The Joy of Exercise

Space invaders

This continues working the inner and outer thighs but introducing a more intense upper-body movement for the deltoid muscles over your shoulders, as well as the pectorals and latissimus dorsi in your chest and back.

Keep your feet and knees pointing straight to the front this time as you take four steady side-steps to your right, four to your left. Bend your elbows and on every step raise and lower them at your sides and back again chicken-style.

• Posture-check! Your neck and shoulders should be nice and relaxed and your stomach and buttocks tucked in.
• Bend your knees when you step out to the side, and keep them just off lock when they’re together.
• Keep your hips square to the front, toes and knees pointing forwards.
• Breathe out as you step outwards, lifting your elbows.

Progression

Still leading with your elbows like a puppet, gradually straighten your arms until your elbows are just off lock, palms facing your thighs, keeping your neck relaxed at all times.

• When your arm is almost straightened, this move is very demanding — a strength- training exercise to be kept as an option for the circuit section of your workout. At this stage you’re just warming up.

The grind

And so to your lower back — crucial to remember, but easy to forget.

The grind is a small, controlled movement — basically a series of pelvic tilts to mobilize the lower back and begin warming up the abdominal muscles running down the centre of your stomach. To begin with at least, it’s probably a good idea to stand at the pool edge with both hands on the side for support, knees soft, feet hip-width apart and upper body relaxed. Gently contract your stomach muscles so that your lower back curls inwards a little before releasing them again as you return to your starting position. Repeat eight times, as long as you feel no discomfort. )

• Don’t arch your back when you release the movement.

Side bends

Side bends begin working on a different set of abdmonial muscles to the pelvic tilts — the so-called obliques wrapping around your torso — as well as mobilizing your spine.

Do a posture-check, and then gently tilt your upper body a few inches to the right and then to the left so that your fingers slide up and down your thighs a couple of inches. Repeat eight times.

• Imagine that you are sandwiched between two boards. Bend from side to side, not forwards or back in any way.
• Keep it small. The movement is surprisingly restricted in its range of movement if done properly.
• Keep those stomach muscles contracted.

Now centre yourself again and from this position move smoothly into your pre-workout stretches.

Trouble Spot!

Statistically, you’re in the very small minority if you don’t experience some sort of back pain at some point in your life. There are many sources of trouble in this area, not least of which is muscular imbalance. This is not a physiotherapy guide and if you have back pain, seek medical advice. In the meantime, though, think about the following. Your spine can move in three planes. You can bend forwards and backwards at the waist; you can keep your hips square to the front and drop alternate shoulders so that you tilt your upper body to each side; and you can again keep those hips square and rotate your upper body gently at the waist.

Forwards and back, side to side and round and round. The three types of movement are quite distinct, and you can get into difficulty if you don’t keep them this way — as when, for instance, bending down to one side to pick up a heavy suitcase.

And remember that your spine includes your neck, so the wild neck- circling you often see at the gym is out! Again, think forwards and back, side to side and round and back.

The Prestretches

A Make sure your muscles are warm before you try to stretch them.

Stretching should be productive, not destructive. Without allowing your body to cool down too much at this stage, you want to make sure that all the major muscle groups are at their full, working length before going into the aquacircuits proper. So spend about 10 seconds on each of the following: the chest and upper-back stretches; and both right and left sides for the hip stretch; the inner and outer thighs; the quadriceps stretch; the hamstrings stretch; and the two calf stretches — a total of nine in all.

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Category: Exercise, Fitness, Gear, Nutrition, Outdoor, Workout

Tags: again, back, bend, body, down, elbows, forwards, forwards and back, inner and outer, knees, lower, lower back, movement, muscles, neck, repeat eight times, side, side to side, stomach, stretch, thighs, tilt your upper, upper, upper body, work