Do It Better – Week 1 Day 3
Today we target your chest and back:
Bent knee push ups
Push-ups are too hard for many people. This simple tweak makes the exercise feel easier, because with your knees down, you’re pushing less of your body weight, and you don’t have to engage your core or lower body as much as you would in a full plank position. Performing a modification of an exercise is definitely not cheating or less effective. Exercise modifications serve an important purpose: to help you gradually increase your strength.
- Starting position: Place your knees on the floor and your hands below the shoulders. Keep your spine straight by embracing your abs.
- Inhale and bend your elbows, lowering your chest to the floor. Don’t let your hips sag down. Exhale as you push back up, contracting your pecs, to starting position.
Standing row
The resistance band standing row is a lot safer for people with lower back problems, as you can avoid putting too much strain on the spine and the lumbar region. It is also much easier to perform while maintaining good form with no bending. The main muscle groups trained by this exercise are the upper back muscles and shoulder muscles.
- Loop a band around a pole (or similar) or attach to a door at chest height.
- Starting position: Grab the band underhand, slightly narrower than shoulder-width. Step back until your arms are fully extended and there is a little bit of tension in the band. Bend your knees slightly, engage your core, eyes forward, and head in neutral.
- Exhale and slowly pull the band toward your belly button. Stop when you touch your belly button.
- Inhale and slowly return to the starting position.
Keep your upper back in the same position (no rounding) the entire time you are doing the exercise.
Tips to get the most out of this workout
- Read the instructions on how to do the exercises. If you skipped it, scroll up. It´s important to keep the technique in mind to perform the exercises correctly.
- Watch the first two sets before you start and visualize yourself performing the exercises.
- Grab the equipment you need (step), put it in position, and keep close your bottle of water.
- Mute your phone. Next 10 minutes you´ll be unavailable.
- We aim for a total of 10 sets (5 sets each exercise), with no rest in between. However, if you need to rest, press pause and take your time.
- Each set is 1 minute long. If it´s too much for you right now, do as many repetitions as possible.
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