Adding weight to your workout part 3 – The back.

Very important muscles to exercise as we age are the upper back muscles to prevent that hunched over look where the chest muscles are too tight and the upper back muscles are weak.  Exercises that don’t use any equipment to work the upper back aren’t thick on the ground, however there are a couple.  If you can’t safely get up and down from the floor (which this exercise requires) then please comment and I will post another exercise that you can do.

The (snazzily named) Y-T-I raises target the muscles of your upper back that stabilize your shoulder blades  and strengthen your shoulder muscles.

Y Raise

1. Lie facedown on the floor with your arms resting on the floor above your head, completely straight and at a 30-degree angle to your body, so your body forms a Y shape.
2. Your palms should be facing each other so that the thumbs point up (as if you were doing an ok sign!)
3. Raise your arms as high as you comfortably can, concentrate on your upper back doing this work and not your arms.

 T Raise

1. Still lying facedown move your arms so that they’re out to your sides—perpendicular to your body.
2. Your thumbs should be still pointing upwards with palms now facing forwards.
3. Raise your arms as high as you comfortably can, concentrate on your upper back doing this work and not your arms.

I Raise

1. Still lying facedown move your arms so that your body forms a straight line from your feet to your fingertips.
2. Like with the Y your palms should be facing each other  with your thumbs pointing up.
3. Raise your arms as high as you comfortably can,  concentrate on your upper back doing this work and not your arms.

Do 10 reps of each Y, T and I  (immediately after one another) and then rest for 1 minute before doing another 10 reps of each exercise.

For a no equipment required lower back and core exercise please see the following article I wrote which details both Bird Dog (great name!) and the plank.

Before starting any new exercise program please check with your doctor and clear any exercise changes with them

If you have any questions on this article, or any questions about exercise and the over-50s please post a comment. By subscribing to this blog you will be informed of any new articles. You will not receive any spam email.

For more information on Personal Training please go here

Whole Life Fitness, Personal Training for the over-50s

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Adding weight to your workout – Part 1

I was asked the following question after my (slightly ranty) post about celebrity trainers and weight training.

“I’ve never thought about lifting weights. How does one get started, and how do you work into a cardiovascular work out?”

Some people are put off doing weights as they think it involves equipment they might not posess or because they don’t know how.

The poster makes this slightly easier for me as they already do a cardiovascular workout so the answer to how do you work it into a cardiovascular workout would be to put it after the main cardo session when your muscles are nice and warm before your stretching, or you could alternate cardio for 5 mins, weights for 5 mins. As long as you are warm when you start your resistance exercises it’s fine, so if you don’t already do cardio then I would recommend a 5-10minute warm up first, this could be marching on the spot or marching around the park.

If you already belong to a gym then ask one of the instructors to write you a programme, personally I would request it is based around free weights rather than resistance machines.

If you don’t belong to a gym then my next few posts are going to explore some bodyweight exercises you can do at home with no equipment. They will be multi joint exercises which means you get more bang for your buck. I will also in the near future be talking about some exercises you can do with equipment which requires very little financial outlay – resistances tubes (which are also very friendly for people who have arthritis).

The exercise I am going to talk about in this post is the push up. Now before you stop reading thinking there is no way I can do a push up there are lots of ways to do push ups and I promise there will be a modification to suit you.  The only people who may find push ups difficult are those with wrist problems such as arthritis. For those with arthritis please be very careful when trying this exercise, definitely start with beginners and stop if there is any pain.

The push up will primarily target the following muscles.

• Pectoralis major (chest)
• Triceps (back of arms)
• Deltoids (shoulder)

However due to you needing to keep your body in a straight line there will be other muscles being utilised.

Beginner – Wall push up

1. Stand facing a wall roughly arm length away. Place hands on the wall at chest height and shoulder width apart with fingers pointing to the ceiling, there should be a slight bend in the elbow. The closer you stand to the wall the easier the push-up will be.
2. Bend your arms (whilst inhaling) and your body will lean towards the wall, you should be aiming to get a 90 degree bend at the elbow but don’t worry it you can’t do this at first just lower yourself as far as it feels comfortable.
3. Push off the wall (whilst exhaling) until your arms are back in the starting position with elbows slightly bent.

Intermediate – Back of sofa/bench push up

Instead of using the wall your hands will rest on top of the back of the sofa (or bench).  Again the closer your feet to the sofa/bench the easier the exercise. Lower your chest to the top of the bench/sofa and push up again. Gradually try to lower your elevated hands (i.e. go from back of sofa to seat of sofa).

Advanced – Floor push up

1. Lie face down on the floor, hands should be slightly wider than shoulder width.
2. Push off the floor(whilst exhaling), keeping your body straight, until your arms are extended (but do not lock elbows out)
3. Bend your arms (whilst inhaling) and lower your body to floor.

For all variations try and work up to 10 repetitions but do not work to failure, stop when you think you have one more with good form left in the tank.

Things you need to remember with all variations.

• Keep back and body in straight line
• Your elbows should not point out straight out to the side but slightly behind you
• Dont lock your elbows out
• Hold your stomach in

You may have seen a modification of the press up where the person is on their knees. Whilst a valid variation I prefer to do it with hands starting high and moving gradually lower, this is because the postion of the body mimics that of a full push up.

In the next post I will talk you thru how to do squats which will target the lower body muscles.

Before starting any new exercise program please check with your doctor and clear any exercise changes with them.

I hope you have found this article informative. If you have any questions on this article, or any questions about exercise please post a comment. By subscribing to this blog you will be informed of any new articles. You will not receive any spam email.

Helen Witcomb runs Whole Life Fitness which is a personal training company which specialises in the over 50s. For more information please visit Whole Life Fitness or call 01252313578.

Muscle Monday – Wrist flexor

I didn’t realise it was the 3rd May last time I posted! Muscle Monday is continuing but there was a bank holiday and then I went on holiday (fab time, thanks!).

Unlike the biceps or the chest muscles, this isn’t seen as a very sexy muscle (not many photos of men flexing their wrists around)  but the wrist flexor (flexor carpui radialis) is very important as it allows the wrist to be flexed and therefore is in charge of all gripping movements and is also involved in any movement involving forward bending of the wrist.  Research has shown that grip strength can collerate with life expectancy!

Better news is this muscle can be exercised whilst sitting in front of the TV.

1. Grab a can of beans, pint of milk i.e. something you can grip easily in your hand but has a weight to it.

2. Whilst seated with your forearm resting on your thigh.  Your hand should be palm up and off the edge of your knee.

3. Bend your wrist towards you as far as possible and hold for 5 seconds.

4. Work up to 3 sets of 10 reps on each side.

Erm sorry about the music, it was either add that or leave the theme to Peppa Pig in the background.

Before starting any new exercise program please check with your doctor and clear any exercise changes with them.

I hope you have found this article informative. If you have any questions on this article, or any questions about exercise please post a comment. By subscribing to this blog you will be informed of any new articles. You will not receive any spam email.

For more information on Personal Training please go here Whole Life Fitness, Personal Training for the over 50s. This will open a new browser window.

So Monday I am declaring Muscle Day!

Each Monday I am going to name, describe the function and then demonstrate an exercise for a muscle or muscle group.

Today we are going to do the biceps (biceps brachii).

The bicep lies in front of the upper arm. You know when men pose with their arm up at 90 degrees, they are (trying) to show off their biceps.

The bicep helps bend your elbow (when taking hand up to shoulder), so for example when you pick up your shopping and also when you turn the hand from palm facing down to palm facing up (such as turning cards on a table). Even more importantly it is used when opening a bottle with a corkscrew (us white wine drinkers are lucky we are more likely to have screw-caps!)

Today I am going to demonstrate a really simple exercise that can be done either sitting or standing. Bicep curls.

To start with try doing this exercise with no weight, but as you get used to the exercise please do add weight, to increase the strength in the muscle you need to challenge yourself. You can hold cans of food, pints of milk or use something like a dynaband which you can usually pick up quite cheaply in the larger supermarkets or sports shops.

Let me apologise for the quality of the video, the background choice of noise was either children playing inside or the wind outside. I chose the wind. I have included the instructions below the video so you can just watch the video for the demonstration of the exercise.

Bicep curls. Try and do 3 sets of 10. Rest 60 seconds between each set.

• Sit or stand with cans held in hands, palms facing forwards arms by your sides. Shoulders nice and relaxed.
• Curl your arms up so your hands meet your shoulders. Make sure you keep your elbows and upper arms by your side.
• Lower your  hands back to your sides, palms still facing forward.

Before starting any new exercise program please check with your doctor and clear any exercise changes with them.

I hope you have found this article informative. If you have any questions on this article, or any questions about exercise please post a comment. By subscribing to this blog you will be informed of any new articles. You will not receive any spam email.

For more information on Personal Training please go here Whole Life Fitness, Personal Training for the over 50s. This will open a new browser window.