Getting Fit

Lesson 3: Unstructured Exercise: The Other Side of the Coin

Strengthening Exercises

There are some simple exercises that you can do which take very little time and no extra equipment yet allow you to increase muscle mass and muscle tone. This in turn will help your body burn fat more efficiently and increase overall fitness.

To begin, let's look at the exercises which strengthen and tone our abdominal muscles, or core as it is often referred to these days. (strengthening abdominal muscles also helps to decrease back pain)

Crunches: Begin by laying on your back with your feet flat on the floor and knees bent at a 90 degree angle. With hands laced behind your head for support only, lift your chin to your chest using your stomach muscles and breathing through the movement. Repeat 25 times in the beginning.

Reverse Crunches: While sitting, place your feet flat on the floor in front of you and your knees bent at a 90 degree angle. With your arms stretched out, slowly lean backwards as far as you can until you feel your feet want to come up. Hold for two seconds, then return to an upright position. Make sure you hold your abdominal muscles in to protect your back during this exercise. Do ten repetitions in the beginning.

True Crunches: Lie on the floor with your legs up, knees bent, and feet crossed. Place your hands behind your head for support. While bringing your chin to your chest, also use your lower abdominal muscles to bring your knees in towards your chest. Focus on trying to really crunch your abs together, keeping the movement slow. You should really feel the burn in your stomach muscles after just a few repetitions. Repeat twenty five times.

Standing crunches: Stand with your feet shoulder width apart. Place your hands on your thighs. While applying pressure with your hands, push them down your thighs to your legs, rounding your back and focusing on working your abdominal muscles at the same time. Repeat ten times.

Pushups are good for developing strong arm and shoulder muscles. While doing them, make sure you hold your abdominal muscles in as well. Begin in traditional pushup position with your feet a few inches apart and your hands shoulder width apart. Your arms should be extended. Slowly lower yourself, keeping your back and buttocks straight, until you are a few inches from the floor. Your arms should be bent at 90 degree angles at this point. Push yourself up to the starting position. Repeat ten to twenty times. If you are just beginning, it might be easier to try a modified pushup where you rest on your knees rather than your toes. Gradually work until you are able to complete a true pushup.

For total upper body toning and strengthening, pull ups work wonders. If you don't have a pull up bar in your house, you can use a sturdy tree branch or the monkey bars at a local playground. Because pull ups can be very difficult, you might have to start with one or two and gradually increase the repetitions.

Finally, to increase lower body strength, walking or running up stairs or hills works well. When you are at home or work, however, squats are simple to do and take very little time. Begin with your feet shoulder width apart and your hands in front of you. Keeping your buttocks and abdominal muscles tight, slowly lower yourself as if you were sitting in a chair until your knees are at a 90 degree angle. Hold for a couple of seconds then raise yourself to the starting position. Do ten to twenty repetitions.

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