Gympa Exercise of the Week No. 1

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It is the winter season. Time for all orienteers to think about Gympa! It's a good thing that you can do indoors to strengthen yourself in ways that may pay off come Spring or maybe at WWE next summer or the relays, whenever they are.

I've decided to submit a "Gympa Exercise of the Week" to suggest a new thing for OKers to try. It is certainly possible that you've already tried it before, or do something equally as good or better, but if not, give it a shot!

The first Gympa exercise are three different motions... they will strengthen the muscles around your hips:

  1. Strengthen your hip flexors by lying on the floor on your back with both legs straight. Then pick one leg up, keeping it roughly as straight as is comfortable, until it forms about a 90-degree angle with your body. Slowly drop it to the floor again and repeat this exercise. You could put your hands under your butt if that is more comfortable or seems to work your legs even more. Work the other leg the same number of repeats.
  2. Now strengthen the back of your legs in a similar way. Stretch out with your stomache towards the floor on your toes and hands as if you are at the "up" position doing pushups. Then pick one leg off the floor, keeping it more or less straight, as high as is comfortable. Then let it down to the floor slowly. Repeat that a certain number of times, then do the other leg.
  3. You can strengthen the sides of your legs too. Running on smooth ground won't suffice, so it is quite helpful to include this in a Gympa session. Lie on your side with your legs straight. Lift your uppermost leg into the air, then let it down. Repeat as before.

Gympa sessions are good to do after you do another exercise... you will be warmed up and will have to shower anyway. It would be good to stretch the muscles you have just worked as well. These are easy things you can do when travelling as they require no equipment.

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), December 08, 2000

Answers

Gympa of the week is an excellent idea! I know that a number of OKers do a few light excercises most days. So, we ought to be able to add a few new excercises for a bit of variety.

-- Michael (meglin@juno.com), December 09, 2000.

My yoga teacher advises us to never let the small of your back be flat against the floor; we did a similar exercise to #1 above last week with the difference that we kept a hand under the small of our back so we would know when the muscles were tightening and lowering the back to the ground. SO, I advise you amend the exercise to lifting the leg only to the point where the back starts to drop. Then, concentrate on STRETCHING the lifted leg while lowering it to the floor. If you try this with your feet against a wall, you will find that your foot will hit the wall well before the floor. Our teacher made a pretty strong case (she even had diagrams!) that this will strengthen the periformis (?) muscle, notoriously hard to strengthen, and that will help hold the abs in. Give it a try! C'mon, a little yoga won't hurt you!

-- Peggy (Pdickison@aol.com), December 11, 2000.

Even if I did want to do yoga, I don't even own a leotard!

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), December 12, 2000.


Hmmm...its been ten days since the first Gympa excercise of the week. Time for a new gympa.

-- Michael (mike_eglinski@kcmo.org), December 18, 2000.

Hmmmmm.... it has been 40 days since the last OREAD was released. Time for a new OREAD.

-- Mook (everett@psi.edu), December 19, 2000.



Peggy, 'so the exercise with the feet against a wall...'

Huh?

You mean laying on one's back with the feet touching a wall, then raising the legs? And trying to stretch the leg such that it meets the wall first before the floor because of the stretching? Is that it?

And what about increasing the resistance, either with ankle weights or with those stretchy bands that one can get at a rehab store?

-- Fritz (fpmenninger@hotmail.com), December 20, 2000.


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