Believe it or not, you can get an effective exercise workout from a chair. Whether this is from your office, the comfort of your own home or in a classroom format, chair exercises are a fantastic, low-impact way that you can incorporate movement into your routine.
Most individuals can burn between 120 and 250 calories in a 32-minute workout session. With weights or (alternatively) resistance bands, the calorie burn is even more. In addition, most adults should get between 150 and 300 minutes of moderate cardiovascular activity each week. They should be doing strength and flexibility exercises between two and three times a week.
Chair exercises can help you attain this goal. The great thing is that they’re also a tool which you can use in order to alleviate some cramps as well as aches. Busy parents who are struggling in order to find a balance can use chair exercises to get a quick workout in.
Chair exercises have the ability to:
- Tone muscles,
- Improve cardiovascular fitness, and
- Burn calories.
Popular chair exercise programmes are aimed at populations who may not be able to exercise in more traditional ways.
How Can Chair Exercises Help To Improve Health?
Chair exercises offer an exceptional option for seniors – or those with limited ability – to participate in exercise at their own tempo as well as level of exertion. The idea is to begin slowly and then gradually build up the routine as needed.
Increased physical fitness can help with improving:
- Muscle strength,
- Coordination, as well as
- Confidence.
A balanced workout is suggested, which means that it is a good idea to choose at least one exercise which targets each of the major muscle groups.
Muscle groups to concentrate on, include:
- Legs,
- Back,
- Chest,
- Core,
- Triceps,
- Biceps, and
- Core
By concentrating on each muscle group, it assists with developing good balance and coordination for the entire body.
Preparations Needed For Chair Exercises
These gentle seated exercises will help with improving your mobility, preventing falls and can even be done at home. Don’t worry if you’ve not done much for a while – these seated exercises are gentle and easy to follow.
For these exercises, select a solid, stable chair that doesn’t have wheels. You should have the ability to sit with your feet flat on the floor and your knees bent at right angles. Avoid chairs with arms as these will hamper your movement.
Wear loose and comfortable clothing. In addition, keep some water handy. Build up slowly and then aim to increase the reps of each exercise gradually over time.
Chair Exercises Which You Can Do At Home Or At The Office
Leg lift and twist
This exercise works your quadriceps and abdominal muscles.
Sit up straight on the side of your chair with your knees bent. Stretch your right leg out straight with your foot on the floor. Have your arms crossed over your chest. Pull in your abdominal muscles and then rotate your torso to the right as you are lifting your right leg to be level with your left knee. Squeeze your knees together while exhaling. Return to your starting position while inhaling for 20 reps. Repeat the movement on the opposite side.
Seated Bicep Curl
Sit on the edge of a chair. Hold two dumbbells down at your sides and have your palms facing forward. Slowly lift up the dumbbells up just past your chest and then towards your shoulders. At the apex of the exercise, pause for a second in order to squeeze your bicep muscles. Slowly return to your starting position. Repeat for 12 reps.
Contact Trifocus Fitness Academy
If you are super keen to learn more about how exercises can be adapted to suit everyone’s needs then you need to do our Personal Training Diploma. For more information, please follow this link.