Exercise - No Excuses!

 

Exercise should be a part of life and not just an event that happens at a gym. It is important for children to be able to join in on exercise and see it as a part of life and not a thing that mom and dad or grandma and grandpa do at the gym. This lifestyle should be passed on. You can “work out” whether you are at the beach on vacation or in the mountains relaxing.

The following are some exercises that are simple and effective. They involve a large number of muscles and help develop balance and better proprioception for the body. They don’t just work isolated muscles as many gym machines do.

Upper body

  • Push ups

    • Start with being on the knees. With the knees close to the body, do as many as possible. Rest 1 minute and do as many as possible in a row again. Do as many as you can or as many as you want to. Keep working at this over time until you can do 50 in a row without stopping. From there, you can transition into stretching the knees further from the body, eventually working up to being on the toes and doing 50 in a row. Vary the width of the hand placement for an additional variation.

      This will take a long time to build up so just start where you can. Keep track of how many you can do and get excited as you are able to increase your numbers!

Lower body

  • Doorway squat

    • This helps to keep the back straight while doing a squat. Stand with your toes in the middle of a doorway. Hold onto the door frame and lean back and squat, using the door frame to control your motion and assist with standing back up if needed. Do as many as you can at one time then go about your day. Stop at any doorway and get your exercise or pick one doorway and commit to doing squats every time you walk through it. The goal is as many as you can do at once. 20, 50, 100?

  • Walking lunge

    • This can be done down a hallway or out in the back yard. Step forward with your right leg and then bend your left knee down and gently tap you knee to the ground and then stand back up. Step the left leg forward and bend the right knee to the ground. Stand back up and repeat. You can even do this standing in place if you prefer.

  • Calf raise

    • Stand on a stair step, wood block, or something else steady that will allow your heel to drop below the level of horizontal. Stand with your toes on the step with the rest of the foot hanging off. Allow your heels to drop down below horizontal to stretch the calf muscle. Then, raise your whole body up so that you are up on your toes. Lower your body down so that the heel is below the horizontal and raise back up. Repeat as many times as you wish or as you can…go light at first.

Abdominal/lower back

  • Most abdominal work and machines are done incorrectly and will strengthen with an imbalance in the low back. The average “ab” workout, tightens and shortens a muscle called the psoas muscle that in many people, is already too short and too tight. Talk with Dr. Ross about how to stretch this muscle.

    • Lay on your back with the knees slightly bent. Place the fingers on the abdominal muscles like playing the piano. Then, slightly raise the head and shoulders off the floor. Raise up no more than 30 degrees, just enough to clear the shoulders. Return to the flat position and repeat. The rectus abdominus muscle is the primary mover of the trunk of the body for the first 30 degrees and the psoas is the primary mover for the rest of this motion. This is why you only want to lift up to 30 degrees.

    • After 20 of these, roll over onto the stomach and do 20 extensions. Lay on your stomach and put your hands onto your low back. Lift your head up and raise your shoulders up off the floor. Relax down flat and repeat.

    • Stay balanced by matching these two exercises. The balance will offer stability that sheer strength does not.

  • Walking

    • This is vital and done properly, it can allow your body to do extraordinary things.

      • Try “target heart walking.”

        • Take 180 beats per minute minus your age and that is your target heart rate. Keep it within a range of 5 points above or below. This is the range where the mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell where 95% of all energy is produced) work most efficiently and actually start to replicate. You can as much as double the number of mitochondria in a cell and increase energy production and capacity by 300%. That creates the potential for a 600% increase in your body’s ability to produce energy. Time to get walking! It only takes about 20 minutes a day, 3 times a week. The more you do it, the more benefits you receive.

    • Want more in a work out? Then go to a gym and get pumping. However, for the average person, the exercises mentioned above will be enough to tone the body for anything you want to do. If you are doing these, your body will be able to deal with stressors better which means less subluxations! It’s amazing how well this really works.

Now you just have to go do it!