Good morning everyone on Str & Flex land!
I started my new 5-Week Running and Workout Plan today, and first up is NHS Wake-up-Workout:
nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-fitne...
So here a bit of a review:
On the NHS website they are categorised as beginner, but these are really a step up from the Strength and Flex podcast with Laura.
But they are perfect for doing indoors, and I have my newly prepared workout corner ready in our living room!
The effort lies in the number of repeats you do for each movement. So although I thought much of my achievement of being able to do 10 bench dips by the end of my last workout, here lovely Leigh took me a step further and we attempted to do 25 bench dips. Except they were on the floor, without a bench and once completed, she smiles, looks into the camera, asks if you are ok and than announces another set of 25! Yup, totalling 50 of those! 😳
The whole workout is 40 min, and works out pretty much the whole body, with various stomach crunches, back lifts, squats with lateral raises, and leg raises.
It also includes a nice warm up section with marching and various arm movements and also a cool down stretching section.
I didn’t quite manage to do 25 of each set but did come close, but I do like the whole workout. Leigh is very charismatic, acknowledging when and where you can feel the tensions, pain or exhaustion but keeping you motivated to push through.
I also like the fact that you do not have to have anything else with you, just a mat, a towel and water.
Leigh‘s movements are also interesting, for instance combining a squat with a leg raise, or a standing oblique crunch with a lateral leg raise with upper body bend (See pic). And Leigh’s elegant poses really make you want to also achieve that lightness.
And as a newbie to workouts I enjoy that the postures are all a bit different from other workouts. It makes you conscious of the diversity of movements available to work those muscles.
So I can recommend it! I will be doing these for the rest of the week, even though for me they exhaust me slightly more than invigorate me for the day, as is suggested.
And they really work brilliantly well in my living-room workout corner, so all good and ready to go for the next set!
A couple of strength workouts to do at home with minimal equipment 😊
