Home exercise programs using floor exercises will tone your muscles and are a convenient way to maintain an exercise program. Additionally, you can do these exercises while on business in a hotel room or while visiting family in the privacy of their guest room. The American College of Sports Medicine advises when exercise is convenient, you are more likely to continue to exercise.
Push-ups
The push-up is a bodyweight exercise and is one of the most effective, convenient exercises you can perform to directly work your upper body muscles while indirectly engaging your core and lower body. "The Strength and Condition Journal" reports bodyweight exercises date back to the ancient Greeks, Egyptians and Romans and are exercises performed against gravity. If you only have five minutes to work out, get on the floor and do push-ups on your knees or your toes. Complete a push-up by placing your hands slightly wider than shoulder-width, balancing on your knees or toes and sucking your navel toward your spine. Bend your shoulders and elbows to lower your body until your nose is two inches from the floor. Press back up, then repeat for 15 repetitions.
Hyper-extensions and Transverse Contractions
Reduce your risks of low back pain by including floor exercises for your abdominal and low back muscles. After you do a set of push-ups, lie on the floor faced down, extending your arms and legs in a straight line with your body. Perform hyper-extensions by lifting your alternate arm and leg into the air, focusing on arching at your lower back. Repeat for five times on each side then turn over to lie on your back.
Work your transverse muscle, or your body's natural girdle, with transverse contractions by sucking your navel toward your spine and breathing normally. Hold this contraction for five seconds, repeating for 10 reps.
Heel Raises and Ankle Pumps
Perform heel raises after transverse contractions to engage the muscles on the front of your thighs. Straighten your right leg and tighten your quadriceps muscle by pointing your toes toward the ceiling. Lift your right leg 16 inches off the floor, holding it for three seconds. Lower your leg and repeat for 15 reps, then switch legs.
Remain on your back to exercise your shin and calf muscles with ankle pumps. Lift your right leg three inches off the floor. Point your toes away from you then toward you as hard as you can. Complete 15 reps of each direction before switching legs.
Stationary Lunge
Stationary lunges are standing lunges with your feet on the floor. This exercise works your glutes, quadriceps and the gluteal end of your hamstring muscles. Perform a stationary floor lunge by stepping your right leg forward and bending your hip and knee joints to form 90-degree angles. Lower your hips until your right thigh is parallel to the floor. Repeat for 15 reps, then switch legs.
References
- "Fit Society Page"; Overcoming Barriers is Key to Effective Exercise; John M. Jakicic, Ph.D.; Fall 2001
- "Strength and Conditioning Journal"; Bodyweight Training: A Return To Basics; Jeffrey Harrison; April 2010
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