Five exercises your body wants you to do everyday
Every day, everyone should have certain exercises they do religiously to help achieve and keep their body in good overall condition. These moves should be simple enough to perform in limited space and effective enough to see good results. These five exercises can help increase and improve blood flow to the muscles, lubricate joints, and boost metabolism. And it’s not just about the physical improvements – your brain also gets a workout by actively engaging in the correct form and coordination each of them requires.
The improvement in strength and conditioning of the body is necessary to be able to function physically each day.
Unfortunately, too many people suffer daily from pain, poor sleep habits, and low energy levels, making it difficult to get through the day-to-day activities they need to accomplish. Practicing these exercises consistently can help minimize and improve your overall fitness, making sure that even on your busiest day, these five moves help you stay energized keeping you physically fit.
The best news is none of these exercises requires any equipment – just your body and a hefty dose of willpower and motivation.
- Jumping jacks
If the last time you did a jumping jack was back in high school gym class, it’s time to revive a classic exercise. The simple jumping jack is a plyometric move that is beneficial for attaining functional fitness. Performing jumping jacks engages multiple muscle groups. One is your heart – jumping jacks boosts heart rate causing the body to burn more calories and fat, resulting in weight loss. In addition, deep breathing while performing jumping jacks, improves blood circulation oxygenating your blood and muscles. This popular exercise is also good for the arms and legs muscles requiring coordination, balance, flexibility, and stamina. Finally, your bones will also benefit as jumping jacks are a load-bearing move making bones stronger and denser, reducing the chance of developing osteoporosis.
2. Squats
Considered one of the best exercises for the body, squats target the major muscles of the lower body and the core. Regardless of age or fitness goals, squats should be part of everyone’s daily exercise routine. Known for building strong leg muscles necessary for supporting the entire body, squats also get the blood pumping, delivering more nutrients and oxygen to all the vital organs and muscles. Squats have also been known to help improve posture and balance which aid in strengthening back muscles to be able to stand tall and straight. Want a better butt, strong abs and great looking legs – squats are your answer. Squats can tighten and tone muscles in the abdomen, hips, thighs, buttocks and legs while burning more calories. All this in addition to better flexibility, better knee strength and better blood flow to the joints keeping them supple and strong.
3. Planks
This deceptively simply looking exercise is one of the best for kicking your core muscles into fantastic shape. The core or abdominal muscles are key to providing support for our entire back and spinal column reducing injury to this area of the body. Planks engage all major core muscle groups helping you burn more calories than traditional abdominal exercises such as crunches or sit-ups. Regular planking will also greatly improve your ability to stand with good posture having a profound effect on the overall condition of your neck, shoulders, chest, and back. When the core abdominal muscles are strengthened, this also improves your balance giving you more stability and flexibility. This exercise practically does it all and requires little space to perform.
4. Walk-out pushup
Sort of like a pushup but with a different twist, a walk-out pushup is a great compound exercise targeting the hamstrings, core and upper body and is suitable for any fitness level. Our hamstrings are often a neglected area of the body yet they play a crucial role in many daily activities from running, jumping, walking and cycling. When the hamstrings muscles are strengthened, they help protect your knees from injury by absorbing the stress placed on the knee as weak hamstrings can lead to knee injury. The chest muscles are also engaged in this move. Having strong chest muscles help stabilize the shoulder joint reducing the possibility of shoulder joint injuries plus it gives an overall better aesthetic look or body contouring to this area.
5. Hip bridge
If you’re looking for a very effective exercise with great benefits but you can lie down doing it, you need to be doing hip bridges. This important move focuses on the hip abductors, gluteus maximus, hamstrings, and rectus abdominis – basically the muscles that hold your organs all in place connecting the front of the abdomen near the sternum to the pubis. Our posterior of our body (glutes and hamstrings) tend to get neglected. The quadriceps usually takeover and do most of the work. This results in tight muscles leading to knee and back pain due to the dominance of one muscle over another. Bridges fully engage the posterior chain of muscles like the glutes and hamstrings keeping them from getting underused. Bridges are great for making the glutes strong and powerful aiding in all athletic moves. Plus bridges will give you a toned, rounded rear and firmer backside making clothes fit better. Hip bridges will also reawaken the hips and spine to be involved in keeping them flexible and supple.
Dr. David Samadi is the Director of Men’s Health and Urologic Oncology at St. Francis Hospital in Long Island. He’s a renowned and highly successful board certified Urologic Oncologist Expert and Robotic Surgeon in New York City, regarded as one of the leading prostate surgeons in the U.S., with a vast expertise in prostate cancer treatment and Robotic-Assisted Laparoscopic Prostatectomy. Dr. Samadi is a medical contributor to NewsMax TV and is also the author of The Ultimate MANual, Dr. Samadi’s Guide to Men’s Health and Wellness, available online both on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Visit Dr. Samadi’s websites at robotic oncology and prostate cancer 911.