Try This Evening Workout

Filed Under Work Out

I’ve always had issues with evening workouts. At the end of the workout I’m too sweaty and too awake to go to bed, which means I don’t get enough sleep. And since I’m not a morning person, I usually work out in the afternoon. However, I recently found a little evening workout that sounds really promising.

The Key Is Pace

Rather than being an all out workout, this one is more of a stretching routine. It doesn’t involve high weights or high reps, just a low number of reps with body weight exercises done at a very slow pace. In fact, it’s a VERY slow pace. Each rep should take you about 10 seconds, which is slow enough to be relaxing.

The Exercises

Toe Touches - Stand up straight. Now slowly start bending down, keeping your legs straight, until your finger touch your toes. Do this very slowly (take at least 5 seconds to get all the way down) and go back up at the same slow pace. Do this five times and take a five second break between each rep.

Calf and Arm Raises - Stand up straight with your arms at your side. Now slowly go up on your tip toes. As you do this, raise your arms as far up above your head. Again, keep a slow pace. Going all the way up should take you at least 5 seconds and the way back down should be as slow. Try to inhale on the way up and exhale on the way down. Again, 5 reps and take a five second break between each rep.

Leg Lifts - Lie down flat on your back. Now slowly raise your feet until your legs form a 30 degree angle with the ground. Keep your legs straight and your feet together while you do this. 3 seconds to move the feet up, followed by 4 to 5 seconds of keeping them in place (you may want to try moving your feet around in little circles while you do this) and then take 3 seconds to bring your feet back down. Take a five second break between each rep.

Arm Lifts and Curls - Stand up straight with your arms at your side. Slowly raise your arms up while keeping them straight until your arms are pointing straight out ahead of you. At this point, make sure your palms are facing up. Now slowly curl your arms in by bending the elbow, keeping your upper arms steady. Once you’ve completely curled your arms in, pause for a second, uncurl your arms to the straight out position and then lower your arms back down to your side. Again, 5 reps with a 5 second break in between each.

That’s it, that’s the workout.

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By the way, this workout can also be used as a good stretching routine for times when you’ve been sitting down for too long, like on an airplane (although you may want to take out the leg lifts at that point).

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