Lift your own bodyweight

Perhaps pushups haven’t happened for you since high school gym class, so how about pull-ups?

Developing body strength doesn’t have to be hard — ease into developing your strength with some simple progressions. No need to rush through the series, focus on proper posture and slow steady movement to maximize control and strenght building.

Keep things easy for yourself as getting hurt is never the goal. Find the method that works best for you here and follow it for several weeks until it is no longer a challenge. Of course you can mix things up if want to make your own routine.

Start simple

1. Wall pullup Standing feet flat, with your body in a straight line, hold a vertical handrail you can perform a sideways pullup! Try for 50, and when you can master 3 sets you can advance to next level (if you wish):
2. Chest-height pullup Moving from vertical to an angle gives you more weight resistance for your arms. Find a sturdy handrail about chest height. Pivoting on your heels, go for 30 angled pullups with the bar. When 3 sets are easy you can advance:
3. Hip-height pullup Finding a lower bar around hip height gives you a steeper angle to work against thus more body weight to lift, though still not full weight. Ideally work with something strong enough to support your full weight (video shows some dubious examples) as chest and hip points are just height guidelines. You can work with whatever angle you have and are comfortable working with. For hip height, aim for sets of 25, with 3 full sets as your final goal.
4. Jackknife pullups Finally moving now from angle to vertical, analagous to kneeling pushups, you can now work from what resembles a seating angle (though not sitting!) and lifting your weight up. Optionally, can place feet on a chair instead of floor. Note as with kneeled pushups you are still distributing weight via a partial leg angle on the ground. Pivoting on your heels, your body starts bent and then straightens out (resembling chest-height position above), hence the name. Target is again sets of 25, with mastery of 3 to advance.
   
   Upgrades: Can lift one leg at a time during pullup to increase proportion of body weight. See if you can lift your full weight from this angled position.

Full time

You did it! Now that you are here, you now can try just doing one set of three regular pullups, to develop core and not overdo it.

Can try overhand or underhand grips, and other variations to make for a more versatile workout, or rotating arms and shoulders too to work different muscle groups.

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Labels: fitness, lose weight fast

Ease into Exercise

For many of us, pushups haven’t happened since high school gym class, yet they’re an easy and fundamental fitness means for toning up arms and developing core balance.

If you are not up to par with your arm strength, you can ease into developing arm strength with some simple incremental steps.

Keep things easy for yourself as getting hurt is never the goal. Find the method that works best for you here and follow it for several weeks until it is no longer a challenge. Of course you can mix things up if want to make your own routine.

Zero to hero

1. Wall pushup Start off standing facing a wall with your palms flat against it. Keeping your body in a straight line, perform a pushup against the wall as if it were the floor! Easy enough right? Try for 50! When you can go three sets of 50 easily you can push into the next tier:
2. Incline pushup Moving from vertical to an angle gives you more weight resistance for your arms. Leaning against a sturdy handrail, go for 40 incline pushups against the bar. When 3 sets of 40 are mastered, move on:
3. Kneeling pushup You may already be familiar with these; Like a regular floor pushup, simplified to use your knees not feet as the endpoint. This reduces the load on your arms and core, and a solid next step to success. Go for mastery of two sets of 25

One and Done

There is no need to rush through this or any progression. If you are comfortable just staying in the zone, by all means keep to it. This is just a fantastic way to develop full strength for pushups without hurting yourself or getting frustrated with no result.

Nope? Can’t do any of these? Start by lying on your back and pushing up against the air.

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Labels: easy weight loss, fitness

Physical Activity is important

No matter your health and physical abilities, you can gain a lot by staying active. Physical activity can help you maintain your independence and continue to do everything you want to do. — National Institutes of Health (NIH)

Coming up

We have long advocated daily activity, and warned of the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle, and will always continue to offer motivation — In the coming weeks we will be launching a series of fitness blog posts to help you get started where you may have stumbled before.

Why Is Physical Activity Important?

Exercise and physical activity are good for just about everyone, including older adults. No matter your health and physical abilities, you can gain a lot by staying active. [S]tudies show that taking it easy is risky. Often, inactivity is more to blame than age when older people lose the ability to do things on their own. Lack of physical activity also can lead to more visits to the doctor, more hospitalizations, and more use of medicines for a variety of illnesses. — NIH

Choose activities you enjoy

Fitness helps with emotional being too; find activities you enjoy, to make fitness fun and not a chore. Choose activities you like and want to do, not what you feel you have to do.

Some exercise ideas to help you lift your mood:

• Walking and Bicycling Endurance activities increase your breathing, get your heart pumping, and boost chemicals in your body that may improve mood.
• Yoga is a mind and body practice combining physical postures, breathing exercises, and relaxation; or Tai Chi moving meditation involves shifting the body slowly, gently, and precisely, while breathing deeply.

Choose activities you enjoy:

As the adage goes, the best fitness routine is the one you do !

How about:

• Dancing
• Gardening
• Tennis
• Kicking a soccer ball with your kids

Sources : Teacher pre-K poll photo; National Institutes of Health citations.

Labels: cardiovascular health, fitness, health, healthy habits, lose weight fast