I wanted to share a few quick videos of some exercises that will help you to prepare for your spring and summertime activities. These exercise demonstrations will be particularly useful for those of you who like to bike, walk, run, hike, golf, play tennis or other racket sports.
The muscles these exercises will address are the hips, front and back thighs, calves / ankle muscles, and some exercises for the forearm flexors, extensors and pinching muscles as well as the biceps.
It is important to have a general regime to prepare for sport and activity, particularly if it’s been a few months since you’ve participated in these activities. As a general recommendation, perform each of these exercises twice per week and attempt to perform between 10 and 15 repetitions of each. If 15 repetitions becomes easy and you do not feel fatigued, find a way to make the exercise more challenging. I will give some examples of how to do this corresponding to each exercise demonstrated in this article.
Stationary ‘split squats’
This exercise works the muscles of the hip flexors and extensors as well as the front and backs of the thighs. A perfect exercise for runners, hikers, bikers and even golfers. If 15 repetitions on each leg is too easy for you and you are looking for more of a challenge, the first approach I’d recommend is to try and move slower. Aim for 5 seconds down, pause for 2-3 seconds and then 5 seconds up. After this you could hold weight in your hand for extra resistance.
