Home Workouts For when you can’t make the gym (or when Mindbody crashes again) By Chris Liddle L2 Fitness Do you find yourself reliant on the apps that schedule your workout in order for you to actually follow through with your workout? If a class you love is waitlisted, do you have a backup plan? Let us not forget that day that Mindbody crashed worldwide. I know I was caught off guard that morning.
Take the lacrosse ball and either lean against a wall or on the floor and roll it along your upper back on each side of the spine. If you have crackly knees, a good trick is to take the ball into the knee socket and reach for your shin and bring it into your body gently. This increases the mobility in that joint releasing tension that may have been focused in one area of the joint.
The simple fact is that you need a backup plan. Life happens, technology happens, waitlists happen, traffic happens, trains happen. You don’t have a squat rack, a spin bike, or a punching bag? OH NO!!!! I guess we’re out of luck. Article is over, on to the next one. Just kidding. Through progressions, regressions, and a few very simple workout accessories, you can take yourself to that same dark place your favourite instructor or trainer does within your own home under your own direction very easily. A staple to have in your home is a foam roller and a lacrosse ball. These are both readily accessible locally or online and should be in the price range of $20-$30 collectively. With these tools you will do some self-directed myofascial release (or as I like to call it, “massage on a budget”). The importance of myofascial release is to increase circulation in your body ahead of the workout and release tension in your muscles to allow them to return to their proper length. If you imagine yourself like an elastic band, before myofascial release your “elastic band” is knotted at the centre. Your workout pulls on that knot. when you’re not try to untie that knot. The knot I am describing represents your body’s muscle tension. Release tension before your workout to avoid worse tension after. Your muscles will perform better, your range of motion will be better and your risk of injury will reduce significantly.
Roll on your back with the foam roller between you and the floor, put focus on getting the area of your thoracic spine (where your ribs end on your back up to your shoulders). Hit up your glutes because let’s face it, that booty though. Turn over to your front side, put some focus on your quads, bring your knee out and angle the roller 45 degrees to get your inner thighs.
Don’t forget to stretch. You’re going to start with the 90-90 stretch. Choose a lead leg, bring it in front so it rests across the ground in front of you, you should have a bend at the knee to create a 90 degree angle to your body. Your secondary leg will follow suit matching that same bend lateral to your torso. You can lean forward or you can gently pull on the outside of your leg lead leg. Take your hands and plant them behind your body, take some time here. After a few reps of this, switch legs, change the direction of your feet. Go through the stretches once more. This is a great stretch to increase hip mobility. PHOTOS BY JUSTIN PULONGBARIT
50
Y EG F IT N ESS
J U L Y/ A U G U S T 2 0 1 8
