The parts of your body you should exercise first depends on several factors, including your goals and which part of your body you want to target. Weight management and a longer lifespan are just some of the benefits of exercising regularly. The National Institutes of Health recommends healthy adults participate in 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activities for 30 minutes per day, five days a week. As a general guideline, during moderately intense physical activity you break a sweat but can still have a conversation.
Weight Training
Weight-training exercise is also called strength or resistance training. Start your weight-training session with larger muscle groups like your back, chest and thighs. Finish your weight-training session with smaller muscle groups including your arms, neck and calves. During your workout, alternate your exercises to target different body parts. A 10-exercise strength-training routine from Fitness.gov works your body parts in the following order: chest, back, thighs, shoulders, thighs, stomach, upper arms, lower legs, upper arms and forearms.
Rotator Cuff
Do rotator cuff exercises to strengthen and stabilize your shoulders. This is important for fitness enthusiasts recovering from or trying to prevent rotator cuff injuries as well as those training for sports such as windsurfing. Your rotator cuff consists of four muscles. Located on the lower part of your scapula is the supscapularis, inftaspinatus and teres minor. Your supraspinatus is on the upper portion of your scapula. Pilates-Back-Joint-Exercise.com recommends targeting your subscapularis first with internal rotations. Second, exercise your infraspinatus and teres minor with external rotation and third work your supraspinatus with abduction.
Lower Body
The muscles in your lower body bear weight and help you perform everyday tasks such as lifting and walking up the stairs. Build muscles safely by following this lower body muscle sequence recommended by BoxingScene.com. Begin by exercising your quads on the leg press and the leg extension machines. Next, focus on your hamstrings with curls, followed by calf raises in both a standing and seated position.
At Your Desk
If you're an office worker who spends most of his time behind a desk and at the computer, you need to exercise during the day to prevent muscular tension and pain caused by maintaining the same position for long periods. Exercise your eyes with movements in all directions. Then do neck circles, side torso stretches and forward bending. Some stretching exercises for your hands come next and then stand up for a final shoulder-stretching exercise against the wall.
References
- World Health Organization: Ergonomics; Working with a Visual Display Unit; 2006
- Fitness.gov: Nolan Ryan Fitness Guide
- Pilates-Back-Joint-Exercise: Exercise the Rotator Cuff Muscles for Stronger Shoulders!
- BoxingScene.com: Lower Body Exercises For Beginning Bodybuilders
- Medine Plus: Exercise and Physical Fitness
