by John Mcklain

Created on: July 04, 2008

Here are some great exercises for free that mimic the movements of gym equipment.

Chin ups on playground bars:
1) Arms wider than shoulder-width
2) Palms facing forward
3) Cross your legs
4) Lift your until your chin is level with the bar
* Imagine your arm as a link between your body and the bar. This means that most of the
lifting motion should come from the squeezing of your shoulder blades.

5) Lower you body until your arms are slightly bent.
* This is to maintain the contraction of the muscles and prevents you from hanging there
taking a break

Lateral Raises using your shopping bags
1) Each bag must have equal weight
2) Hold shopping bags in front of your belly button with your arms slightly bent
3) Straighten back, place one foot in front of the other for balance
4) Raise bags in horizontal direction outwards and stop when your arms are almost straight
* Any higher and there's a risk of injuring shoulder and rotator cuff
5) Lower bags same way as you raised them
* This exercise is exactly the same as the exercise performed in the gym with weights
6) This exercise works great if you have milk bottles in each bag. With this, you can keep
count on your progress

Push ups
1) Hands in line wth nipples
2) Fingers facing forward
* There are different hand position which determines difficulty but for now this wil do
3) Position feet lengthwise so your back and torso are in straight line
4) Head in line with torso
5) When pushing up try to initiate the movement from your chest and not your shoulders
* You want to isolate the chest muscle to maximise the contraction of the muscle
6) Lower body same way as your raised
7) To add extra resistance, get someone to place a book on your back or a weight plate.
Exercise with caution

Upright rows with a sports bag (straps must be short)
1) Fill sports big with adequate resistance such as sand or books
2) Grasp both straps of bag with palms facing you
3) Hands should be atleast a fist apart
4) Hold straps of bag laying on and in line with belly button
5) Lift the straps of the bag in a vertical motion up to you your chin
* Same motion as lifting up the bottom of your shirt to your chin with your elbows always
pointing horizontally
* Lifting higher than horizontal elbows might cause elbow injuries
6) Lower the same as you lift

The key is to find an equipment with resistance that you can use to mimic equipment used in the gym. Playgrounds are goldmines when looking for equipment that mimics the gym.

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