I'm Dom Thorpe, and I'm here to help you get active. MS Active Together is an initiative
put together by the MS Society, to help people with MS get more physical activity into their lives.
Now, I'm joined here by Koz and Samia who both have MS
and they're going to help us do this workout together.
Today's workout is lying down exercises. So you can do them in your bed,
on your living room floor, anywhere that you like to lie.
We're going to kick off by doing two exercises back to back, one for the triceps
and one for your stomach muscles, or your abdominals. And then we're going to do 10 reps of one,
10 reps of the others. Now I'll give you a quick demonstration.
So the first one, we can do two ways. It's a stomach crunch - works your abs.
Just reaching up... like that. Now, if you struggle to get up at all, then we have an alternative
called the reverse crunch. So, you get up any way you can.
Once you get into position, hold onto your knees and, slowly as you can,
try and lower yourself down a control. And then we repeat, and we will go back down too.
We're doing a crunch, but we're doing it in reverse. We're just coming down...
So that's your first exercise. Then, we're gonna do, for the back of the arms,
the tricep extension in a lying position. So we start, with our arms fully extended upwards
and then we lower them down towards our ears. So my fists are down by my ears.
The important part, and I'm gonna put down one dumbbell to show you this,
is this part of my arm should remain static. So I move at the elbow joint, but not there.
It's a challenge, but you guys can do it. So, are my team ready?
Excellent stuff!
We're gonna kick off with the crunches first. So, ten reps, and then ten reps of the other one.
Back-to-back three times. So, three - two - one... Crunch up... and down.
Good. Crunch up... and down. Crunch up... and down. So, I should mention guys,
if you start off with these crunches, but then you find that you start struggling towards the end,
then you can always switch to the reverse crunches. I've got no problem with that. Two more reps by the way.
Okay? And last one... Up we go - first set of the ABS done. Now on to the triceps.
So bring your dumbbells up. Hold them in the upright position,
and then we're going to lower them down to our ears. Three - two - one... Go for it.
Okay now, some people call these ones -- skull crushers! Do I need to explain why?
I don't think so! All I need to say is, be careful when you're doing them.
And make sure you give your face enough space. Good! Keep it going guys!
Okay, we've done six reps, we've got four more to go. Nearly there... Almost done guys. Two left.
And last one... Extend up, bring them down. Okay dumbbells down.
And we're back on to our crunches. Three - two - one.. push! Okay?
Now, if you're familiar with crunches, and you do them a lot, we can make them a little bit more challenging,
by putting our fingertips at our temples. It just shifts the weight back a little bit, and makes it slightly tougher.
and makes it slightly tougher.
There we go...two more..
yes, and then one more..
Excellent stuff!
So get your dumbbells ready again
back onto the triceps..
Bring the weights up, hold on tight..
three two one and down.. That's it.
So, my fists are coming down in line with my ears, and my upper arm -
my biceps and triceps - they should be staying as stationary as possible
Good
So remember guys, wary the weight. Use a weight which suits you.
If you can do it, and you're finding it too easy, then try a heavier weight. No problem.
Three more to go...
three..
two..
and last one..
Good job! Dumbbells down.
One more set of your stomach crunches before we do a move on
Right, go for it, okay!
So guys, just remember, as always, go at your own pace...
Excellent stuff. Six down, seven.. nearly there
three...
two...
one...
and relax.
Last set of your lying tricep exercise before we move on to our next lot.
So, down we go to the ears, and up
There we go..
two down, eight to go.
Excellent stuff. So...
Some of you might be feeling a bit of a burning sensation in the backs of your arms.
That's normal, it's just a bit of a lactic acid buildup.
Just don't push yourself too hard though, that's all.
Three more to go...
three...
two...
and last one
one.. Good.
Dumbbells down. Excellent stuff!
So, now we're going to move on to two more exercises back to back.
One which is going to work our upper body our chest muscles
and then one which is gonna work our back, and our bum muscles.
So, the first one for the chest, is called the Chest flys.
We lay on our back
we have the dumbbells up here
elbows not quite fixed in a straight position but nearly straight
and then we bring the dumbbells down
and bring them back up.
Again, they're called flys cause it's a bit like we're flying.
Although I don't know any birds that fly upside down like I am at the moment.
Okay. So that's our chest exercise.
And what we're gonna do, is do that back-to-back with a pelvic raise.
So, the pelvic raise, we should have our feet flat on the floor
and we're trying to push up like that.
Now, we'll probably see varying heights.
If you can go all the way up.. perfect. If you can just go up a little bit, that's fine.
Do what you can, alright.
So, if my guys are ready,
we're gonna get our dumbbells into the hands
get ready for the Chest flys first off.
Ten reps on each one three times.
So, three, two, one... and
down we go..
Bring it back in. Good stuff.
one
Okay, so this one really focuses on your chest muscles. if you're a bit more
familiar with your muscle terminology, you might call them pecks, or pectoralis major
Good stuff.
That's half way through, guys. Another five please.
Good.
Seven down, three to go.
three...
two...
one more...
and
Fantastic.
Okay, so we going for ten pelvic raises now..
Hands on the floor if you like.
Can put them down by your head but I prefer to keep them there
and we're going to lift up the pelvis
three... two... one..
Go for it!
Push... down...
Bring it up again. Super stuff guys.
Keep working.
So you should feel your glutes, or your bum muscles, really contract as you come up.
Five down - halfway through.
So keep it going...
Lovely stuff.
Three more reps guys push through, well done!
Two to go...
and last one...
Pow! done.
Okay, great stuff!
So we need our dumbbells again..
another set of the Chest flys.
And we're up, ready, and three... two... one...
and down we go.
Good, one...
Excellent stuff guys
two...
three...
Now we're not going all the way down to the floor on this one guys..
we're stopping our arms just before they come into contact with the floor.
Ideally, anyway.
Halfway through.
Keep it going, guys.
Doing really well.
Almost there... we're on our last three...
two...
and then one more time...
Pow! Good. Excellent stuff.
Back on to our pelvic raise.
So, three, two, one...
and up
and down
up
and down
So, if you've got good control on this one, you can try and do what we call the Peel.
So, where you kind of peel your body off the ground
and then slowly peel it back down, as if you're peeling a banana skin with your body,
or something similar, like that.
Doing well.
Another three reps, please..
Keep it going...
and then one more time...
Good stuff guys.
Right, we've got one set of each to go...
So, let me get into this position,
Chest flys.
Final one of these, three two one and...
down we go.
One..
Good stuff
two..
three down..
seven to go.
Okay guys, that's five - halfway through this one.
Seven... now count them down with me, let's go
three...
and two more...
last one...
Well done guys!
Okay. Put those ones down, we've got one more set of the pelvic raise....
Three, two, one. Off we go...
That's it. So I'm peeling like a banana skin.
There it is..
Good stuff.
That's four down, six left.
Halfway through...
Nearly there guys...nearly there...
Last three, okay.
Three...
two...
and then, one
Excellent stuff!
Okay, right.
So, two exercises now
We're working again
Lower body with our upper body as well.
The first one is the Dumbbell press.
So, the Dumbbell press works our chest and our triceps, the back of our arms.
We need to take the dumbbells in our hands, lay down
and then we push from here
right up into the middle,
as we come back down to the floor
with our elbows we push back up again.
We try and keep the dumbbell directly above your elbow at all times.
Try not to let the topple forwards, backwards, in, or out.
Directly above the elbow, okay.
And then, what we're gonna do is a knee lift as well.
So, looking down at our body, we try and bring the knee up like that, if we can.
Some of you might be dragging it a little bit. That's cool.
I'm fine with that as well.
So, as long as you're just trying to get these hip flexors
and your thigh muscles activated to bring the knee up.
We'll do ten on one side, and then ten on the other, before we go back to the upper body.
So, get your dumbbells in your hands.
Dumbbell press, ten reps - three, two, one and...
Good.
So, guys, this exercise is particularly good for any sort of pushing movement.
Now that might be pushing open doors.
It might be pushing yourself up of off of the floor.
Anytime you're doing something where you're pushing, this gonna help.
It's a very useful one.
We've got three more reps here.
Keep working. You're doing really well, and then last one.
Excellent stuff.
Dumbbells down.
So we're gonna go knee lift on our right leg.
Stretch your legs out first.
Right leg coming up - three, two, one and lift. Extend it back down.
So as I said, if you do drag it that's fine.
If you start to struggle, don't worry either.
Just do what you can, I'm okay with that.
Good.
Right, that's five down guys, five to go.
Keep it up.
Nearly there..
Last three...
and then, one more...
Good!
Straight on to your other leg.
Three, two, one.. Go
Excellent stuff!
So, you might be thinking - hey, these other guys are not in time!
We're not synchronized swimmers. These guys are going at their own pace,
which is an important thing to remember.
Keep up with me if you can, but if you can't, you just go at your own pace.
Guys, I'm happy with that.
Three more...
and then one more rep here.
Excellent stuff! Extend those legs.
So you can bend your legs a little bit before your next exercise, I like to.
Get your dumbbells in hand.
Second set of the Dumbbell press.
Three, two, one, and
up into the middle, back down.
Remember, we're keeping the dumbbells
directly above our elbows.
So this is typically an exercise where people are quite strong,
because we do tend to do a lot of pushing in our day to day lives.
So you might find that you can lift a slightly heavier weight with this then
all of the other exercises that we're doing.
If that's the case, then go for it.
Just don't push yourself too hard.
And then one more time...
Great stuff.
Put those ones down. We're going back onto the leg with the knee raises.
So right leg first.
Three, two, one.. Go
And that's it, good stuff.
So bring it out, nice and easy.
Three down.
Okay guys. Done five on that side, five more to go.
So remember, I say this is strengthening your thighs and your hip flexors.
Helps you with walking, and any other movements
where you need to lift your knee up, like this I guess.
Another two.
One more time
and there we go.
So on to our other leg.
Three, two, one...
Bring it up...
and down...
Good
and down...
looking really good guys, really good.
Now if you guys need to take a break, that's fine.
Other three reps on this side.
..two and then one more time.
Excellent stuff, okay.
Third set.
Ready to go guys dumbbells in your hands
three...
two...
one...
Let's do this...
Pushing up...
bring it back down
up again
back down.
it's the home straight, guys.
Not too many more dumbbell presses after this.
Doing really well.
Five down, five to go.
Excellent stuff!
Nearly there.
Last three...
two more...
down, and then your final one.
Good!
Bye bye dumbbell!
Press, no more of those. Back onto the legs..
and three
two
one
Knee up
Good, and down... okay. Knee up... and down. Excellent stuff!
Yeah, you're doing really well team.
We're nearly there guys. Just keep going...
Five done, five to go...
Okay, keep pushing..
Last three..
Almost there... two more
and again...
Excellent stuff!
Left, and final leg. Three, two, one, go for it!
Here we are... lovely stuff...
That's three. Looking good guys, looking good. Keep it up!
Halfway through, five more...
Keep pushing, I can see you.
Three..
two...
and one more...
Excellent stuff!
Okay guys, that's your lying down work out. You've done really well! Top effort, everybody.
Good stuff! Give yourself a lovely pat on the back!
I'll see you next time.