Daily work out 24 September 2009

Greeting loyal follower(s),

Today, like yesterday, things didn't go as planned. Yesterday, the weather didn't cooperate with me to allow an outdoor training session. I was still a bit sore from the previous days training, so I decided to have a recovery day instead. However, I didn't neglect to do my daily rotations and stretches.

Fast forward to today, Thursday 24 September 2009. Again, the rain would have made outdoor training difficult. I was in a time crunch and decided to have a quickie instead of neglecting my training. I don't have a huge amount of space in my house, burpees, squat jumps, and similar exercises are difficult to perform in there. I chose some basic but staple exercises that have a tremendous training effect.

Warm up: I did a quick warm up with rotations and active stretches.
Work out:
50 Toe touches
50 Push ups
50 Bw squats
Cool down: Basic static stretches
Total time: Less than 10 minutes

Toe touches: These are a great and underutilized exercise. I usually do a few as part of my warm up. I decided to use them as a way to utilize a great number of muscles in short amount of time. I changed my foot and leg placement a few times to add variety and to slightly change the muscles being emphasized. Even though they are called toe touches, a person doesn't actually have to touch his/her toes. I actually prefer to place my hands at the side of my hips or clasp them together behind my back. I then bend forward at the hips as much possible, keeping my legs straight or slightly bent while looking forward, this keeps the back straight. Do not bounce at the bottom or over do the range of motion. You want this to be a nice active controlled movement. Failure to follow this advice can result in injuries. I then reverse the motion until I'm standing erect. I began with my straight feet and legs together for about 10 reps. Then changed to a pigeon toed or toes in position of about 45 degrees. My legs were relatively together and my big toes touched, but my heels were separated. This position feels both weak and tight for me. I did 15 reps like this. I then switched to a toes out position of about 45 degrees with my heel together for 10 reps. I then widened my stance and repeated the above foot positions for 5 reps each.

Push Ups: Another great exercise. Nothing fancy here. Focus on keeping your body straight (don't swag or sway your back), keep your head and neck neutral or look forward, and don't flair your out (try to keep your elbows by your side or pointing toward your feet as much as possible) I like to start with my hands very close at the beginning and space them further apart as I progress. Narrow hand placement puts more emphasis on your triceps and wide more on your chest.

Squats: Again, another great exercise. I held my arms out in front of my body for these today. This helps with balance and personally, I can do them more quickly this way. Again, nothing fancy. Just try to keep your back straight and focus on going up and down. I started with my feet hip width apart and used the foot placement variations I mentioned earlier in the toe touches.

I finished up with some static stretches. Toe touch 20 second static hold, squat 20 second static hold, and finished with a static corner stretch for 20 seconds.

So here it is, a quick 10 minute body weight work out that can be done almost anywhere. I hope that this has entertained, enlightened, and/or inspired you.

Until next time, stay strong and always try to improve.

Steven