKS
15 SQUATS
15 PUSH-UPS
15 BENT-OVER ROWS
35-SECOND PLANK
30 JUMPING JACKS
DAY 10
REST
DAY 11
3 MINUTES, 45 SECONDS
30 JUMPING JACKS
8 SQUATS
8 PUSH-UPS
8 BENT-OVER ROWS
8 OVERHEAD PRESSES
35-SECOND PLANK
35 JUMPING JACKS
DAY 12
4 MINUTES, 30 SECONDS
35 JUMPING JACKS
10 SQUATS
10 PUSH-UPS
10 BENT-OVER ROWS
10 OVERHEAD PRESSES
40-SECOND PLANK
40 JUMPING JACKS
DAY 13
6 MINUTES, 15 SECONDS
40 JUMPING JACKS
12 SQUATS
12 PUSH-UPS
12 BENT-OVER ROWS
12 OVERHEAD PRESSES
45-SECOND PLANK
45 JUMPING JACKS
DAY 14
6 MINUTES, 30 SECONDS
45 JUMPING JACKS
15 SQUATS
15 PUSH-UPS
15 BENT-OVER ROWS
15 OVERHEAD PRESSES
50-SECOND PLANK
50 JUMPING JACKS
DAY 15
REST