JUST when you’ve gotten into a regular exercise routine, along comes habagat to put a wedge on your good plans to get back in shape.
But don’t make habagat or a strong typhoon your excuse to laze away. You can still squeeze in workouts indoors; and if you don’t feel much like going whole hog, go for mini-workouts.
Ray Khan, fitness trainer and owner of Kickfit Athletics Center in Denver, shares an easy workout that you can do in 20 to 30 minutes. Allot two to three minutes per exercise:
Warm up. Put on music that makes you move.
Dance around the living room.
Walk up and down the steps.
Do dumbbell curls and presses (if you don’t have weights, use full water bottles).
Do assisted squats, keeping your back on a fitness ball against the wall or using the back of the couch for support.
Shadow box. (Lift and lower the left leg; jab with the right arm, then the left; then lift and lower the right leg.)
Do a fencing move. (No, you don’t need swords.) Pretend you have a sword in each hand. Create an X pattern standing still, then move forward and back.
Hop on your exercise bike or treadmill—or, for something different, use a weighted hula hoop. If you don’t have any of those, just go back to dancing.
Do abdominal crunches (hold a weighted ball for added resistance).
Cool down with James Brown’s “I Feel Good”—or whatever turns you on.
Simple, right?
You can also do harder fitness training at home. Greg Brittenham, assistant coach/Player Development of the New York Knicks, says you can do plyometrics right in your own crib. “When performed correctly, they are safe, fun to do and go a long way to develop quickness, speed, agility and jumping ability.”
Here’s the good news: these drills are easy to do and require very little equipment. Just concentrate on speed and quickness instead of on how high you can jump. The entire plyometric session takes about 15 to 20 minutes. If you play basketball, these will help you become a more “explosive” player.
Jump rope. Skipping is a low-impact plyometric and a great way to introduce muscles to the quickness required when performing the drills correctly. Jump rope for about five to seven minutes to get loose. Remember to stay on your toes.
Box run. Use a small sturdy wooden box or a stair step, no more than 10 inches high. Start with your right foot on the box/step and the left foot on the floor. Jump and simultaneously switch your feet so that the left foot is now on the box and the right is on the floor. Immediately repeat (without stopping). Perform 10 to 20 switches then rest for one to two minutes. Do this drill three to five times. This is a good drill to develop sprint speed and jumping ability.
Box jump. Stand with both feet on the same box/step. Your toes are at the edge of the step (your heels are hanging over the edge). Step off backward and land on the floor simultaneously with both feet. Immediately jump back to the top of the box. Concentrate on how quickly you can jump off the floor and back up onto the box. Rest for a second or two and then repeat 10 to 15 times to complete the set. Rest for one to two minutes between sets. Perform this drill three to five times. This drill will help with vertical leaping ability.
Towel hop. Spread a towel out on the floor. It will form a rectangle. Start at one corner of the towel and perform a double leg jump around the towel’s edges touching all four corners of the rectangle. Perform three to eight complete round trips (a roundtrip is one complete revolution touching all four corners), then repeat in the opposite direction for three to eight roundtrips. Rest for one to two minutes. Do this drill three to five times. This drill will help improve agility.
Lateral jumps. Now take that same towel and roll it up to form a tube shape. Put a piece of tape around it to hold it in place. Lay the rolled up towel on the floor and stand sideways to the towel. Jump laterally (sideways) over the towel. The instant your feet touch the ground on the other side of the towel, immediately jump back to the starting position. Repeat back and forth jumping until you have performed six to 10 roundtrips. (Source: Jr. NBA Parent’s Guide)
That’s it! No more “rain, rain go away” excuses come habagat or high water.