Strengthening exercises, as the name suggests, paints a picture of big muscles and heavyweights but that’s quite far from what it actually is. Strengthening Exercises have different aspects to them depending on the goal.
Strengthening Exercises involve complex movements and work on major muscle groups as well as secondary muscle groups. Any activity that makes the muscles work harder than usual, improves muscle strength, maintains bone density and strengthens them. In addition, it also improves balance, reduces joint pain and helps one lose weight.
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need costly equipment or a gym membership to practice strengthening exercises. If your body is strong, you will be able to do any of your daily chores efficiently. Let’s begin!
Few Exercises You Can Practice
If you’ve not been able to visit the gym or get your workout today, try these strengthening exercises you can easily do at home!
- You can perform Squats which are a great way to improve the strength of your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, abdominals and calves. You can also perform lunges or reverse lunges which work primarily on quadriceps, the gluteus maximus, knee joints and other leg and core muscles.
- When we talk about upper body, the first workout that comes to mind are pushups – which work your chest muscles, pectorals, shoulders, deltoids, back of your arms or triceps and abdominals. By adding triceps dips and pull ups, you can engage the supportive muscles of your upper body.
- Planks, crunches, reverse crunches, leg raises and Russian twist are exercises which help you make your core muscles, obliques, abdominals, spinal erectors and upper back (scapular stabilizers) stronger. By strengthening your core muscles, your spine gets much stronger to bear the excessive load and to transfer the force from the lower body to the upper body and vice versa. Strong core muscles can help you function without any injuries.
- Mountain Climbers and Burpees are workouts which help you train your whole body in one go. These workouts work your upper and lower body together and engage your core muscles as well. These are considered as compound workouts. Some of the muscle groups that get worked out include the spine range, hip muscles, quadriceps, calf muscles, ankle, rectus abdominis and obliques, etc.
- Balancing workout – you walk, sit, stand – to do any work, you require great balance in your body. Some of the workouts you can perform to improve your balance include: standing on a single leg, balancing a stick on your fingers and walking on a single line. These balancing workouts help you prevent falls, walk safely, avoid twisting your legs, etc.
- Flexibility Workout – Bhujangasana, front bending pigeon pose, glute stretch, Warrior Pose – these are some examples of the flexibility workout, which is again a major factor of your fitness level. Good flexibility has many physical benefits such as less injuries and pains. When your body muscles are loose, relaxed, and less tense, you’ll experience fewer aches and pains and the chances of developing cramps will be very less. It helps you to improve your posture as well.
Benefits of Strengthening Exercises
- Makes you stronger, making it easier to perform daily chores especially when aging
- Protects bone health and muscle mass by preventing loss of lean muscle mass post 30 years
- Helps keep weight off by increasing resting metabolism even on the days we are not exercising
- Helps better body mechanism by developing better balance, coordination and posture
- Helps with lifestyle diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and arthritis along with lifestyle changes
- Boosts energy levels and improves mood
We hope this article helps you include strengthening exercises to your daily routine. To learn more about fitness, check out Healthy Reads or tune in to live, interactive classes on GOQii PRO, where our experts will guide you on the correct form and posture in real time while making sure that you are well motivated! You can book a class now from the GOQii App.
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