I posted the other day about exercises that a person can do with a therapy ball. Well there are also many exercise that can be done simply using body weight. The obvious come to mind like push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, etc., but there are many others that are commonly used by athletic trainers and coaches that the average person can also incorporate into a home workout. Some examples of these are plank exercises that work the core, lunges in the forward directions as well as side-to-side, backwards, and crossing the legs. A person can do single leg squats, pull-ups, or if you can’t do regular pull-ups you can do them at an incline using a railing or something that you can get your body underneath. They are great for the back and biceps. Dips are simple to do using a chair or retaining wall and they work wonders for the triceps. And don’t forget about the huge variety of plyometric-style exercises out there. Plyometrics are a scientific type of jumping exercise. A simple type would be a jumping jack, but then there’s squat jumps, scissor jumps where a person scissors their legs in the air, single-leg hops, and the list goes on and on. The skies the limit as far as exercises that a person can do in their home without any equipment whatsoever, and the benefit of this style of exercise is that you get a cardiovascular workout at the same time. Just try a couple out and you’ll be shocked at your elevated heart rate!
Melissa Allen, BS, CPT, CES. Please visit my website at OptimumCondition.org.
