Exercise Routine DVD 2
Move it or Lose it! Routine 2 gives you the choice of sitting or standing to exercise. If you have balance problems or haven’t exercised for a while you may prefer to start off seated and as you improve you can progress to stand for part of all of the routine. If you haven’t got time to do the whole routine (which last about 50 minutes) you can choose different sections but remember to always do the Warm Up and Cool Down.
Warm Up
Like all good exercise routines we always start with a warm up to help us adopt the right posture, increase blood flow to the working muscles, gradually mobilise the joints and prepare the mind for action. It also helps to prevent injury so always do this section every time you work out.
Arms and Shoulders
Like all joints, shoulders need to be move through as full a range of movement as possibly on a regular basis. This aims to improve flexibility which is vital for even the simplest things like washing hair or doing up your bra strap! Also this benefits the lifting muscles in the arms which often get neglected unless you regularly carry shopping or grandchildren. We even work down to our finger tips to ensure hands stay nimble.
Legs and Hips
If you do this routine standing it will help improve your balance and bone density; if you do this sitting down you are still strengthening your lower limbs which helps with our ability to walk using a good technique. Raising heels, swinging legs, lifting knees all contribute to keeping your muscles strong, improving joint stability for the ankles, knees and hips.
Get Active
Now we step up the pace a little so you will notice an increase in heart and breathing rate and you should feel warmer as your circulation is boosted. It’s a good idea to do this sitting down the first few times until you are confident you can do it standing as we test our balance by walking forward and backwards. As you improve so too will your balance and this can help with falls prevention. There are lots of reminders to make sure you’re not over doing it and working at your own pace throughout.
Stay Active
As your fitness improves you may want to keep active for longer so you can choose to do one of both of the Active routines. This is done to lively music and again this will help your cardiovascular system and improve your stamina. Weight bearing exercises are vital to help prevent or slow the progress of osteoporosis (one in two women and one in five men over the age of 50 in the UK will fracture a bone due to osteoporosis) so if you can safely do this routine standing up it will be beneficial.
Sit to Stand
Here you can learn the techniques to help you get out of your chair more easily and as your leg strength improves this becomes easier. Do make sure your chair is sturdy and doesn’t move as you stand – you can place it against a wall to be safe. Everyone in the Move it or Lose it! film found this difficult to do at the start, but as you can see they have all got better with practice. Here you can test yourself and track your progress by timing yourself for 30 seconds and count how many times you can sit to stand. Keep a note of your results every 2 weeks and after 12 weeks you should be pleasantly surprised at how you’ve improved. We’d love to hear your results too so share them with us at julie@moveitorloseit.co.uk
Bicep Curls
We need resistance to help improve muscle strength and lifting weights is one way of achieving this. We use bottles of water which weigh around 0.5kg (500ml) and 0.8kg (750ml). You can start with empty bottles or use heavier weights according to your ability, just follow the slow, controlled lift and lower to ensure you are getting the most benefit.
Side Leg Lifts
This works the outer muscles around the hip and thigh to promote good joint stability and can help with balance too. We do these holding onto a chair for support and to help maintain good posture throughout. You might need to do just one on each leg to begin with and gradually build up to do more repetitions on each side as you get stronger.
Stretch for Front Hip Flexors
Sitting for long periods leads to shortening of the hip flexors which leads to that tightness that prevents you from standing up straight and walking properly so it’s a very useful exercise for people who spend a long time sitting down. You can use a chair for support or if you are tall the kitchen work surface provides a stable base to help maintain good posture.
Stretch for Shoulders
This is a simple reach and stretch for the shoulders and arms, similar to brushing your hair, and is important to do regularly to prevent the joints becoming stiff and painful which can restrict your everyday living.
Sitting Leg Raises
This looks easy but is remarkably challenging to do properly, but it’s worth persevering as this strengthens the muscles that act on the knee joint to help stability and gait.
Sideways Stretch
At the end of the routine this is a really useful stretch using the muscles around your waist and in between the ribs so can help to improve breathing ability and posture (especially helpful for people with COPD).
Pelvic Floor
These exercises are vital for men and women regardless of their age – not just for women following childbirth! This engages the deep band of pelvic floor muscles to help improve continence and confidence. In Routine 2 we work the ‘fast twitch’ muscle fibres which are responsible for maintaining control when we cough, sneeze, laugh or lift something heavy and they can be done in sets of 10 up to 2 or 3 times a day.
Cool Down
To help reduce the likelihood of any delayed muscle soreness it is very important to cool down at the end of the routine. This stretches the muscles, then allows them to return to their normal length, slows the heart rate slightly and leaves you feeling refreshed and invigorated.
