5 Things You Should Do Every Day:
*this applies to girls age 10 and up.
1. Stretch (aim for at least 3 arm exercises and 3 leg exercises)
2. Rotator Cuff (2lbs MAX weight!)
3. Wrist Curls (try a wrist roller: 2lb weight strung on a stick)
4. Abs (planks, crunches)
5. Back (superman's)
Stretches:
In a squat position, swing your arms side to side, allowing your hips to twist, add a heel pivot, then a deep squat pivot increasing speed. Try to keep your arms loose during this entire stretch.
Standing, hold both arms out in front of your body, parallel to the ground. (Similar to swimming...) Take one arm down and make a full circle stretching your rotator cuff and whole arm through a long motion. Repeat 5x. Switch arms. Now go backwards, taking the first arm up and back and swinging by your hip to return in front. Switch arms.
Stand and lift yourself onto your toes using your calf muscles, come down so you lean your butt out and rock back onto your heel (allowing your toes to come off the ground). Rock back up to a toe lift, and then back to your heels.
For more exercises see Sept. 6, 2008 blog post.
Rotator Cuff:
Stand with one arm out to your side, parallel to the ground. Bend at the elbow so your hand is now raised towards your ear. Holding the 2lb weight in this raised hand, try to keep your arm as stable as possible and in this "L" shape the entier exercie. Taking the raised hand slowly out in front of the body so it is parallel to the ground, then slowly returning to the start position. 10x. Switch arms.
to turn this into a core workout, stand on one leg.
For a greater challenge, stand on one leg on a Bosu ball, rolled up yoga mat, or wobble board!
You should NEVER do more than 2lbs, if you feel you need to increase your strength, try 2 sets of 10. Adding repititions is key, not adding weight on this exercise.
Wrist Curls:
Construct A Wrist Roller: to make this exercise tool, take a round dowel rod about 3" thick. You will need to drill a small hole in the middle to secure a 2-3' string to. At the bottom of the string, attach a 2lb weight.
Wrist Roller Exercise: holding your arms out, parallel to the ground in front of you, hold the dowel rod. As fast as you can, generating motion from your wrists, while keeping your arms straight out, wind the string around the dowel rod until the weight is all the way touching the wooden rod. Then unwind, making sure not to just let the string fall, but to "wrist curl" each piece of rope down to the star position. Try to do this 3x in a row as fast as you can. As you improve, increase repititions and time yourself for motivation.
Bucket of Rice: see Nov. 14, 2009 blog post
Superman:
Lying face down on the ground, arms should be extended above the head. Lift legs and arms at least 6" off the ground. Hold this position, you should feel the workout in your lower back. Every time you perform an ab workout, you also need to strengthen your back... this is maximizing your ENTIRE CORE. Many girls suffer from back problems because they do front core exercises, and even some side core exercises, but neglect the back.- For more exercises see Sept 6, 2008 blog post
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