If you’ve been like me during this lockdown, most of your time has been spent looking at screens. While it’s allowing me to pass time without going insane, I’ve been getting a bit of back pain from slouching for so long. To reduce this pain and stop this posture from becoming permanent, I’ve had to use some daily exercises to stay healthy.
I thought I’d share some here with you guys, complete with photos (please excuse my lack of a haircut).
Without further ado, here are some easy equipment-free exercises you can use at home to break up those cobwebs, grease up your joints and help to reduce that Hunchback of Notre Dame posture we’ve been working on these last few months.
Remember to have a bit of a stretch before working out.
Clams
Strengthens both your Glut max and Glut med. Glut strengthening is great for supporting your low back and helping your general stability.
- Lie on your side with knees bent to 90 degrees.
- While keeping your feet together, bring your top knee off your bottom one.
- Place your knee back down in a controlled manner.
- Complete 20 of these both sides, 3 times.
- If you want to increase the load you can wrap a theraband around your knees, increase repetitions, or even do it with your feet off the ground.
Make sure you don’t rotate your trunk when rising, if you do, you’ve gone too far!
Side-lying Shoulder External Rotations
Strengthens your infraspinatus and teres minor muscles, both of which are part of the rotator cuff. This one is great to assist in reducing slouched postures, they will help to strengthen your back and open up your chest.
I also might have lied … you’ll need a bit of weight for these. You won’t need much though only maybe a kg or two, if you don’t have any you can cheat by filling up a water bottle and using that.
- Lie on your side, top elbow bent to 90 degrees and locked in at your side.
- Lift the weight up while keeping your elbow at your side.
- Lower your wrist in a controlled manner.
- Complete 20 both sides, 3 times.
- If you want to increase the load you can increase the weight or increase repetitions.
- If you have a theraband you can do this exercise standing by attaching the band to a pole or another secure structure (we don’t want the band coming loose mid workout… ouch).
Like the clams, make sure you are not rotating your trunk.
I like to point my thumb to the sky, this way you minimise wrist extension (we don’t want to aggravate those muscles)
Shoulder-Blade Pinches
Strengthens your rhomboids and back to help keep those shoulders back.
- Standing up with your arms either by your side or at 90 degrees and in front of you.
- Without arching your back or tilting your head back, pinch your shoulder blades together.
- Repeat 30 times.
- To increase the load, you can do more repetitions or even use a theraband as resistance by wrapping it around a pole or the like in-front of you and pulling back.
You can also pull your shoulders down a bit at the end of the pinch to give your lats a bit of a workout too.
Skipping
That one hour out and about not scratching the cardio itch? Skipping is a great way to get the heart rate going, and is surprisingly exhausting – I don’t know how kids do it for so long.
Please note that if you have a sore back, knees or feet you might wanna skip this one.
Throwing in as little as a continuous 5 minutes a day is perfect to finish off your small routine, feel free to change this length if it’s too easy or hard. You may also want to do this on something like a yoga mat to reduce the shock from landing repetitively.
And there you have it, 4 easy exercises that won’t take too much time out of your day and can be done right at home. Just remember to stretch before hand, stay hydrated and stay classy. We look forward to seeing you all soon!
