At-Home Strength Training Is Easier Than You Think
Situps This simple floor exercise helps work the ab muscles and strengthens your overall core. You can easily do situps alone by tucking your toes under a bed, dresser, or another piece of furniture that will help keep your feet in place as you sit up and lower yourself back down. Pushups This is another self-explanatory exercise you can do just about anywhere. Pushups help work the pectoral muscles, triceps, and deltoids. Basically, if you want to work on your arms and upper body, pushups are the way to go. Squats When you want to work your legs, it’s hard to beat squats. These work your glutes and quadriceps, and they’re even a great exercise to do before walking or jogging. However, it’s important to keep your form in mind when doing squats. Planks At a glance, planks have a lot in common with pushups, but in reality, planks work very different muscle groups. Planks work your arms, legs, and core all at the same time. In fact, if you don’t want to (or cannot) do situps, planks are an excellent alternative. It’s all about holding your body in an elevated, level position for 1–2 minutes. You will feel the burn!
Many people
are under the impression that in order to do strength training
exercises, you have to go to the gym (which equals paying for a gym
l P h y s October is National Physical Therapy Month, making it the perfect opportunity to celebrate the people dedicated to improving the health and well-being of others. Physical therapists are an important part of our society, and their efforts deserve recognition. Here are a few things you need to know about this month’s observance. When Did National Physical Therapy Month Begin? Originally started in June 1981, the annual celebration of physical therapy took place for one week instead of a whole month. In 1992, the holiday was extended, dubbed National Physical Therapy Month, and moved to October to prevent any conflict with the annual American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) conference held every June. Since then, this holiday has become an icon for APTA members, physical therapists, and many health providers throughout the U.S. Why Is It Important? The top priority for the APTA each year is to educate people on how physical therapy can help improve health. Physical therapists want people to understand that they don’t have to rely on medication to go about their daily lives and that physical therapy can even help patients avoid surgery. In addition, National Physical Therapy Month offers a membership). I’m here to tell you that this is not true at all! There are many body-weight exercises you can do right in the comfort of your own home. You’ll save big on gym membership fees and build up your strength. One of the biggest reasons people tend to not focus on strength training at home comes down to the fact that they have no idea where to begin, which is totally understandable. I recently started a workout routine through GMB (website: GMB.io ). This website is essentially an online gym, and they focus a lot on body-weight exercise. This is great because you don’t have to worry about equipment, so you can get started relatively quickly. Of course, you don’t necessarily need to rely on a website to get started on strength training. There are many exercises you can do right now that utilize your body weight to improve strength and tone. Here are a few examples: r a t i n g t h e T h e r a p i s t s
great opportunity to practice self-care to promote better physical and mental health. What Can You Do to Celebrate? The best way to celebrate National Physical Therapy Month is to appreciate your physical therapist, learn more about the benefits of physical therapy, and find
new habits to become more active. Look into getting involved in a sport, yoga, tai chi, or any other activity that allows you to be physically active.
If you know a physical therapist, take the time to talk to them about their profession and thank them for everything they do. Physical therapists dedicate their lives to ensure that people can return to living pain-free, and their commitment deserves mountains of praise.
2 • 206.327.9880
Made with FlippingBook HTML5