Monday, July 30, 2012

Functional Exercise number three!

First...I'm back!  Here to make your fitness dreams come true!  And I will begin to accomplish just this by offering an incentive.  It's the end of the summer, notoriously a time when folks lose momentum and slack off:  But I say NO!  We press on!  There is no off season!  There are no excuses!  There is no mercy! 

And with that in mind, I will offer an incentive.  Stay with your program.  Get to your training sessions, group or one on one.  I will be giving out a T-shirt to the winner for each month until the end of the year.  The most consistent client, that stays with their program, does their homework, and makes or makes up their scheduled sessions, will be the winner.  I will be keeping track.  And like Santa, I will know who's "naughty and nice".


Next, let's continue our foray into functional exercise.  As I remember, we had two already in our pockets, and now on to the third!

Hip extension with reverse fly (variation, Stork pose with reverse fly)

Functionality: This exercise improves your balance and coordination as well as strengthening your upper, mid and lower back, shoulders, glutes and legs.

Exercise: Stand tall with a 3-5-pound dumbbell in each hand. Extend your right leg back and place your toe on the floor keeping your right leg straight. Lean forward slightly at the hips, keeping your back flat and your abs tight. Lift your right leg behind you as you bring your chest towards the floor and lift your arms straight out forming a T at your shoulders, squeezing your shoulder blades together and keeping your head in alignment with your neck. Return to the starting position. Repeat 10 to 15 times for each leg. As you get stronger, increase dumbbell weight and strap 2- to 5-pound weights on your ankles.

Stork pose variation.  Instead of lifting the leg and lowering with each rep, get into the leg lift position and hold that while continuing to perform the reverse fly exercise.  This focuses a bit more on the balance aspect, and isometric contraction in your low back and gluteals.

No comments:

Post a Comment