Today, we’re going to give you suggestions on the kind of exercises you need to do before you start an exercise program. Because function, so how we move, activities we do, sports we play, anything like that involves basic movement patterns.
One is squatting. You need to pick some exercise that involves squatting, because squatting is what? Getting up and down from sitting.! Whether you call that a squat or getting up and down from sitting, still the same basic pattern. Another pattern we use is pushing. Pushing carts, pushing a lawnmower, pushing a door open, all of these require a basic pushing movement.
Another pattern is pulling. We pull things all the time. Pulling a door open, pulling a cart open are just a couple examples. So you want some exercises to incorporate those muscles and those activities. A deadlift is another movement pattern. So picking something up from the floor like a pencil or something heavy, is all the same technique. You can hurt yourself the same way. So your bag of groceries, a suitcase, are all a deadlift. So again these have gym names a lot of times, so people only associate it with being in a gym, but a deadlift is just picking up your bag of groceries or picking up your child. You need to be able to pick things up correctly, so that’s another exercise you want to incorporate.
Walking. You want to incorporate walking, and here at the clinic, we like to incorporate walking with a load. Because a lot of times, again, going back to you had to pick up the suitcase, then you also got to carry it, or even when you carry a bag of groceries. It is important to practice walking with some sort of weight.
Going up and down a set of stair is another movement. Then the other biggie, and especially for us as we age, is what? Balance! Keeping your balance. You definitely want to avoid falls as you age. When you break something, your life can be changed dramatically.
If you can’t balance while you’re performing an activity, or have the stability to do it in the first place, can damper everything else. So we’re going to give you a few different suggestions, incorporating each of those patterns, in our next round of videos. If you have not already, please subscribe to our channel!