Station 2:
Strength
Body weight exercises — like the six shown here — help strengthen your muscles, improve flexibility, and boost the metabolism, among many other health benefits. Have fun!
1. Sit to Stand: Sit on the bench and fold your arms across your chest. With your feet slightly apart, lean forward so your shoulders are over your feet and stand up fully. Keep your toes facing forward and focus on preventing your knees from coming together as you squat down. Try to keep the weight even on both legs.
2. Squat to Bench: Stand in front of the bench, facing away from it. Push your hips backward as if you're going to sit down and bend your knees into a squat position to lightly touch the bench with your bottom without sitting your weight down. Slowly return to the starting position. Keep your knees aligned with your second toes.
3. Jump Squats: Start in a standing position with your legs hip to shoulder width apart. Drop down into a squat position, stopping with your thighs slightly above parallel to the ground. You can use your arms dynamically for increased balance. Explosively jump up as high as you can, and land in the same starting position of a squat, then repeat immediately. There should not be any forward or sideways travel while you jump.
5. Walking Lunge: Stand up straight, then take a big step forward. As your front foot lands, flex both knees so they have roughly a 90° angle at the front knee and hip. Keep your front heel on the ground during the step. Continue the step forward to stand up again and repeat with your other leg. Alternate this way as if you were walking.
6. Walking Lunge Steps with Rotation: Take a step forward and lower into a lunge, with your knee directly over your front foot. Then, turn your torso and upper body in both directions, alternating sides. Keep your hip bones slightly tilted backwards to keep upright during the lunge, and avoid arching your back.