Three more exercises you can do at home or the office

Last week, Carol Barbee, FNP, WellPath Navigator, and Patrick O’Neill, Exercise Physiologist, at St. Joseph’s/Candler, offered three simple toning exercises you can do in your office or at home.

To add more variety and work other parts of your body, here are three more exercises that you can do at home or work.

If you have questions about exercising, please feel free to call our Wellness Center at 912-819-8800. Memberships are available for St. Joseph’s/Candler co-workers and the community, and our staff can help customize a routine to maximize your training efforts to reach your goals.

We recommend doing each exercise 10 times and repeat the set four times. Be sure to add some stretching after your workout, not before.

Planks
Muscles worked: Arms, shoulders, core, glutes and thighs
Start position: Face the wall with your back straight, shoulders relaxed and feet hip distance apart. The key is to keep your body in alignment. Don’t sag your chest or pop your butt out.
Exercise: Extend arm directly in front of you to ensure you are not too far away. Place your hands straight out from your shoulders with the weight placed in the heel of your hand. Make sure your shoulders are relaxed, your gaze is straight ahead and your body is aligned. Lean into the wall with your elbows bent at a 45 degree angle. Focus on holding that position for 30 seconds to begin with and increase your workout by 15 second increments as you progress. Never sacrifice form over time, however. 

Lunges
Muscles worked: All leg muscles
Starting position: Hips under shoulders; knees under hips; ankles under knees; pelvis in neutral position.
Exercise: Step forward with a straight leg or step backward with a straight leg. Make sure all 10 toes are facing straight forward. Lower by bending both knees. Your goal is to have the front leg from the hip to knee parallel to the floor with the ankle under the knee. Your back leg should be hip to knee perpendicular to the floor with knee to ankle parallel to the floor.  Make sure your body is upright from hips to head. Your shoulders should be relaxed but upright over the hips. You can hold your desk for stability or place arms straight down by your side. Increase the challenge of this workout by adding biceps curls or other arm exercise movements.

Tricep dip
Muscles worked: Triceps, core and legs
Starting position: Make sure your office chair is positioned against the wall with chair legs against the baseboard. You do not want your chair to roll. Sit in chair with your back straight.
Exercise: Bring your hands to the front edge of your chair with the palms firmly planted and finger tips extended beyond the edge of the seat. Make sure your shoulders and neck are relaxed. Push on the heels of your hands and extend arms so that your butt is away from the seat of the chair. You should be in a hip-width stance with toes facing forward and knees in line with your hips. Bend your elbows in a backward direction and lower your butt towards the floor. Extend your arms to come back up. 

Tricep dip variation
You can increase the difficulty of this workout by walking your feet further out. To reach maximum difficulty, extend one leg as you dip and try adding pulses at the bottom of each move before coming all the way back up.