Are sports and a sedentary lifestyle compatible?

The “physical education program” given below can not even be called gymnastics – it is, rather, useful advice to those whose favorite literary hero is Oblomov. Probably, many exercise therapy specialists will laugh heartily at her. However, without completing the first grade, one cannot even enter the second, and even more so the tenth, which means that one cannot get a “secondary physical education”. Can a sedentary lifestyle be called dangerous and what consequences can it have?

Sports and sedentary lifestyles

Exercise is challenging, but we suggest for those with a sedentary lifestyle to start with a simple matter.

• In the first week: Sitting in a chair in front of the TV, straighten your legs and bend them at the knees from time to time (while the commercial is showing). You don’t even have to get out of the chair to do this.
• In the second week: while standing in a small but still queue at a store or at a bus stop, stretch your head up and tighten your abdominal muscles. From the outside, if someone notices something, it’s just that you “suddenly” have acquired a good posture (“exercise in front of the TV”, continue).
• In the third week: sitting on a chair and talking on the phone, bend your feet (with tension) so that the socks come off the floor, and then, on the contrary, “stand” on your toes, raising your heels as much as possible. You should feel the tension in all muscles of the legs, including the calf muscles.
• In the fourth week: waking up in the morning, before getting out of bed, lying on your back and bending your knees, lift your pelvis, resting your feet and shoulders on the bed. You can even try it 2 or 3 times.
• In the fifth week: when talking on the phone, try to do it not while sitting, but while standing. It would be nice to do half-squats during the conversation.
• Week 6: While showering, do a few hand movements, as in breaststroke or crawl.

During this month and a half, you may already feel the “taste” of movements, and then you can move on to more serious exercises and do the exercises not walking, but “on purpose.”

Will Exercise in Front of the TV Help

In the first week, you will have to do a single exercise. Lie on your back, bend your knees, feet on the floor. Place your hands on your knees. Raise your head and shoulders and hold this position for 5-7 seconds (Fig. 1). Feel the tension in your abdominal muscles. Then relax. Repeat 10 times.

This exercise will take less than 5 minutes to complete. If you succeed, try on the 3-4-5th day to organize these 5 minutes as a lesson, albeit a very short one. Set yourself a time in advance, find a rug or bedding that will only be used for exercise and nothing else. Pick some music and start doing the exercise.

In the second week, add one more exercise to your “complex”: roll over onto your stomach, put your hands under your hips. Bend one leg at the knee – that is, lift your lower leg perpendicular to the floor. In this case, the thigh does not rise, but lies on the hand (Fig. 2). Hold this position for 5-7 seconds. Feel the tension in your gluteal muscles. Lower your leg and relax. It is advisable to repeat 10 times with each leg.

Take the next step in the third week. After exercising in a prone position, roll over onto your side, bending one leg under you. Lift the other leg by 5-7 cm and hold it in this position for 5-7 seconds (Fig. 3). No other parts of the body need to be moved. Repeat the exercise 5-10 times with each leg (respectively, on each side).

In the fourth week, you can already get up, but at first – leaning against the wall. That is, stand facing the wall and rest against it with outstretched arms. Then, bending your elbows, slowly bend against the wall until a pulling feeling appears in the calf muscles. Do not bend your knees, do not lift your heels off the floor (Fig. 4). Hold this position for 10 seconds and push up from the wall. Repeat 3 times.

In the fifth week, after pushing up from the wall, sit down, still resting your palms on the wall (Fig. 5). You need to squat slowly, without lifting your heels off the floor, until the already familiar sensation appears in the calf muscles. Hold the squat (or half-squat) for 10 seconds and straighten up. Repeat 3 times.

In the sixth week, include in the “Complex” the following exercise: put your straight leg on a low bench; if it is difficult to maintain balance, you can hold onto the back of the chair. Lean over to the bench without bending your knees; the back should be straight. Hold this position for 10 seconds and feel how the muscles on the back of the leg on the bench tighten. Repeat 3 times with each leg.

In the seventh week, add the supine exercise: with your hands, press your knees to your stomach and swing for 30 seconds. And at the same time, while remaining lying on your back, do one more exercise: bend your knees (feet are on the floor), inhale with your stomach (inflating your stomach), then, as you exhale, draw in your stomach and forcefully press your lower back to the floor. Hold this position for 10 seconds and relax. Repeat each of these exercises 3 times (you can alternate them).

In the eighth week, introduce another standing exercise. Place your right hand on your left shoulder. Now make both a turn and a slight tilt of the head towards the right shoulder. You should have a pulling feeling in your neck. Do it 3 times in each direction.

Thus, after two months, it will turn out that you are performing a full set of exercises.