Home program

Yesterday we wrote a post about a gym program but there are some patients who prefer doing exercise at home.

We’ll show a program that they could follow.

Warm-up phase

Ø  5-10 minutes of low-intensity aerobic activity (walking, cycling, or rowing)

Ø  Incorporate light stretching, concentrating on the muscles and joints involved in the training program.

Specific phase

Aerobic exercises:

Ø  4-7 times per week.

Ø  30-60 minutes of walking, cycling, or rowing at 50-90% maximum heart rate (HRmax), or 40-85% heart rate reserve (HRR).

Ø  Exercise can be continuous or intermitent.

Resistance exercises:

Ø  Exercises should target major muscles of the upper and lower limbs, and trunk.

Ø  6-9 different exercises, with 60-90 seconds recovery between sets.

Ø  1-4 sets per muscle group, training at 50-80% of 1RM, or 6-10RM.

Ø  Program should be incremented as patients improve:

-The number of repetitions, from 6 to 12.

-The number of sets, from 1 to 4.

-The load or resistance and reduce the number of repetitions and sets.

We must combine resistance exercise 2-3 times per week with these exercises, not consecutively:

Ø  Chest press

Ø  Standing row

Ø  Squat (or chair rise)

Ø  Shoulder press or lateral arm raise

Ø  Leg curl

Ø  Triceps extension

Ø  Biceps curl

Ø  Core stability exercises

We may also combine resistance training with the following routines, for 3-4 days a week:

ROUTINE A	ROUTINE B
Chest press	Squat (or chair rise)
Standing row	Leg curl
Shoulder press or lateral arm raise	Hip extension
Biceps curl	Calf raise
Triceps extension	Core stability exercises

Flexibility exercises

Ø  3-4 times per week.

Ø  2-4 sets per muscle group at 15-30 seconds stretching time.

Cool-down phase

Ø  Slow walking.

Ø  Light stretching.