Sunday, February 05, 2006

Home Exercise Routine

I met with Coach Cassandra again to develop an exercise routine that I can do at home. The nice thing about the exercises that she recommended is that they require a minimum of equipment. The equipment needed is as follows:

65cm resist-a-ball
4lb medicine ball
Dumbbells: 8lb, 15lb, 20lb, 30lb
14" high box

The exercises are as follows:
1:Planks- 30 seconds front, 20 seconds lateral (2 reps) - During the Front Plank exercise you hold your body flat in a push-up postion, except you are supporting yourself with your elbows. During the Lateral Plank, you support your body with the edge of your shoe and elbow. The opposite are rests on your hip.
2:Supermans (12 reps)- While lying on your stomach with arm raised above your head, raise opposite arm and leg and hold for 2-3 seconds. Focus lift on the lower back during the exercise and imagine you are trying to reach the walls with your outstretched are and leg.
3:Squats (12 reps)- Place feet shoulder width apart, sit back as if sitting in a chair. Extend arms in front for counter balance on way down, and bring arms to chest when standing upright. Hold the medicine ball to increase resistance.
4:Pushups (10-12 reps)- Keep hands 2-3 inches outside of chest. Modify by going to knees to complete the set.
5:Split Squats (10-12 reps)- Stand with feet shoulder width apart and separated so that when you drop for the squat, so that your knees do not bend to an angle less than 90 degrees.
6:Low Row (12 reps)- Use 20 or 30 lb dumbbell. Keep a wide foot stance with knees bent, bend and waist approximately 70 degrees, and place one arm on bench and keep your body weight over that arm. Keep shoulders parallel to the floor and lift weight vertically.
7:Step-ups (10 reps)- Start by standing on the box, drop on foot to the ground approximately 18" behind the box. Ensure that you land on the ball of your foot in a controlled motion, and don't allow your heel to touch the ground. Using the leg on the box, lift yourself so that both feet are on the box. Arms extend on descent and pull in on ascent. Finish tall on each rep.
8:Reverse flys (10 reps)- Stand in a split stance with a slight lean forward. Hold 8lb dumbbells in outstretched arms at shoulder height. Horizontally sweep dumbells from directly infront to the midline of your body (90 degree sweep with each arm)
9:Hamstrings (8-10 reps)- Place the resist-a-ball against the wall, and dig your heels into the ball. Keep a 90 degree bend in knees/hips. Roll hips up as high as possible by rolling hips up "one vertebre at a time".

These exercises seem to be mostly easy calisthenics, but my body is trashed after doing two circuits of this exercise schedule yesterday. These are basic "core muscle building" exercises, and I can't wait until my body feels warmed up after finishing this routine, versus feeling entirely exhausted.

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