🗓 My plan for today was focussing on my knees a bit, with the NHS Pilates knee workout with Sam from Instructor Live. nhs.uk/conditions/nhs-fitne...
⏰It’s a great, little 35min workout at beginner level, focussing on both strengthening any muscles and providing flexibility in any joints that might support your knees.
🤕Sam suggests it’s great for those with knee injuries, but even if mine haven’t been injured, I know my knees are not ideal. I can slow-run 60min without any problems, but just taking 2 steps at a time will cause a sharp pain. Now this might be my weight and also age, but I know I could do with strengthening my knees, so this workout has been in my plan for a long time!
🕺🏼Sam goes through various exercises and I can feel how quite different muscles than the usual ones are activated. Often a leg movement involves an outward turn of the feet, which also supports joint mobility. Routines include exercises whilst standing, balance exercises, and some on a chair, some on a mat, some with a step. I didn’t have a step, but an old set of large books came in handy.
🦵I was glad to see that when tightening my thigh muscles, I’m not putting undue pressure on my knees. The test she does for this is to sit you on the floor, put a hand underneath your knee, and then ask you to tighten your thigh muscles. If your knee presses down on your hand, your putting too much pressure on your knee when working your thigh muscles. I was glad I didn’t, so that’s all good. But if I had, there is an exercise to retrain how to use your thigh muscles correctly. I didn’t even know there was a right and wrong way to tighten your thigh muscles...
🏋🏾♀️But of course the most difficult movement was wide lunges. Her back knee almost touched the floor with hers, whereas mine only goes down ca 20-30cm. My lunges feel so stiff and I cannot even see how one should be able to bend further.
📆So more work to be done here, and I must find a way of integrating these to other exercises. There are simply not enough days in the week! How does one manage to get around the whole body in a week?
Happy working out everyone!
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March Matness Week 4
