10 Simple Starting Exercises

by Exercise Program

Starting a natural plan of fitness involves all of the complimentary parts of the body. Spot training or partial fitness is not an option. To get started on being fit, you will need to bring all parts of the body together and then you will see and feel results. You can do that with our simple starting exercises.

The following are some easy to follow starting level exercises for you try before moving on to something more difficult. Do these a few times a week to begin with. If you feel pain, faint or overly exerted stop immediately. And as always, before you begin any type of exercise program consult with a medical professional.

1. Dog Legs

Dog legs look funny but tighten hard to reach target areas of hips and thighs. Sit down in “dog” style position, knees and shoulder parallel with hands and knees aligned on the floor. Raising one leg to the side exactly 90 degrees, hold all other parts of the body still. Keep knees bent to flex hips and core flexor muscles. Hold and tense muscles, then release leg to remain on floor. Do a set of 8. Repeat with other leg. Increase sets over time to 16. With adept practice, you can vary the straight 90 degree angle with half-dips back to the side mid-stroke. This will sharpen and tone connecting leg muscles and hip flexors that get tense from sitting fatigue.

2. Ankle Alphabets

From a fixed standing or seated position, extend one foot and point foot flexing ankle. Make a letter “A” with the point of your shoe. Then write the letter B. Finish as far into the alphabet as you can. Alternate feet and take up where you left off with other foot. Keep energy up while “writing”, not pausing when alternating. This allows tired ankle muscles and feet more than habitual circulation and strengthens coordination.

3. The Wall Kick

Wall kicks seem easy and look funny, but they can do wonders over time for your abdominal area. Stand in a relaxed posture, back to a wall. Hold breath in. Centering back and lower spine against the wall, lift a bent knee or straight leg forward and up. Concentrate on keeping the movement of the leg steady and strong. Alternate legs in groups of 5, then 10, then 15.

4. The Chair


The Chair is a basic yoga pose, but with practice can become a casually used exercise that allows circulatory benefits and leg muscle tuning. From a relaxed standing position, lower hips toward floor, not moving feet. Extend arms out directly forward to balance. This exercise must be performed slowly and the “sitting” pose held as long as possible without pain or unnecessary tension. The backwards traveling motion resume the participant to a standing original position. This exercise sharpens overly strained leg and hip muscles that extended sitting and sedentary lifestyles worsen.

5. Football Jumps

Every football players know and loves to hate this exercise. But the key is to repeat them whenever you can, such as in an elevator or while waiting for someone to pick you up or your car to arrive. From a standing position, leap down and grasp the ground in front of your feet. At the same time, extend feet back to a “six o’clock” position. You can use the arm muscles to absorb the stress of the feet landing and strengthen and stabilize ankles. Pop back up, reversing the movement. Try for sets of 4, then 8, then 12, then 20. Core muscles in the stomach will learn to answer to the need for stabilizing flexion this movement demands.

6. Leg Extensions

Sitting on hands and knees, kick right leg back as though kicking a judo chop to someone sitting behind you. Repeat about ten times, then switch legs. Over time these sets can build to repetitions of 20 or 25. This builds core and back muscle connections that allow hip stress to lessen and the flab at the back of the legs to deflate.

7. Arm circles

Arm circles are the basis of many a hard body. But beginners can start them as a daily regimen of ever increasing repetitions. Arm circles begin by extending arms straight out on either side. Exercising muscle control, roll arms forward to execute a circle at the wrists. Do these in sets of 15 to 20, keeping arms straight and keeping the wrists circle tight. Repeat the same way in a backwards circular motion. After some time, you can do forward and backward sets in three graduated rotation diameters, a small wrist circle, a larger circle, and very wide. Muscles will grow stronger through the shoulder and just below the bicps and under the arms above the core.

8. Cat stretches

Modern yoga favors the use of the cat stretch to strengthen the back muscles and build flexibility in the spine in a new manner. Sit on all fours on the floor, knees and shoulders aligned. Using arms as a stabilizer, pull neck down to floor without lowering shoulders while elevating spine toward ceiling. This will loosen tight spinal and back muscles tense from sitting or driving and allow better circulation between core abdominal muscles and shoulder support.

9. Ballet Frappes

Standing with both feet facing forward, support your body with one outside arm to the side or both arms on a counter or wall and move with leg behind you. Hold the leg concisely in a long hard line, pointing foot with flexed ankle and pointed toe . Maintain equal repetitions with each movements, counting to ten. Switch to other leg. Body should not slump on arms but tense firmly from shoulder through the back and spine through the hip and the back of leg to the ankle and foot. Ballet frappes increase muscle control and coordination while strengthening legs and trimming muscle tone.

10. Shoulder Shrugs.

Standing at rest, hold small books or equally weighted objects in each hand. Shrug shoulder in a sharp motion forward, then backward. Shrug shoulder in for one beat, as though drawing together shoulder blades to meet. Relax one beat. Then draw outside ends of shoulder sharply back and in, as though in a u-shaped curve to meet. If you’ve been hunching over a computer, a stove, a steering wheel or a kitchen floor, the sharp crack will allow a steam vent of pressure to let loose. This allows neck muscles and aligned shoulder and back muscles to re-align with much lesser tension.

Hope you enjoyed our simple starting exercises. As you master these, come back to the website for more! Be sure to bookmark us now.

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