Air Squats.

1. Place your feet at shoulder width apart while keeping your chest up and your abdominals braced.
2. Begin the movement by swinging your arms up towards your shoulders. At the same time, bend at the knees and drive your hips back like you’re sitting in a chair.
3. Once your upper thighs are parallel to the ground, pause, then drive your hips forward to return to the starting position.

Clamshell Exercise – For Stronger Gluteus Medius Muscle.

Clamshell Exercise – For Stronger Gluteus Medius Muscle

A great exercise to strengthen your glute medius for everyone is the clamshell exercise. 

The keys to doing this properly;

1. Make sure that the bottom of your feet and your butt are in line.

2. Slowly raise the top leg and lower the top leg while keeping your feet together.

3. Stack your hips directly on top of each other. Focus on your glute medius while doing these.

Perform this exercise 20 reps on each side.

Short Foot Exercise.

About the Short Foot Exercise

The short foot exercise is a technique recommended by Czech physiologist and postural expert Vladimir Janda, MD to build strength and endurance in the muscles that support the arch.

The short foot exercise primarily strengthens the abductor hallucis muscle, an important dynamic stabilizer of the foot. Research has shown that the abductor hallucis muscle is also a dynamic elevator of the medial arch, meaning that strengthening the muscle may reduce or eliminate the collapsing of the arch associated with flat feet.

While the original exercise was described as being performed in a sitting position, a recent study demonstrated that muscle activity of the abductor hallucis is much greater than when the exercise was performed from a single-leg standing position as measured by EMG.

Observe if your arch flattens out and if the foot becomes longer. The weaker the intrinsic muscles (a group of muscles located deeper in the foot), the more action you will see. The main idea of the exercise is to make your foot shorter through a higher arch. Do not curl your toes or turn your foot outward! You will be very tempted to do so when you feel that you have no control over the correct muscles. Focus and look for them. Once you find how to control them, practice any time you have a moment of standing. Shorten your foot, elongate. Shorten, elongate. Always keep your metatarsals down on the floor.

How to perform the short foot exercise:

Step 1: Sit in a chair with both feet placed flat on the floor

Step 2: Raise the arch of your foot by sliding your big toe toward your heel without curling your toes or lifting your heel

Step 3: Hold the position for 6 seconds then relax and repeat for the recommended number of set and repetitions. Variations can be performed by moving the feet farther away from you or turning the foot inward or outward to challenge the muscles from different positions.

Step 4: Once you feel comfortable performing the short foot movement you can gradually progress to performing the exercise while standing and then eventually from a single-leg standing position.

When mastering this exercise:

You will improve the control over your intrinsic feet muscles, which will help to create a more stable base of support for your legs, hips and the entire body. The exercise can be difficult in the beginning, because you won’t be able to find or control those muscles. With little practice, you will be able to do it any time and in progressively more difficult exercises.

Soleus Stretch.

Why is the soleus muscle Important?

The deep, pancake-like soleus muscle inserts through the Achilles tendon on the heel. When your lower leg is bent at the knee, the soleus activates. This muscle is often called a “second heart” because of its ability to pump blood into the lower leg. If it is tight or lacks strength, it becomes like a dam inhibiting the flow of blood to your foot and ankle. The soleus doesn’t have the sprinting power that the outer calf has. It is the tortoise of the calf, containing more slow-twitch fibers, which makes it important for the long haul.

The soleus is the largest and strongest muscle in the calf. It gains its power from its complex configuration, attaching to its corresponding tendons at a 45-degree slant (called a multi-pennate structure) in multiple rows. The muscle starts at the top of the calf and attaches to the Achilles tendon at the bottom. It lies underneath the gastrocnemius muscle. These two structures are intimately connected, with some of their fibers overlapping. Some people consider them to be a single muscle, but their functions are different, and different tests are needed to check for injury of either structure.

It is imperative that the soleus muscle is able to slide independently of the gastrocnemius muscle. When these muscles become adhered muscle tension will develop, which can then put pressure on the muscular septum, which could lead to some called calf heart attack.

Pain from a soleus strain is felt deep in the calf, usually in the superior part, toward the knee. Discomfort can be felt in one spot or over a broad area because this injury can leave many fibers strained and inflamed.

Pectoralis Stretch – Reduce Poor Posture.

Pectoralis Stretch – Reduce Poor Posture

The pectoralis major muscle is a thick, fan-shaped, situated at the chest of the human body. It makes up the bulk of the chest muscles in the male and lies under the breast tissue in the female. Underneath the pectoralis major is the pectoralis minor muscle.

Both these muscles will attribute to upper cross-syndrome, leading to a rounding of the upper back. Over time this poor posture will upper back pain, poor scapula (shoulder blade) control, and even nerve compression in the anterior portion of the shoulder.

Foam Roller – Thoracic Spine Extension.

Foam Roller – Thoracic Spine Extension

One of my favorite uses of a foam roller is for the purpose of increasing thoracic spine extension. Typically, after a long day of continual office work/sitting or after working out. Foam rolling is a great exercise, whether it was running or weight training, performing thoracic extension with the aid of a foam roller will help to reduce the effects of muscle strain and increase thoracic spine mobility.

Bench Flutter Kicks.

Bench Flutter Kicks

1. Lie face down on a flat bench with your hips on the edge of the bench. Fully extend your legs and raise your feet up from the floor so that they are in line with your body.
2. Place your arms on top of the bench, using them to hold on to the front edge of the bench for stability.
3. Squeeze your glutes and hamstrings and straighten your legs until they are level with your hips. This is the start position.
4. Start the exercise by raising your left leg higher than your right leg.
5. Then lower the left leg as you lift the right leg and so on.
6. Alternate in this manner until you have done all repetitions for each leg.