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Exercises You Probably Don't Do But Should!
By: Bob Blick
Exercises You Probably Have Never Tried . . . But Should!
This is going to be kinda short and sweet. . . . Maybe not too sweet.
Here's 3 exercises to throw into your routine that will shake it up a little. A little unorthodox but these will give you a workout in itself.
Knee Lift Crunch
Lie on your back, cross your hands across your body, and lift up into a crunch position. Stay in this position throughout this exercise. You will probably start shaking some when you near the end of this exercise.
Now lift your feet off the ground. Again, they stay here throughout.
Bring the right knee to the chest in a slow, steady movement. Return and do the same with the left knee.
Important . . . this is not a bicycle type legs in motion movement. Your knee is brought to your chest, the leg returns to the starting position, and then the other knee is brought to the chest.
Try to work your way up to 3 sets of 10.
Bear Crawl
Get down on your hands and feet; butt up in the air. Walk on all fours like a bear.
I'll tell you what. You're probably gonna want to start out slowly with this one because you are going to feel it. Great upper body and endurance exercise.
Crab Walk
OK. Reverse the bear crawl. Now your arms are behind you, feet on the floor, and butt off the ground. You're facing upwards.
Start walking backwards on all fours.
Your triceps are going to be aching.
I guarantee if you do these 3 exercises, you'll feel some soreness in your muscles even if you've been exercising for awhile.
About the Author
Bob Blick is the owner and webmaster of The TudeFitness Exercise Zone
He has written 2 ebooks on Fitness . . . "How to Shed Your Blubber" and "Creative Chair Fitness".
The website is done in a fun way but there is lots of good solid exercise tips.
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The Power of Stretching - Dave Snape
Your
muscles ache from a good stretch. This is quite
normal and is part of the process. Stretching has
seemingly been with us and particularly with athletes
since the beginning of time.
A very key point to good stretching is to hold the
stretch for at least seventeen seconds. This is a
pearl of wisdom gleaned from a ballet teacher a few
years back. She said that any stretch under 17
seconds was just not effective.
The 17 second rule is exceeded in the high intensity
Bikram's yoga where stretches are held for about 30
seconds. Don't forget the high level of heat that is
used in Bikram's to extract that last little bit of
stretch out of your muscles. An interesting twist
that
is not necessary to gain benefits from stretching.
But,
it can't hurt, right?
So what kind of benefits can you expect from
stretching? That's an easy one. Have you ever seen
the
movie, Blood Sport? Did you know that Frank Dux could
truly stretch his body to the extreme. The actor that
played him was quite elastic as well.
Great elasticity is also something you might see in
well trained Spetsnaz (Russian) agents. They often
work
out with Russian kettlebells too. They are for
superior
strength gains and the ability to withstand ballistic
shocks.
Why are stretching and flexibility considered
important
to these people? Stretching gives one the ability to
have explosive power available at one's fingertips
without the need to warm up. Of course most of us are
not martial artists or agents. But, you'll be happy
to
know there are plenty of other benefits.
Let me give you an example. After learning to sit in
the full lotus position for long periods of time, my
ankles became very flexible. One day I was walking
along and my left foot fell into a pothole. This
mishap
pushed my ankle sideways to about 90 degrees from
it's
normal position.
Amazingly, this didn't even hurt, not one bit. If my
ankle hadn't been so flexible, I may have suffered a
sprained ankle. At the very least, it would have hurt
for days.
Key point: stretching helps you to avoid injuries.
Not only that but if you do have a muscle, tendon or
ligament injury it should heal faster, theoretically
speaking.
Stretching actually grows the ligaments, tendons and
muscles being stretched. They really grow longer over
time.
Check with your physician before undertaking any type
of exercise, including stretching.
Here is some good
instructional material on stretching:
http://tinyurl.com/6c6kq
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Dave Snape
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