Gentle Exercise for Everyone – by Ann.

Many people have experienced times during which they haven’t done much physical activity – for one reason or another. I have experienced this, and I know that after such a period, it can be hard working your way back up to the level of fitness you want. This feature is about the most gentle of exercises which can be done at some level by everyone – regardless of their current capability.

(As always, if you have not done much physical activity for a while, you may wish to get the go ahead from your GP before starting.)

All you need to begin is:

(1) A chair. It should be steady and without arms.

(2) One or more elastic exercise bands. They are colour coded according to the amount of “resistance” they provide during exercise. Yellow is the gentlest band, red is medium, green is “heavy” and blue offers the most resistance to your movement. You don’t have to pay a lot of money for just a simple 1-metre strip of elastic. They can be bought on Amazon for around £2.50 each : Therabands

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The Exercises

• Exercise slowly.
• Sit upright on a firm, steady, dining chair.
• Start with 4 repeats.
• After a week, increase to 6 repeats.
• After 2 weeks, increase to 8 repeats.
• Never wrap the band around your hand.
• Never continue if there is any pain or discomfort.

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Exercise 1 : Lift foot and circle in each direction and repeat (each leg).

Exercise 2 : Lift and lower bent leg and repeat (each leg).

Exercise 3 : Lift and kick knee and repeat (each leg).

Exercise 4 : Lift and lower straight leg and repeat (each leg).

Exercise 5 : Stand and sit and repeat (using a dining chair).

Exercise 6 : Lift leg and dig heel into floor and repeat (each leg).

Exercise 7 : Lift leg and tap toe to floor and repeat (each leg).

Exercise 8 : Lift leg and tilt inwards and repeat (each leg).

Exercise 9 : Lift leg and tilt outwards and repeat (each leg).

Exercise 10 : Hold band in both hands and lift and lower and repeat.

Exercise 11 : Hold band. Clench fists and push and pull both arms and repeat.

Exercise 12 : Hold band. Reach up and down and repeat.

Exercise 13 : Hold band in both hands. Keeping elbows steady, swing hands between shoulders and thighs and repeat.

Exercise 14 : Place band under one foot. Pull band upwards and repeat (on both sides)

Exercise 15 : Place band under one foot. Pull band outwards and repeat (both sides).

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