The Push-Up Increases the Strength and Endurance of the Chest, Shoulder, and Triceps Muscles

Upper Body Push-ups The push-up increases the strength and endurance of the chest, shoulder, and triceps muscles. Begin by placing your hands where they are comfortable for you on the ground, under your shoulders. Your feet should be together or up to 12 inches apart (measured between the feet). When viewed from the side, your body should form a generally straight line from your shoulders to your ankles. Start the push-up by bending your elbows and lowering your entire body as a single unit until your upper arms are at least parallel to the ground. Then, return to the starting position by raising your entire body until your arms are fully extended. Your body must remain rigid in a generally straight line and move as a unit while performing each repetition. This exercise can be done with a target number of repetitions or for a set period time. Arm Circles The arm circle increases the strength and endurance of the shoulder muscles. Begin with your arms fully extended and parallel to the ground. Both arms move in the same direction either forward or backward while the hands move in a circular motion with a radius from about 5 inches for small circles up to about 30 inches for large circles. Arms should be in continuous motion throughout the exercise. Vary the size of the circle and change the direction over the course of the timing of this exercise. Increase the intensity of the exercise by holding small amounts of weight. Increase the in the weight in small increments up to about 10 pounds. The first increase could be something simple like a can of vegetables, which will weigh about 1 pound. This exercise is generally done for a set amount of time. Clappers Clappers develop the strength and endurance of the shoulder muscles. Begin the exercise with your arms fully extended and parallel to the ground. Raise your arms above your head where your hands should meet making a clapping sound. Increase the intensity by adding weight in small increments. You should not increase the weight by more than about 5 pounds. This is generally done with a target number of repetitions.

Curls This exercise develops the strength and endurance of the biceps. Start this exercise with a given amount of weight in each hand with the arms fully extended down toward the floor. Begin the exercise by lifting the weight slowly up toward the chest. Be careful to keep the bending elbow and the rest of your body as stationary as possible. This will isolate the bicep and also engage your core. Once the weight has reached your chest, control the weight back to the start position. Increase the intensity of this exercise by increasing the weight and the number of repetitions. Because we are not doing these exercises to gain bulk, you should not increase the weight beyond about 20 pounds, but you can increase the number of reps almost infinitely. This exercise is generally done with a target number of sets and repetitions. Triceps curls This exercise increases the strength and endurance of the triceps. Start this exercise with a given amount of weight in each hand by placing your hands just to the outside of your ear with your elbows facing to your front. Keeping your elbows in place, extend your arm fully up toward the ceiling. Carefully control the weight back to the start position to complete the repetition. Keeping your elbows as stationary as possible along with the rest of your body will focus the exercise on your triceps and also engage your core. Front Arm Raises This exercise increases the strength and endurance of your shoulders. Start this exercise with your arms extending down toward the floor. Do not let gravity take full control of the weight because that could damage your shoulders. With straight, fully extended arms, raise them up to just below shoulder level and control the weight back down to the start position. This is one repetition. Increase the intensity by increasing the weight. Do not exceed about 10 pounds for this exercise.

Lower Body Squats This exercise increases the strength and endurance of the quadriceps and core. Begin this exercise standing with your feet set just outside of shoulder width. Being careful to keep your knees in front of your toes, bend your legs at the knee to about a 90 degree angle and return to the upright position. To increase the intensity of this exercise add weight to your hands. Because your legs are such large muscles the limit of what you can add depends more on what you are able to hold with your arms without hurting your shoulders. This exercise is generally done with a target number of repetitions. Squat Jumps This exercise is a higher intensity version of the Squat and becomes a cardio exercise with high intensity. The addition to this exercise is that when you have reached the bottom of the squat, instead of simply standing up, you swing your arms up and jump toward the ceiling. As you come back to the floor you control your motion back down until the bend of your knee is back to 90 degrees. Core Plank Start on hands and knees or elbow and knees. Straighten legs and raise your body so that you’re supported by the balls of your feet, with feet hip-distance apart. Face the floor, being careful not to arch your back or stick your butt in the air. Hold this position for a minimum of 45 seconds to begin with, extending the time as you get stronger. You can also do side planks with or without raised feet. When you have mastered this skill you should be able to complete it with raising both feet into the air. Crunches This exercise targets your upper abs. Begin on your back with your legs up and knees bent. Place your hands crossed over your chest. Engage your abs by lifting your shoulder blades off of the ground. Hold your body in the up position for approximately one second. Begin with 30 repetitions. Be careful not to put your hands behind your neck. Superman Begin laying flat on the ground with your face to the ground and your arms and legs extended. Engage your lower back lifting your head, chest and thighs off the ground as much as possible. Hold this position for 5 to 10 seconds. Repeat about 10 repetitions to begin with.

Cardio Jump Rope Jumping rope can be an intense cardio work out. You should start at a minimum of 10 minutes of jumping and vary the jumps with slow skip type jumps and faster shuffling/quick bounce jumps. Increase the time and intensity with longer intervals of the quick style jumping and instituting double or triple swing jumps. Long slow distance (LSD) The minimum LSD is about 3 miles. Your target to start should be about a 9 minute mile to begin with but to get faster as the season progresses. If you are already down in the 7s, you should set your goal to get into the 6s or better. World class athletes run sub six minute miles…world class runners sprint near 4 minute miles and sustain near 5 minute miles. Intervals On a track, start by running the straight-aways and jogging the turns. If you are on the road, run about 100 meters and jog 100 meters. Depending on which road you are on, this could be measured with light poles or mailboxes. Start by doing intervals for no less than 2 miles. As you become stronger you should be able to run the intervals for time instead of distance and be able to complete a full game…no less than 32 minutes.