Sports Workout: Easy Effective Exercises

Easy, Effective Exercises:  The Three E’s

By:  Thomas Trawick

Dips:

Those that exercise regularly, love it.  Those that don’t workout regularly, hate it or just don’t have the time to do it.  Either way, whether you love it or hate it, if you exercise you prefer it to be easy and effective.  So, let’s cut to the chase.  Below, I have listed a group of exercises that work your body in the right places and can be done almost anywhere you are.

While grabbing both sides of a chair seat hang your body off the chair at an incline.  Now while holding one leg up, keep the other leg firmly planted on the ground.  With you back straight, your leg and body should be in the shape of a V.  Now with your elbows bent, slowly extend your arms, pushing up off the chair still keeping your back straight.  Remember to slowly breathe out on your way up and breathe in on your way down.

Now if you don’t have a chair you can do the same exercise on the floor.

This very easy yet effective exercise can be done almost anywhere.  It’s great for working out your triceps, lats, torso (wings), and stomach.

Push-up’s:

We all want our arms, chest, back, legs and stomach to look as good as they can.  Even with all the other exercises that you can do to work out one or two of these muscles, push-ups have the advantage of working out all of these major areas.  Below, I have detailed a push-up that will focus on your arms, chest, back, legs and stomach.

With your arms fully extended in front of you and your legs either spread apart or closed.  Bend your elbows and keep you back straight.  As you make your way down, lift one leg up, touching your knee to your elbow.  Remember to breathe in on your way down.  Now with your chest right above the floor, push back up and bring your leg back down to starting position, with your feet either together or spread apart.

This easy yet effective exercise is great for working your legs, stomach, back (lats and wings), chest and triceps.  Do 5 sets of 10 push-up repetitions with each leg and be sure to rest in between each set.

Crunches:

Ok, so now we’re at a part of the body that isn’t so delightful to workout.  However the exercise I am going to explain is easy and concentrates on the abdominals.

Lying down on your back, with your hands behind your head, lift your legs up, bending the knees.  Now flex your abdominals pulling your torso up off the floor.  Remember to look forward, keeping your head and torso straight just like in Fig. A.  Now release bringing yourself back down to starting position.  Remember, to breathe in on your way down and breathe out on your way up.

Now from starting position, flex your stomach again pulling your torso up off the floor.  However, this time turn your body to the left and try to touch your right elbow to your left knee (just like in figure B).  Remember to breathe in on your way down and breathe out on your way up.  Also, it is very important to lift your body up using your stomach muscles and not your arms.  You don’t want to do sit-up’s or crunches by pulling your head up.  This will only lead to pulling a muscle in your neck.  Always lift with your abdominals.

Now release and bring yourself back down to starting position, breathing in on your way down.  Again, flex your stomach pulling yourself up off the floor except this time turn your torso to the right.  Try and touch your left elbow to your right knee.  Then release and bring yourself back down into starting position.

Squats:

Legs are another area of the body that must be effectively worked out in order for one to notice real results.  Properly doing squats gives your lower back, legs and stomach a mean workout.  Remember, I said properly.  Ineffectively doing this exercise can cause injury to your lower back and legs.  Also, please stretch before any kind of strenuous activity.

If you don’t exercise regularly and your just beginning to do squats then I recommend starting without using any kind of weights other than your body weight.  Now standing with your legs shoulder width apart, put your hands behind your head and interlock your fingers.  Bending the knees, keep your back straight and breathe in.  As you make your way down you should feel your legs and your lower back really getting a firm workout.  Now push back up extending your legs back to starting position.  Again, breathe in on your way down and breathe out on your way up.

After you’ve done these squats without weights, try and add some weight to the workout.  If you don’t have weights then I recommend using a log that is light enough to pick up and hold without hurting your back but is also heavy enough to add weight to the exercise.

Now, from starting position hold the bar or log with your arms crossed.  Bending the knees, keep your back straight and make your way down.  Now you should feel your legs and back really getting worked out.  Remember to breathe in on your way down and out on your way up.  So, if you want a good leg and back workout, I recommend trying some squats.  However, I strongly suggest properly stretching before doing this or any other exercise.  Also, remember to lift with your legs while keeping your back straight as possible.  Incorrectly doing this exercise can cause injury.

Calves:

Calves are a very important part of the leg workout.  However, the calves are also one of the muscles that most people ignore when exercising.  Below I have detailed an easy yet effective way to strengthen your calf muscles.  From starting position stand with your feet together.  Using the front part of your foot, lift your body up.  You should feel your calves getting the workout here.  Now release and bring yourself back down to starting position. 

Do this exercise regularly and do anywhere form 5 to 7 set’s with 20 to 30 calf press repetitions in each set and you’ll notice a change before you know it. 

If you are not sure of how many sets or repetitions you should do, then you might want to take a look at my 5 to 7 rule.