Winter Warm up

Beating those winter blues

We all understand how important it is to stay active for our wellbeing but winter has set upon us again and we all know how hard it is to get motivated to stay active in the colder months. All is not lost though. We spend a lot of time actually walking around the house whether we are cleaning up after the kids, cleaning the house, or even cooking meals. The exercise below works not only the glutes but the hip flexors, quads, and ham strings as well, that isn’t the only benefit though hip and knee stability will be improved along with not steak knives but proprioception. Strengthening of hips and glutes has been shown to decrease symptoms of nonspecific low back pain and sacroiliac disfunction studies have shown, which is important as a majority of the population currently works in office-based jobs.

Monster Walk

You will need a resistance band for this exercise.

Placing the resistance band just above your knees we are going to really stride out and away trying to take big controlled steps, it should look like you are walking in a zig zag. This is done walking forwards and backwards.

Start with the resistance band on and feet shoulder width apart in a slight squat position NEUTRAL POSITION (the band should have a little tension on it in this neutral position)

Engage core and step right foot forward and 45degrees away to the right. Bring the left foot back the neutral position.

Engage core and step left foot forward and 45 degrees away to the left, bring the right foot back the neutral position.

Repeat.

Monster walk backwards. (stay aware of your surroundings kids, pets, things that you could trip over)

Engage core and step right foot backwards and 45 degrees away to the right bring the left foot back the neutral position.

Engage core and step left foot backwards and 45 degrees away to the left, bring the right foot back the neutral position.

Repeat.

Start of easy with 3 sets of 5 minutes daily walking forward and back or just past the point of fatigue you may be surprised at just how quickly you start to feel the effect of the exercise. Importantly if this exercise causes pain or negative results stop immediately, feel free to contact me if you are having any issues with this exercise

Till next time,

Daniel Collins- Remedial Massage therapist