You don't have a gym membership, and you don't want one, thankyouverymuch. I mean, who wants to drive somewhere to get all sweated up in front of a bunch of other people anyway?
But you know you need to be getting more exercise. You're doing the walking, and that's nice, but it's not sufficient. You're not a jogger. You fell off the last bike you owned. Pool's green and you think there might be something large and scaley living in it these days.
Not only that, but you're more interested in building muscle, not doing yet another set of aerobic exercises, but who can afford weight sets and, besides, you really don't know how to press a bench or whatever those things are called.
Enter the "multi-muscle move."
"Multi-muscle moves are a very efficient training tool since they utilize many muscle groups at the same time," says New York City fitness professional Christopher Warden, CSCS. Well, yeah. I guess that's why they call them "multi-muscle" moves. Hello.
Ol' Chris goes on to say, "The deadlift is a great example. With that one exercise alone, you can work about 75% of the muscles in your body."
Cool. One exercise and I'm done.
You remember those calisthenics your gym teacher made you do in PE? No, not the jumping jacks. The pushups. Squats. Those kinds of things. Multi-muscle moves are specialized versions of those things. They're things you can do at home, although it helps if you have a small set of dumbbells or things that are easily held that weigh from five to 20 pounds. It helps to have one of those step platforms, too, although any sturdy stool that's about yea high (18" or so) will do.
They work a variety of the large muscle groups -- helping build that muscle tissue that will later help you burn that fat -- as well as the "core stabilizers" -- interior muscles used for stability and agility.
So read the extended entry to get the exercises. Follow them carefully to get the full benefit -- using your abs, holding your body position straight where indicated, pulling with the appropriate muscle group.
The Exercises
Depending on your fitness level, complete from one to three sets of 15 repetitions for each exercise. If you're new to this, start slowly, and work your way up.
- Modified Push-ups (works chest, front of shoulders, core stabilizers)
Get on your hands and knees, lower your hips, walking your hands forward until your arms are directly under your shoulders. Your body should be a diagonal line from the pointy part of your head to knees -- do not sway your back! Keep your abs tight, suck in your breath, then bend your elbows elbows to lower your body -- keeping that straight line -- towards the floor. Stop when your upper arm is parallel to floor to keep from stressing the shoulder joint. Then let your breath out slowly while straightening your arms to push up (geddit?) to your original diagonal position. Do this in front of a mirror to ensure your back is straight the whole trip.
- Bent Over Rows (works upper and lower back, back of shoulders, core stabilizers)
Holding a 5-10 pound dumbbell (your spouse weighs more than ten pounds, so don't use him or her) in each hand, palms facing in towards body, stand with feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent, shoulders over hips and chin neutral. With abs tight and back flat, hinge forward from your hips until your torso is nearly parallel to the floor, letting your arms hang down naturally from shoulders. Don't dangle! Keeping those arms tight to your body, simultaneously retract (this is the tricky part) the shoulder blades and bend your elbows while pulling the dumbbells up towards the bottom of your ribcage.
Got that?
Pause while squeezing the shoulder blades and the elbows towards each other. Then lower your arms. Complete all repetitions before returning to upright standing position.
- Step-Ups (works the butt-muscles, quads, hamstrings, and those good ol' core stabilizers)
Stand in front of a sturdy step or stool or box or something that won't cave in or topple over. If you try something that caves or topples, and you get hurt, do NOT come crying to me. The height of the box or step should be such that when you place your foot on it, your thigh is parallel to the floor. Put your hands on hips. Focus in front of you, because you're going to need some balance and looking down or to the side will unbalance you. Keep your tummy tight (okay, keep your abdominal muscles tight). Then you put your right foot on the box, you take your right foot off. You put your right foot on the box and shake it all ...
... sorry. Got carried away.
You place your right foot flat on step or box or stool with the right knee bent (as opposed to the left knee, now), and make your left knee soft. What this means is you relax your left knee, rather than locking it into place. Don't make it all wobbly. Just ... relax.
Then push off with your right foot (the one on the stool), and using that right butt muscle, bring your left foot up to meet your right foot until your entire body reaches an upright standing position on top of box thing. That's right. You're stepping up! See why they call it a "step-up"? You think they just made up any old term for it, on a whim? Don't pause to contemplate this, though. Step back down (with the left foot. 'k? Keep your right foot on the box the whole 15 repetitions, and step up with the left. If you are a Democrat and you object to starting with the right foot, then feel free to start with the left. Just so's you do all your step ups on the same side for the entire set of repetitions. Up, down, up, down. Fifteen times. THEN you switch legs and repeat step-ups with the OTHER foot remaining on top of step/box throughout. That would be one set. If you're fit, then you get to do all that two more times. Thirty steps per set.
- Dumbbell Deadlifts (These are the ones that got that fitness guy all excited) (works butt, quads, hamstrings, core stabilizers)
Place a 10-20 pound dumbbell on floor, standing on its end. Stand over the dumbbell with your feet along either side of the weight, just a tad wider than shoulder-width apart, and with your toes slightly turned out. Pretend it's ballet class, right? Keeping abs tight and keeping the back flat, bend your knees and drop your hips towards floor -- not TO the floor -- as if squatting. In this position, your torso tilts naturally forward. Grasp the weight, keeping your arms extended. Straighten your legs while picking up dumbbell -- do not use your back muscles, use those glutes, thighs, and hamstrings -- and resume an upright standing position. At the top of move is where it gets a little kinky, so if your significant other likes watching you, here's where he or she will get a little thrill. At the top of the move, contract your butt and push your pelvis slightly forward. Say "Yeah, baby!" and then bend your knees once again, following the same path to return the weight to the floor. Immediately start next repetition from this bent-knee position. Note that even though these are called deadlifts, no dead person or thing was harmed in the working of this exercise.
- Plank-Cobra Combo (works abdominals, lower back, glutes, core stabilizers)
Lie on your stomach like you're a kid, going to watch Saturday morning cartoons. That is, put your weight on your forearms with your hands clasped out in front of you, elbows directly beneath your shoulder joints, and your head aligned with your spine. Can you see it in your mind? Just try it. Then once you have that figured out, tuck your toes under (flex your feet), engage your stomach muscles, and lift your entire body up off of the floor (pushing your shoulders down) so that your body is in a straight line from head to toe. Like a plank. See?
Don't let your back sway or your hips pike. Hold this for 10 seconds; release.
You're not done yet. Unclasp your hands and rest your torso and forehead on the floor -- do NOT take a nap -- then open your arms out to 90-degree angles by the shoulders, with your palms down. Keeping the hipbones pressing into ground, simultaneously extend and lift your head, shoulders, arms and legs a few inches from floor. Like a little saucer, you are. Don't "crunch" your neck by tilting your head too far back, and don't bend your back too far. Pause, feeling a squeeze in the ol' glutes and in the lower back. A gentle squeeze. Don't look around to see who might be squeezing you. Lower yourself slowly. Re-clasp hands to return to plank position and repeat. - Step-Ups (works the butt-muscles, quads, hamstrings, and those good ol' core stabilizers)
