You
Things around you
Article over. Great article!
Ok, just kidding. In reality, the best equipment that we have really is your own body. I’m very appreciative that Earth provides gravity and we provide our own mass to lift, and pull, and push. Using bodyweight exercises and calisthenics is an amazing way to not only tone the muscles but get a great, free workout at your home or work.
In the world of calisthenics, there are six major movement categories:
Pull
Push
Squat
Lunge
Hinge
Rotate
Each of these categories has many exercises that are linked to them. For example, the “push” category just for upper body has: wall push ups, diagonal push ups (hands on a box or chair), horizontal push ups (from the floor), vertical push ups (in a handstand position), inverse diagonal push ups (feet on a box or chair), dips, and many more. These are all exercises that are rooted in a, ‘pushing away from your body’ action. The same can be noted for exercises where you pull towards you, rotate around, or hinge your body over something.
One of the best things to come from the COVID 19 pandemic was the push for free, online resources for at-home exercise. Many fitness Youtube channels such as, “Yoga with Adriene” and “SELF” went viral as well as resources released from ‘Total Body’, ‘Bodybuilder.com’, and ‘Livestrong’. Weight-free workouts became a new norm when gyms closed down. Even when people didn’t have dumbbell or barbell sets, those ingenious few lifted totes of cans or water-filled bars. You can lift weights in skateboarding shoes, you can go for a run in jeans, you can do yoga in nothing... just maybe at home instead of a public class.
Whatever your exercise and whatever your gear, just know that you can follow the reps and sets rules:
Build muscle: weights or bodyweight, 6-8 reps, 2-4 sets
Increase power/strength: heavy weights, 1-5 reps, 3-4 sets
Increase endurance: small weights or bodyweight, 12+ reps, 1-3 sets
Happy lifting, squatting, pushing, and pulling!
Dr. Cole Maranger, DC
Comments