Warrior 2

Ain’t That a Kick

Today’s move is a dumbbell kickback. As always, the move can be done with or without weights.

The movement begins with you standing with feet hip distance apart. You hinge forward at the hips with a slight bend in the knees while keeping a neutral spine. Keep your upper arms parallel to the floor and tucked close to your sides. Your arms are now in a 90° position,

While exhaling, extend your arms straight back. Focus on the contraction of your arm at the top of the movement. As you inhale, slowly return the DB to the starting position.

The common mistakes made in this movement is swinging the weights rather than moving them with intention, rounding your back, or letting your elbows drop.

This exercise is focusing on your triceps muscles which are located in the back of your upper arms. In order to activate this muscle, use the correct weights to avoid the swinging movement utilizing momentum rather than strength.

DB kickbacks can be done with one arm at a time, all reps on one side and then the other, or they can be done alternating arms, OR they can be done with both arms together.

As indicated in the directions above, if you are swinging the DBs rather than actually muscling them up, the purpose of the exercise is defeated. In that case, do it without weights.

Today’s workout:
WARM UP
2-3x
warrior II pose, hold for 15-30 seconds per side (link to picture)
3 cat/cow (from floor or chair)
2 up/down dog (from floor or chair)

CIRCUIT
3-4x
6-8 DB kickbacks per arm, alternating arms (12-16 reps)
5 DB shrugs with a 3 second hold at the top
add or subtract weight as needed
rest as needed

DB kickbacks are a bit deceptive. They look really easy, but take concentration to get the benefit from the movement. The tendency is to start simply swinging the DBs. In order to halt this, take a momentary pause at the neutral starting point of the movement. This keeps you from swinging around. Also, do your best to stand without moving your body. The only thing that should be moving is the arm.

Have fun with this as you learn to master it. As with everything in life, it gets easier with practice. Perfection isn’t necessary. Which is really good since it also isn’t possible. Do what you can and have fun while doing it – or at least after you have accomplished it.

Stay balanced.
Video on Facebook.

Be a Warrior

Warrior pose for yoga comes in a variety of different forms. We will be working with Warrior 2.

We begin standing in mountain pose, which is yoga’s way of saying stand tall, chest up, shoulders relaxed and shoulder blades down your back, hand facing forward. This is a basic way to start any standing exercise no matter what the discipline.

First, take a step back with one leg while rotating toward the front leg, bending the knee so it tracks over the foot. The back foot should be angled to a 45 degree angle.

The next step is to raise the arms horizontally, keeping the shoulders down and away from the ears. Look out over the fingertips. This is Warrior 2. If you are feeling balanced enough to try, you may turn your front hand over, raising your front arm to sky, looking at your fingertips, and allowing your back arm to fall toward your leg. This is Reverse Warrior.

This exercise works on balance but also strengthens core, legs, and arms.

And, it can be done seated. So if you don’t yet have the balance to perform this move standing, the same movements can be done from a chair.

Today’s workout:
WARM UP
stand heel to toe for 20 seconds
put other foot forward and stand 20 seconds

CIRCUIT
1-2 times
hold Warrior 2 pose for 30 seconds with or without including Reverse Warrior (this should be 4-5 slow, deep breaths)
switch sides and a hold for 30 seconds
5-6 sit-ups anchored or unanchored (scaling option is seated with knee raises, either both together or one at a time, and if one at a time is 5-6 per leg)
rest as needed

One of the biggest physical issues older adults face is the loss of balance. Working on balance itself is great. What actually holds us up is our core strength. The better your torso is at holding you upright, the steadier you can be.

Stay balanced
Video on Facebook.