5 Daily Exercises for Fitness

What is fitness?

In today’s world, fitness is the new mantra. Infomercials, opinions, fitness routines and exercises overload us, so here is my question to you how do you sift through all of these data and select that one exercise routine regime to follow? In fact these infomercials keep yapping about being healthy and fit without really defining what fitness is? What is exactly meant by being healthy! These terms are in fact not defined. Just because my neighbor is mad about Insanity, should I do it? Testimonials from friends & advertisements on the web are rather poor criteria to base your judgement.

Fitness = Health? NO!

Surprising as it may sound, physical fitness is a term, which is rather hard to define. All of us use it without really fully understanding what it really means. Even the fitness industry uses it without really defining it. One normally tends to associate a good level of fitness with a good level of health. This is a very popular misconception and there hasn’t been any scientific study, which states that there is a direct link between fitness and health. In fact the correlation between health and fitness is, at best, minimal.

NOT lazy! Just highly motivated to relax!

So, does this mean we can do multiple marathons of watching our favourite TV shows, while munching bucket loads of crisp chips with yummy cheese without it affecting our health &fitness level? I hate to point it out to you but the answer is an emphatic NO. Leading a sedentary lifestyle is certainly detrimental to your health. Your muscles will atrophy, your metabolism will take a hit, the reference to you and pumpkins will be more of a derogatory nature.

The need to exercise

You exercise daily because you want to grow strong and flexible. You exercise daily because you want to train and condition your musculoskeletal system. Your body is a machine, it has its own systems and any system is as strong as its weakest link. Thus, to make the body strong and effective you need to address it as a whole. Regardless of what your profession is, be it a cost accountant or a football player, any exercise regime that you choose to follow has to have five essential exercises. They are:

Here are the 5 daily exercises you should do for maintaining high fitness level:

1. Push Ups

Push-ups have been around since ages, for a reason. It is a very simple but effective exercise for the chest, shoulders & triceps. Doing this correctly will benefit not only benefit your upper body endurance but also the endurance level of your abdominal as well.

It puts a lot of strain on the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints.

Points to remember to maintain form:

• Keep your abdominal muscles, hips & lower back muscles tight.
• There should be a single plane of movement: from head to to ankle the body should move as one piece.

DO NOT

• ·Look up and move your head in front
• ·Raise your shoulders to your ears
• ·Break the movement into multiple ones: your shoulders should not rise before your hips or vice versa

2. Chin Ups

Like push ups, this one is a classic too. It has been around since ages. It is a very simple exercise wherein you go against the relentless force of gravity and pull yourself up against a bar. It looks intimidating at first, but with practice it becomes easier. Your upper body will greatly benefit from it so will your endurance, shoulder stability, grip strength and posture.

The muscles used are biceps, shoulders and your back muscles.

Points to remember to maintain form:

• Yours arms should come back to its full extension every time.

DO NOT

• Swing or jerk

3. Lunges

The legs, hips and back are your big muscles. In order for your body to function well these need to be made flexible, stable and strong. Lunges address all of these issues in one movement. A lot of folks have back pain and knee injuries. Strengthening these muscles will most definitely improve the flexibility & strength of these muscles.

Muscles used are quadriceps, hamstring, gluteus, lower back & abdominals.

Points to remember to maintain form:

• Do not bend when moving in front
• Spine to remain in same position as it moves down and up
• Don’t adjust your legs as you step

DO NOT

• Raise the heel of your stepping foot off the ground, rotate your torso or hips

4. Dead Lift

Deadlift is a crucial exercise because of all exercises it is applicable to all of us, rich or poor, every day of our lives. From picking up newspapers, our briefcase, to our laundry bag, this movement is universally applicable to us all, it is thus a cornerstone for any workout routine. The benefits of this exercise improved spinal position (posture) and improved range of motion (flexibility).

Muscles used are hamstrings, gluteals, calf muscles, lower, middle and upper back muscles, shoulder muscles and forearm muscles.

Points to remember to maintain form:

• The angle of your spine should not go below 45 degrees during the movement
• Your back should be very slightly arched throughout the movement.
• All your joints are to move at the same time at the same rate.

DO NOT

• Straighten your knees prior to extending your back and hips
• Elevating your shoulder and lowering your head
• Allow your knees to move inwards or outwards

5. Ab Wheel

Who doesn’t like a six pack huh? You can do a hundred crunches with very little to show for them, other than a sore neck and back. The ab wheel is very effective and delivers results. Doing this routine will not only strengthen your stomach and hips, it will also make bring about flexibility in them as well as to your lower back, spine, and shoulders

Primary muscles used are the abdominals, obliques, hip flexors, as well as back & chest.

Points to remember to maintain form:

• Head and spine should be aligned
• All of your joints are to move at the same time
• Do it slowly with full control

DO NOT

• Arch your spine or round your back
• Moving too fast in either direction

Daily Exercise Schedule: To begin with try and do these exercises 3 times a week. Start with 1 set of these exercises with 10 repetitions per exercise. When you start feeling comfortable, increase the number of repetitions to 12. When you feel that you have graduated from that level, increase the number of sets to 2 with 12 repetitions per set and later to even 3.

TIPS:

• To increase the degree of difficulty try to give yourself as little resting time as possible in between exercises. This way you will get a cardio workout as well.
• Make a note of the total number of repetitions and number of sets that you have completed along with the time taken to complete the routine. In time this will act as a feedback as you can see track your progress.