Muse (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sometimesamuse) wrote2020-09-02 07:01 pm
sometimesamuse) wrote2020-09-02 07:01 pm
Fitness Challenge Info
Disclaimer: I am not in any way an athletic trainer. Anything I recommend below is based on what works for me, and may not be right for every body type. When in doubt, please consult a professional.
Link to spreadsheet tracker: here!
Overview:
The most important thing is to listen to your body: there's a difference between the pain of working your muscles and the pain of oh, ow, that doesn't feel right. Adjust the exercises to your own fitness level: this isn't a competition to see who can do the most squats. You are only competing against yourself, and even in that I hate using the word compete. Your challenge is improving your own movement: your body is unique and beautiful and not a basis for comparison to anyone else.
I personally like doing my exercises in blocks: all my squats and all my crunches and all my leg lifts. If you prefer to break it into halves or thirds and work your way through the sequence in reduced numbers, then repeat the entire thing from the top, you go for it. My recommendation would be to work from the squats through the clamshells, leaving the plank and wall sit for after you've done your last sequence as they are duration-based rather than repetition-based.
If the entire sequence of exercises is too much for you, slim it down! The ones I consider most important, considering that the world has become largely work-from-home where possible, are the squats, side leg lifts, clamshells, and either the plank or the crunches. These are designed to get the muscles of your lower body working which will help combat the increased amounts of sitting that work-from-home entails, and the plank-or-crunches will help build up your core muscles for increased support for your spine and aid in proper sitting posture.
Please please please encourage each other! I'll try to make a plurk every day for this group so we can toss some encouragement each other's way. If Discord is preferred, we can set up a server instead, I'm cool with that. I welcome feedback through this entire month: if this works, I'd like to continue it next month and maybe open it up to a larger group of people.
Equipment:
I tried to choose exercises that required minimal to no equipment because I don't want anyone to have to spend money. You'll need a body (your own, ideally, but if you want to use your sorcerer skills to possess someone else, I'm cool with it!), a timer (the stopwatch function on your phone is more than enough, or grab a kitchen timer), and a workout surface. Because some of these exercises involve laying on the floor, you may want to place down a yoga mat or folded blanket to cushion yourself if you have hard floors (I use 1-2 yoga mats on my tile floor — I need 2 mats under my arms for my planks, and I achieve it by folding my yoga mat in half to cushion my arms and balancing my lower body on my toes). When I move my workouts outside, I use a beach towel between myself and the grassbecause I'm allergic.
You may want to work out in sneakers (hello, this is me when I'm bike riding). You may want to work out barefoot (hello, this is me when I'm not bike riding). You do not want to work out in impractical shoes (read: flip flops, ballet flats, cute heels). I don't recommend socks either, only because socks can slip on some surfaces and that would be bad. You may want to work out in 80's legwarmers and tights and I think you should rock out with your bad self and go for it if it makes you happy.
If you choose, you can enhance some of the exercises with resistance bands. They are not necessary. Don't spend your money on them if you don't think you'll actually use them.
If you choose, you can enhance some of the exercises with weights. They are not necessary. Don't spend your money on them if you don't think you'll actually use them. If you want to try weights, a filled water bottle or milk jug is very useful. For a heavier weight, a bookbag with a textbook or two is fine; wear it on your back for pushups and planks and over your chest for squats and crunches.
Exercise Descriptions:
Warm Up
It's not on the tracker sheet, but please spend 5-10 minutes warming up your muscles before you launch into anything. Walk around your living space, dance to some music, do some jumping jacks — get your blood moving and your muscles warm to prevent injury. I like fitting my exercise into my bike rides so I warm up on my ride, stop halfway to do some work, then resume my ride. On days I don't ride I dance and sing (embarrassingly badly), moving into my squats as the end of my warm up and my transition into the exercise sequence.
Squats
Honestly, refer to this link because she explains it better than I can. Learn to love squats because they are an amazing exercise and can do so much for you.
Easier: do sit-and-stands on a hard chair (think a dining room chair, not a cushy couch): sit in the chair, and then stand up. You can hold small weights to add to the challenge.
Harder: add weights to your squat. I prefer the single weight clutched in both hands in front of your chest.
Crunches
Lay on your back with your legs bent and your hands at the sides of your head. Some people tuck their hands under their heads, some people tuck just their fingertips, some people touch fingertips to their ears; do whatever you have to do to help stabilize your head without pulling on your head and neck during the movement. For the movement itself, contract your abdominal muscles to curl up into the crunch, keeping your head and neck in line with your spine. Release.
Easier: only crunch up as far as you can go, even if it's only two inches. Good form is more important than range of motion; that will come with practice.
Harder: full sit ups (if you can do them without having your feet weighted down). Crunches with legs elevated (lift your calves parallel to the floor and hold them there while you crunch). Weighted crunches with a medicine ball held over your head (please don't drop it on yourself!).
Side Leg Lifts
Lay on your right side with your legs extended. Either lay completely flat with your arm tucked under your head to cushion it, or curve your spine slightly so you can rest on your elbow — listen to what your spine prefers! Keeping your core tight and your legs straight, lift your upper (left) leg toward the ceiling (think like you are spreading your legs). Lower it with a controlled motion rather than flopping back down. When you have finished one side, roll over and do the other — if your set is 10 reps, it's your choice to interpret that as 5 and 5, or to do 10 on each side.
Easier: don't lift your leg as high and/or reduce the number of repetitions
Harder: wrap a resistance band around your ankles
Pushups
Admit that they're good for you. Position yourself laying face down, and push up onto your hands (arms straight) and toes. Keep your core engaged! Lower your upper body while keeping your core tight and your spine aligned; resist the urge to stick your butt up. Raise yourself back up. Form is super crucial in pushups! It is more beneficial for you to have proper form and be on your knees than to have improper form on your toes.
Easier: Pushups against the wall: stand straight and place your arms flat on the wall; engage your core and bend your elbows to bring you closer to the wall; then push away. Bent knee pushups: modify the traditional pushup position by staying on your knees instead of your toes.
Harder: One-armed pushups. Pushups with a weight on your back. You can borrow my cat to use as a weight.
Bent Leg Clamshell Lifts
Lay on your right side with your legs bent at the knee. Either lay completely flat with your arm tucked under your head to cushion it, or curve your spine slightly so you can rest on your elbow — listen to what your spine prefers! Keeping your core tight and your ankles together, raise your upper (left) knee toward the ceiling (think like you are opening the space between your legs like a clamshell). Lower it with a controlled motion rather than flopping back down. When you have finished one side, roll over and do the other — if your set is 10 reps, it's your choice to interpret that as 5 and 5, or to do 10 on each side.
Easier: don't lift your leg as high and/or reduce the number of repetitions
Harder: wrap a resistance band around your thighs
Plank
Admit that they're good for you. Position yourself laying face down, and push up onto your hands (arms straight) and toes. Keep your core engaged! Hold the position while keeping your core tight and your spine aligned; resist the urge to stick your butt up. Form is super crucial in planks! It is more beneficial for you to have proper form and be on your knees and/or elbows than to have improper form on your toes. If you can't do the full time either lower the time or hold the position as long as you can, take a 5-second break, and resume the position. Work up to holding for the full amount of time in one go.
Easier: Bent knee plank: modify the traditional plank position by staying on your knees instead of your toes. Bent elbow planks: modify the traditional plank position by staying on your elbows with forearms flat on the ground instead of braced on your hands — great for weak wrists!
Harder: One-armed planks. Planks with a weight on your back. Side planks.
Wall Sit
Defy gravity and sit on the wall. No but really place your back flat against the wall and your feet of a distance that when you slide down into position, your knees are directly over your ankles. Slide down until you are making right angles: your thighs should be parallel to the floor (a 90-degree angle at your hip joint) and your calves should be perpendicular to the floor (a 90-degree angle at your knee joint). Hold this position for the allotted time. If you can't do the full time either lower the time or hold the position as long as you can, take a 5-second break, and resume the position. Work up to holding for the full amount of time in one go.
Easier: decrease the time or take a 5-second break
Harder: hold your arms straight out in front of you with or without weights in your hands
Anything Else
I left room on the spreadsheet for you to add anything else you want to add to your own workout routine. For example, I will be adding my bike rides when I take them. Feel free to customize to your heart's content!
Link to spreadsheet tracker: here!
Overview:
The most important thing is to listen to your body: there's a difference between the pain of working your muscles and the pain of oh, ow, that doesn't feel right. Adjust the exercises to your own fitness level: this isn't a competition to see who can do the most squats. You are only competing against yourself, and even in that I hate using the word compete. Your challenge is improving your own movement: your body is unique and beautiful and not a basis for comparison to anyone else.
I personally like doing my exercises in blocks: all my squats and all my crunches and all my leg lifts. If you prefer to break it into halves or thirds and work your way through the sequence in reduced numbers, then repeat the entire thing from the top, you go for it. My recommendation would be to work from the squats through the clamshells, leaving the plank and wall sit for after you've done your last sequence as they are duration-based rather than repetition-based.
If the entire sequence of exercises is too much for you, slim it down! The ones I consider most important, considering that the world has become largely work-from-home where possible, are the squats, side leg lifts, clamshells, and either the plank or the crunches. These are designed to get the muscles of your lower body working which will help combat the increased amounts of sitting that work-from-home entails, and the plank-or-crunches will help build up your core muscles for increased support for your spine and aid in proper sitting posture.
Please please please encourage each other! I'll try to make a plurk every day for this group so we can toss some encouragement each other's way. If Discord is preferred, we can set up a server instead, I'm cool with that. I welcome feedback through this entire month: if this works, I'd like to continue it next month and maybe open it up to a larger group of people.
Equipment:
I tried to choose exercises that required minimal to no equipment because I don't want anyone to have to spend money. You'll need a body (your own, ideally, but if you want to use your sorcerer skills to possess someone else, I'm cool with it!), a timer (the stopwatch function on your phone is more than enough, or grab a kitchen timer), and a workout surface. Because some of these exercises involve laying on the floor, you may want to place down a yoga mat or folded blanket to cushion yourself if you have hard floors (I use 1-2 yoga mats on my tile floor — I need 2 mats under my arms for my planks, and I achieve it by folding my yoga mat in half to cushion my arms and balancing my lower body on my toes). When I move my workouts outside, I use a beach towel between myself and the grass
You may want to work out in sneakers (hello, this is me when I'm bike riding). You may want to work out barefoot (hello, this is me when I'm not bike riding). You do not want to work out in impractical shoes (read: flip flops, ballet flats, cute heels). I don't recommend socks either, only because socks can slip on some surfaces and that would be bad. You may want to work out in 80's legwarmers and tights and I think you should rock out with your bad self and go for it if it makes you happy.
If you choose, you can enhance some of the exercises with resistance bands. They are not necessary. Don't spend your money on them if you don't think you'll actually use them.
If you choose, you can enhance some of the exercises with weights. They are not necessary. Don't spend your money on them if you don't think you'll actually use them. If you want to try weights, a filled water bottle or milk jug is very useful. For a heavier weight, a bookbag with a textbook or two is fine; wear it on your back for pushups and planks and over your chest for squats and crunches.
Exercise Descriptions:
Warm Up
It's not on the tracker sheet, but please spend 5-10 minutes warming up your muscles before you launch into anything. Walk around your living space, dance to some music, do some jumping jacks — get your blood moving and your muscles warm to prevent injury. I like fitting my exercise into my bike rides so I warm up on my ride, stop halfway to do some work, then resume my ride. On days I don't ride I dance and sing (embarrassingly badly), moving into my squats as the end of my warm up and my transition into the exercise sequence.
Squats
Honestly, refer to this link because she explains it better than I can. Learn to love squats because they are an amazing exercise and can do so much for you.
Easier: do sit-and-stands on a hard chair (think a dining room chair, not a cushy couch): sit in the chair, and then stand up. You can hold small weights to add to the challenge.
Harder: add weights to your squat. I prefer the single weight clutched in both hands in front of your chest.
Crunches
Lay on your back with your legs bent and your hands at the sides of your head. Some people tuck their hands under their heads, some people tuck just their fingertips, some people touch fingertips to their ears; do whatever you have to do to help stabilize your head without pulling on your head and neck during the movement. For the movement itself, contract your abdominal muscles to curl up into the crunch, keeping your head and neck in line with your spine. Release.
Easier: only crunch up as far as you can go, even if it's only two inches. Good form is more important than range of motion; that will come with practice.
Harder: full sit ups (if you can do them without having your feet weighted down). Crunches with legs elevated (lift your calves parallel to the floor and hold them there while you crunch). Weighted crunches with a medicine ball held over your head (please don't drop it on yourself!).
Side Leg Lifts
Lay on your right side with your legs extended. Either lay completely flat with your arm tucked under your head to cushion it, or curve your spine slightly so you can rest on your elbow — listen to what your spine prefers! Keeping your core tight and your legs straight, lift your upper (left) leg toward the ceiling (think like you are spreading your legs). Lower it with a controlled motion rather than flopping back down. When you have finished one side, roll over and do the other — if your set is 10 reps, it's your choice to interpret that as 5 and 5, or to do 10 on each side.
Easier: don't lift your leg as high and/or reduce the number of repetitions
Harder: wrap a resistance band around your ankles
Pushups
Admit that they're good for you. Position yourself laying face down, and push up onto your hands (arms straight) and toes. Keep your core engaged! Lower your upper body while keeping your core tight and your spine aligned; resist the urge to stick your butt up. Raise yourself back up. Form is super crucial in pushups! It is more beneficial for you to have proper form and be on your knees than to have improper form on your toes.
Easier: Pushups against the wall: stand straight and place your arms flat on the wall; engage your core and bend your elbows to bring you closer to the wall; then push away. Bent knee pushups: modify the traditional pushup position by staying on your knees instead of your toes.
Harder: One-armed pushups. Pushups with a weight on your back. You can borrow my cat to use as a weight.
Bent Leg Clamshell Lifts
Lay on your right side with your legs bent at the knee. Either lay completely flat with your arm tucked under your head to cushion it, or curve your spine slightly so you can rest on your elbow — listen to what your spine prefers! Keeping your core tight and your ankles together, raise your upper (left) knee toward the ceiling (think like you are opening the space between your legs like a clamshell). Lower it with a controlled motion rather than flopping back down. When you have finished one side, roll over and do the other — if your set is 10 reps, it's your choice to interpret that as 5 and 5, or to do 10 on each side.
Easier: don't lift your leg as high and/or reduce the number of repetitions
Harder: wrap a resistance band around your thighs
Plank
Admit that they're good for you. Position yourself laying face down, and push up onto your hands (arms straight) and toes. Keep your core engaged! Hold the position while keeping your core tight and your spine aligned; resist the urge to stick your butt up. Form is super crucial in planks! It is more beneficial for you to have proper form and be on your knees and/or elbows than to have improper form on your toes. If you can't do the full time either lower the time or hold the position as long as you can, take a 5-second break, and resume the position. Work up to holding for the full amount of time in one go.
Easier: Bent knee plank: modify the traditional plank position by staying on your knees instead of your toes. Bent elbow planks: modify the traditional plank position by staying on your elbows with forearms flat on the ground instead of braced on your hands — great for weak wrists!
Harder: One-armed planks. Planks with a weight on your back. Side planks.
Wall Sit
Defy gravity and sit on the wall. No but really place your back flat against the wall and your feet of a distance that when you slide down into position, your knees are directly over your ankles. Slide down until you are making right angles: your thighs should be parallel to the floor (a 90-degree angle at your hip joint) and your calves should be perpendicular to the floor (a 90-degree angle at your knee joint). Hold this position for the allotted time. If you can't do the full time either lower the time or hold the position as long as you can, take a 5-second break, and resume the position. Work up to holding for the full amount of time in one go.
Easier: decrease the time or take a 5-second break
Harder: hold your arms straight out in front of you with or without weights in your hands
Anything Else
I left room on the spreadsheet for you to add anything else you want to add to your own workout routine. For example, I will be adding my bike rides when I take them. Feel free to customize to your heart's content!