• Home

    • About Let’s Move QC

    • Meet Our Bloggers

  • Success
    Stories

  • Get Fit

  • Eating Smart
    with Jeni

  • Battle of
    the Bulge

  • QC
    Outside

  • Activity
    Calendar

    • What To Do

    • Where To Go

  • Why I
    Move

  • What
    Moves Me

  • ORA
    Health Tips

    Tips on staying in shape, eating right and taking care of your body so you can keep moving.
    • Better Training

  • Home

    • About Let’s Move QC

    • Meet Our Bloggers

  • Success
    Stories

  • Get Fit

  • Eating Smart
    with Jeni

  • Battle of
    the Bulge

  • QC
    Outside

  • Activity
    Calendar

    • What To Do

    • Where To Go

  • Why I
    Move

  • What
    Moves Me

  • ORA
    Health Tips

    • Better Training

HomeGet FitThis Holiday, Outfit Your Personal QC Gym!
Previous Next

This Holiday, Outfit Your Personal QC Gym!

By Cody Lichthardt, Rock Valley Physical Therapy

This time of year it can be tough to make it to the gym. Here are 4 must-have items to enhance your fitness indoors. They make perfect holiday gifts for someone – especially if that someone is YOU!

Resistance Bands

Resistance bands are my favorite thing to have at home. They are super light, take up a small volume of space and are inexpensive all while providing varying amounts of resistance.

If you do an internet search for how to use resistance bands, you’ll find lots of great exercises.

I recommend having 3 different types of bands, shown here.

The first is a large continuous flat loop band. It is ideal for stretching and also movements like the banded good morning.

The second is a small continuous flat loop band that is well suited for band walks and other hip strengthening movements.

Finally, a band with plastic handles attached to the ends is nice when performing upper body exercises.

Dumbbells

The versatility of dumbbells makes them a great addition, while needing less space to be performed than a barbell.

They also allow you to train unilaterally, meaning you can train one side of your body at time.

Look for dumbbells that are adjustable. These allow you to adjust the weight based on what exercise you are doing.

These can be quite expensive, but this isn’t the only option. You could also buy one light pair and one heavier pair and adjust the number of repetitions you are performing to match the difficulty level of the exercise.

Suspension Trainer

A suspension trainer is a pair of straps or ropes that you attach to a door frame or hang from the ceiling.

They use your own body weight for resistance.

They allow you to make an exercise harder or easier just by how you position your body.

People of all abilities can use these.

To ensure your safety, I advise you get a quality product. Search out companies that use heavy duty materials.

If you plan to hang your trainer over a door, you’re going to need a door anchor. These are not included with all suspension trainers.

Mat

Mats can be used alone to comfortably do body weight floor exercises, or they can be used with all 3 of the previous pieces of equipment.

In addition to providing comfort, they can also prevent you from sliding on smooth surfaces in your home.

Not all mats are created equal, though.

Spend a little extra money to get a mat that isn’t going to allow your elbows to sink through to the floor when performing a plank!

 

cody-for-boilerplate

Cody Lichthardt is a Performance Enhancement Specialist at Quad City Sport Performance and a Certified Personal Trainer at Rock Valley Health. Cody works to help others gain the benefits of training and proper nutrition. You can read Cody’s bio and other blog posts by clicking here.

Share this:

  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Rate this post!
Assistant Editor This Holiday, Outfit Your Personal QC Gym! December 5, 2019
User rating: 0 (0 votes)

Tags: Cody Lichthardt, fitness gift ideas, fitness tips from QC personal trainer, resistance bands

One Response to “This Holiday, Outfit Your Personal QC Gym!”

  1. Pingback: Week #3: Your Plan = Your Success | Let's Move QCLet's Move QC

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Recent Stories

  • Chasing the “Runners’ High” since the 80s March 22, 2021
  • Keep the Spring in Your Step March 20, 2021
  • QC Baseball & Softball: Preventing Injuries in Kids March 19, 2021
  • Crafter Celebrates Spring Thanks to 3-D Shoulder Replacement Surgery March 18, 2021
  • Wildcat Den State Park “A Gem at Our Doorstep” March 11, 2021

Receive Our FREE Newsletter

Sign Up Now
Click here to receive the monthly
Let's Move Quad Cities e-Newsletter.

Trending Topics

Alan Sivell Aryn Lloyd Beth Davis Bettendorf bicycling Biking Chelsey Bowermaster Cody Lichthardt Davenport Dr. Andrew Bries Dr. Steven Boardman Dr. Waqas Hussain General Orthopedics Hip Replacement Jeni Tackett knee arthroscopy Knee Replacement Nahant Marsh Nutritionist Blogger Jeni Tackett ORA Orthopedics qc dietitian QC dietitian Jeni Tackett QC nutrition expert Jeni Tackett Quad Cities Quad City dietitian Quad City nutrition expert Quad City orthopedic surgeon Quad City personal trainer Quad City Sports Medicine RAGBRAI Rock Island Rock Valley Physical Therapy Rolling Reporter Shoulder Arthroscopy Shoulder Reconstruction Shoulder Replacement Spinal Stenosis Sports Medicine St. Ambrose communications professor St. Ambrose professor St. Ambrose Professor Alan Sivell Total Joint Replacement Wade Ellett Walk with a Doc Wapsi River Center
© Copyright 2019, ORA Orthopedics
  • About Let’s Move QC
%d bloggers like this: