Marion Freijsen A blog about Sports, Fitness & Health

Some more creativity…

I’ll continue to add some outdoor excercises since a number of people have now told me how much fun they thought those were.  One great thing of all this outdoor exercising is, that you can bring a big soft towel and when you are done, just stretch out and enjoy the sun on your (sun-lotioned) skin…

So if you have:

One of those reverse U-shaped racks that the girls do turns on – you can do some excellent upper body work.

Hold on to the bar (about 1 m or 3ft off the ground) and walk you legs out, facing towards the sky. Keep your arms straight, you body will be angled hanging with shoulders straight underneath your wrists, almost like a reverse plank. Now pull your chest towards the bar making sure your elbows widen a little but don’t stick out to the sides too much! These are meant to work your shoulders so make sure your shoulder blades pull towards each other at the back rather then pull on your arms!!

Low-balancing-beam
Another great exercise for your shoulders/arms is the one-armed dip. It’s a pilates move as well, so lots of control and slow movement instead of quick jerky ones… You are facing the ground, parallel with the beam which is at about 20cm/8″ off the ground. Put one hand on top of the beam, the other next to the beam on the ground. Move yourself in a push-up position, with legs slightly separated, wrists underneath your shoulders. Now keep the arm you have on the ground completely still and straight, whilst you raise and lower the arm that is on the beam! Keep your hipbones pointing towards the ground, very still and stable, you are just dropping through the one arm and back up again. Do 5 and then do the other arm. Make it a nice slow movement.

Balancing

here’s a fun one I learnt today – good for buttocks, and great for balancing. Stand up straight on one leg, knee slightly bent. Bend forward from the waist, drop the opposite hand to the leg you are balancing on, flat on the ground. Whilst you do this the non-standing leg crosses behind you straight out towards the opposite side. As you raise up again, that “free” leg moves to the other side – never touching the ground. So if you stand on your left leg, your right hand drops to the ground whilst your right leg stretches to the left behind you (yes, I wish I had a picture too!!!) and then back to the right…You can start by touching left and then right with your toes, but don’t put your weight down. After about 10 you will get the hang of it, and after 11 it will really burn! Good stuff.

Have a wonderful evening/day – let me know if you would like more of these and please add your own favourites!