![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Group the Third and final (unless some poor bastard needs hypermobile neck strengthening stuff or a psoas stretch), the lying on the side!
Arm Lifts: this requires you to build a pillow fort. Lie on your side with a pillow under your head so your neck's a fairly straight line, with your shoulders, hips and ankles (knees bent) in a line with one another. Square yourself up: your shoulders should be lined up with one another, same with your hips and knees. Engage your core a bit so there's a little curve of space between the flange of your hip and where your ribcage touches the floor.
Prop another pillow in front of your chest with your upper arm on the pillow, so it's supported with your elbow roughly even with your shoulder heightwise.
Glide your shoulderblade down and in (so it moves towards your opposite hip), then lift your arm from your armpit, not the top of your shoulder. Hold for a count of three, then lower slowly and let your shoulderblade glide back up. Repeat 3-10 times a side (depending on how obedient your arm is about lifting from this position).
If your arms/shoulders don't bug you, don't worry about this.
---
Arm Circles: assume the same pose as the arm lifts, above, without the pillows. Your neck will be bent, that's okay. Start squared up, but you won't be staying that way for this one. Movement for shoulder joints!
Place your upper hand on your upper hip, then pull your arm up and around yourself while keeping your hand on the floor as much as you can. Feel your shoulderblade move forward as your arm comes out in front of you (stretch forward so that it moves as much as it can), move up as your arm comes over your head, move in towards your spine as your arm's behind you and you're stretching your ribs too, and down as it comes back to where it started on your hip. Your palm will be facing the floor in front of you, and the back of your hand will be brushing/facing the floor while your arm's behind you.
Repeat 3 times each direction, each side. You're welcome to do smaller arcs over particularly crunchy spots in the circles; if it starts getting worse/doesn't go away with movement, you should talk to a physiotherapist so you can get specific targeted exercises for your problem child.
If your shoulders don't bug you (or make alarming crackling noises that kind of hurt), don't worry about this.
---
Leg Lifts: assume the same pose as with the arm lifts, above, without the arm pillow. Your neck should be fairly straight. Square yourself up: your shoulders should be lined up with one another, same with your hips and knees. Engage your core a bit so there's a little curve of space between the flange of your hip and where your ribcage touches the floor.
Now, straighten your top leg (keep a bit of softness in your knee. Locking your knee does you no favours). Ask someone else to move you around until you're actually squared up with your leg extended straight from your torso, and you're not rocked forward or back to feel more secure (the bent leg under the straight one will help with this some, which is why it's bent).
Lift and lower your leg, slowly, between 5 and 20 times a side. The bit of your bum between the side seam of your jeans and your back pockets should start shouting abuse at you at some point. If it doesn't, you've either drifted out of true (and are thus using secondary systems for primary systems' jobs) or you don't need to do this exercise because that bit of your bum is Very Good at what it does.
---
Bananas: balance yourself on your side, with hip, shoulder, knee and ankle all in line with one another. This is not easy--you'll want to fall back or fall forward a bit just because it's easier to balance there. Ask someone to spot you the first few times so you can get corrected into a rough idea of where you should be.
Having found balance, lift your head/shoulders and your ankles off the ground, using your core, and making your whole body something of a banana shape.
If it helps, imagine you have a triangle of strong rope; the base of the triangle runs between your shoulder and your knee or ankle, and the point of the triangle is somewhere over your hip, connected to a crane. As you pull yourself up, the crane pulls equally from your two body connection points, and lowers you down equally as you come down.
Don't let yourself fall forward or backwards as you lift and lower yourself between 4 and 10 times a side. This one makes you look like a hooked fish; if anyone laughs make them join you on the floor.
------
I feel obliged to point out that before doing exercises, you may want to roll out areas that you know tend to be tight. This can be done with a foam roller, assuming you have one, or smaller areas can be tackled with your friend, the Tennis Ball.
Foam rollers or bigger balls (smaller than your head but not by that much) are excellent for getting big muscle groups to let go and do their own damn jobs, not steal other muscles' jobs. Think quads, sides of bum, bum proper, hips, that sort of thing.
Tennis balls, Franklin balls (which are a bit bigger but mostly a bit softer than tennis balls) and related sizes are good for smaller areas like shoulders, calves, the outsides of hips, which will also try to redistribute work orders based on who's on vacation and who's the workaholic in the office.
I also feel obliged to point out that shaking like a leaf, especially if it's your lower belly, is actually a sign that things are going very, very well. A weaker muscle is being worked, and if you keep after it, will get stronger and you'll not only shake less, you'll be able to do more with it. (The trick is finding the stopping point between 'shaking like a leaf' and either pulling something or having a secondary system jump in to be Helpful.)
Personal trainers, pilates instructors, physiotherapists, that housemate with the anatomy colouring books and the gleeful grin, the Internet, and others can be really, really useful in helping you troubleshoot. Make use of 'em.
Most of all, pay attention to your body. What motions bug you? Where do they do it? How does it feel? The more specific you can be when talking to a professional (or the Internet) the better troubleshooting you'll be able to do. Even a 'My shoulder hates me, but it's worse when I do [...]' is helpful.
Arm Lifts: this requires you to build a pillow fort. Lie on your side with a pillow under your head so your neck's a fairly straight line, with your shoulders, hips and ankles (knees bent) in a line with one another. Square yourself up: your shoulders should be lined up with one another, same with your hips and knees. Engage your core a bit so there's a little curve of space between the flange of your hip and where your ribcage touches the floor.
Prop another pillow in front of your chest with your upper arm on the pillow, so it's supported with your elbow roughly even with your shoulder heightwise.
Glide your shoulderblade down and in (so it moves towards your opposite hip), then lift your arm from your armpit, not the top of your shoulder. Hold for a count of three, then lower slowly and let your shoulderblade glide back up. Repeat 3-10 times a side (depending on how obedient your arm is about lifting from this position).
If your arms/shoulders don't bug you, don't worry about this.
---
Arm Circles: assume the same pose as the arm lifts, above, without the pillows. Your neck will be bent, that's okay. Start squared up, but you won't be staying that way for this one. Movement for shoulder joints!
Place your upper hand on your upper hip, then pull your arm up and around yourself while keeping your hand on the floor as much as you can. Feel your shoulderblade move forward as your arm comes out in front of you (stretch forward so that it moves as much as it can), move up as your arm comes over your head, move in towards your spine as your arm's behind you and you're stretching your ribs too, and down as it comes back to where it started on your hip. Your palm will be facing the floor in front of you, and the back of your hand will be brushing/facing the floor while your arm's behind you.
Repeat 3 times each direction, each side. You're welcome to do smaller arcs over particularly crunchy spots in the circles; if it starts getting worse/doesn't go away with movement, you should talk to a physiotherapist so you can get specific targeted exercises for your problem child.
If your shoulders don't bug you (or make alarming crackling noises that kind of hurt), don't worry about this.
---
Leg Lifts: assume the same pose as with the arm lifts, above, without the arm pillow. Your neck should be fairly straight. Square yourself up: your shoulders should be lined up with one another, same with your hips and knees. Engage your core a bit so there's a little curve of space between the flange of your hip and where your ribcage touches the floor.
Now, straighten your top leg (keep a bit of softness in your knee. Locking your knee does you no favours). Ask someone else to move you around until you're actually squared up with your leg extended straight from your torso, and you're not rocked forward or back to feel more secure (the bent leg under the straight one will help with this some, which is why it's bent).
Lift and lower your leg, slowly, between 5 and 20 times a side. The bit of your bum between the side seam of your jeans and your back pockets should start shouting abuse at you at some point. If it doesn't, you've either drifted out of true (and are thus using secondary systems for primary systems' jobs) or you don't need to do this exercise because that bit of your bum is Very Good at what it does.
---
Bananas: balance yourself on your side, with hip, shoulder, knee and ankle all in line with one another. This is not easy--you'll want to fall back or fall forward a bit just because it's easier to balance there. Ask someone to spot you the first few times so you can get corrected into a rough idea of where you should be.
Having found balance, lift your head/shoulders and your ankles off the ground, using your core, and making your whole body something of a banana shape.
If it helps, imagine you have a triangle of strong rope; the base of the triangle runs between your shoulder and your knee or ankle, and the point of the triangle is somewhere over your hip, connected to a crane. As you pull yourself up, the crane pulls equally from your two body connection points, and lowers you down equally as you come down.
Don't let yourself fall forward or backwards as you lift and lower yourself between 4 and 10 times a side. This one makes you look like a hooked fish; if anyone laughs make them join you on the floor.
------
I feel obliged to point out that before doing exercises, you may want to roll out areas that you know tend to be tight. This can be done with a foam roller, assuming you have one, or smaller areas can be tackled with your friend, the Tennis Ball.
Foam rollers or bigger balls (smaller than your head but not by that much) are excellent for getting big muscle groups to let go and do their own damn jobs, not steal other muscles' jobs. Think quads, sides of bum, bum proper, hips, that sort of thing.
Tennis balls, Franklin balls (which are a bit bigger but mostly a bit softer than tennis balls) and related sizes are good for smaller areas like shoulders, calves, the outsides of hips, which will also try to redistribute work orders based on who's on vacation and who's the workaholic in the office.
I also feel obliged to point out that shaking like a leaf, especially if it's your lower belly, is actually a sign that things are going very, very well. A weaker muscle is being worked, and if you keep after it, will get stronger and you'll not only shake less, you'll be able to do more with it. (The trick is finding the stopping point between 'shaking like a leaf' and either pulling something or having a secondary system jump in to be Helpful.)
Personal trainers, pilates instructors, physiotherapists, that housemate with the anatomy colouring books and the gleeful grin, the Internet, and others can be really, really useful in helping you troubleshoot. Make use of 'em.
Most of all, pay attention to your body. What motions bug you? Where do they do it? How does it feel? The more specific you can be when talking to a professional (or the Internet) the better troubleshooting you'll be able to do. Even a 'My shoulder hates me, but it's worse when I do [...]' is helpful.
