Are Standing Workouts Effective?

Standing workouts seem to be easier for many, especially those of us in our 40's, 50's, 60's and beyond, but are they effective? I'm here to tell you YES! Doing a full workout while standing can be just as effective as a routine where you have to get up and down off of the floor. Here are a few reasons why:

• Work More Muscles - You are forced to engage more muscles when you are standing to stabilize and balance yourself. Your core will likely always be engaged, along with your back hips and even muscles in your pelvic floor.
• Range of Motion - You will have an increased range of motion. Doing some exercises on the floor, like a chest fly, will limit how far you can move, but when standing you will have more range to really stretch and lengthen your muscles!
• Requires Minimal Space - Completing a workout while standing requires almost no space at all. As long as you have room to take a step to each side of you, you're good! No need to clear your entire space, which makes standing workouts great for when you are traveling.
• Neck and shoulder pain - Sometimes exercises on the floor, especially sit ups or crunches, cause you to strain your neck muscles. Standing in an upright position with great posture will alleviate that pulling motion on your neck.
  

Now that you can see just a few reasons that standing workouts are great for you, I want to share a couple! Complete both of these workouts with me and you have almost 20 minutes done for today!

Let's live EVER BETTER™ - together!!

Denise

Standing Strength Training Workout Video Transcript:
Hi everybody. Here's my 10 minute standing strength training workout. Total body. You could do this in just 10 minutes. So if you've got some weights handy, go ahead and grab 'em because we'll be using them for certain exercises. Are you ready? You can do this. It's gonna be a great workout. Head to toe toning, strength training. Let's begin without the weights. Let's just start out with doing some stretches side to side. Great. Getting the oxygen to flow, getting the body movement. That's it beautiful. Now, use both arms and use your thighs now. Really use your thigh muscles, stretch and tone. There you go. Really feel the length with the body. Two more, reach all the way up last one. And now reach the arms down, lift and down. Let's squeeze the bottom. Lift it and tone, keep moving. That's the whole idea. Strength training without ever getting down on the ground.


It's all standing easy. Good. Two more. Last one. Okay, let's go to the other side, stretch and lift, stretch then lift, squeeze that tushy. Come on, tighten up the buttocks. If you don't squeeze it, no one else will! Lift and squeeze. There you go. It's great for your legs and buttocks. Good. You've got two more. Last one, and release. Okay. Now grab your weights if you have them, if not, go ahead and do all these exercises without the weights. The first one is the bicep curl so important to firm tone the arm, stretch, tone and tighten. That's it. Keeping your muscles nice and strong. Truly helps from head to toe. We have 600 muscles to strengthen and we're doing that right now. That's right. Working on those biceps. That's it really think about good posture. Legs are moving. Just side to side, a little, just to burn extra calories in our quick 10 minute strength training. We've got two more.


Last one. Beautiful. All the way forward. Lunge. Bending your knees to protect your back, upper back exercises. That's it. Come on and lower. Beautiful. These are great lunges. Straight, upper back. No dropping. You lift up the of shoulder blades together. You should build at the top, your back strong and straight. Keeping those abs really pulled in. Engage your abs. Almost like bracing your abs. Zip them up. Good. You got two more. And you got last one. Beautiful. Okay. Now we're gonna do some overhead presses and now pull down. So press up and pull down. Really lift and pull. This is working the upper back. Good, beautiful shoulders. Sexy shoulders. You got this. You can do it. Thinking about good posture. Health in your hands, that's it, back is straight. Wonderful, good alignment is so important. Quality over quantity, making sure each exercise is done with the best form. Good body technique. That's it. We got two more, really pull down, the last one that's it beautiful. Now it's time to work the back of your arms, so what I want you to do is bend your knees to protect your spine inch forward. Lift your elbow.

Now I keep my back straight - no swinging. That's using momentum and not the muscle. We want strength, the muscle. Lean forward. Lift and release, feel the muscle, lift. Beautiful. Take your time. Muscle really starts to get nice and strong on this one. That's it. You got this. Do the best that you can. If you want a little less weight, start off with one pound, build up to three. I'm using five pounds. Whatever you can do, give it a try. Challenge yourself. Let the muscle work it. The more muscle cells you have, the more calories you burn - even at rest. Also, muscles really the help you boost metabolism. Last one. Beautiful. Okay. Let's do a little bit of a movement through the body. You're gonna tap behind and release. Tap behind. Now you're doing a bicep and a tricep. Pull your shoulders down and back though. Good, press and keep those legs going.

Stretch 'em out. That's it, using your thigh muscles as well as your arms. So you're really getting a total body workout here. Good. Go down. If you have bad knees, just go halfway. Okay. You're still working those core muscles of the abs, but also the muscles of your quadriceps, your hamstring and the buttocks. That's which we want the lower half working with the upper arm, upper body, too. Two more, last one and release, and now slowly bring your arms up and bring them back down. Let me see your smiling face. Target toning your muscles with strength training. This is working your shoulders, but make sure your back is strong and straight. Notice my back. It's nice and straight. Good. I'm engaging my a muscles. That's it beautiful. This is working the mid deltoids, which actually really helps with good posture. So the muscles need to be all strong.

Keep your neck relaxed. That's it. Two more. Last one. Beautiful. Okay. Let's put those weights down. We're gonna do a little more lower body strength training. Okay. Let's begin thinking about good posture with your knee up and back down, up and right here. That'll show you a little better. And so it's a knee up for abs and legs. Good. If you're a little off balance like I am a little bit,  I guess it's my rug. Um, make sure you're nice and tall. That's it. You can also just tap and go back. You can tap. That's it. The extra workout is up here. That works your abs and your thighs. Okay. We've got two more. Last one. Beautiful. You did it. Let's switch. Dive. Go down. Thinking about good posture again. Think about good posture and pull up. Good. Just do what you can. You could also use a chair if you need extra support and balance.

That's okay. But notice the abs are in action here, too. The second you go down, you pull in your abs and pull up. The pull up is what you really do, that is building the lower part. Good, again. If you're just starting out, go halfway in tap. Just go halfway and town. That's good enough for me. That's it. Two more. Good posture. Okay. Now it's time to work a little bit of a squat. I really want you to do this correctly. So sit back and jump. Almost like you are sitting right in a chair and come right back up all the way up. Here's my little doggy. Hello, Tater. Sit back. Squeeze your butt on the way up. Tighten up that tushy. It has to be tightened to really notice that lift in the buttocks. That's it. Good. Squeeze. Your tushy will look great from behind.

We got two more of these. That's it. Last one. Beautiful. Now hands come behind you like this. We're gonna lift up and lift up - it's all about the abs right now. Strength training through the abdominals, your core, you're strengthening your whole core. Thinking about good posture, lift up. Notice my back is strong and straight and my abs are tightened. I'm really zipping up the apps. That's the exercise. Okay. Sit, standing up tall and really lift through the chest. Now let's twist and do a little crunch twist, twist. Now this works the waistline and the torso to trim and tone. This is the waistline, the abs, that's it all standing. You don't even have to get down and crunch. We're crunching right here. Last one. Beautiful. Okay. Let's take a deep breath together. Inhale and let's side stretching, exhale, beautiful. And to the other side and exhale.

Beautiful side stretch. Good, good posture. Let's do cactus arms open up your chest. So important for better posture. One more time. Cactus arms, slight arch, squeeze the buttocks, tighten up through the tummy and release and let's take a deep breath together. Bring in the oxygen. It equals energy and just let it go. Exhale out any stress you may out and there you have a wonderful strength training workout. You did it. I'll see you next time. Thanks for working out with me. Woo. If you love this workout, I have so much more at deniseaustin.com. Try my free trial that you get to do all kinds of different workouts and recipes, eating plans. You will love it. All you have to do is visit Deniseaustin.com!

8-Minute Standing Flat Abs Workout Transcript
Welcome to your eight-minute standing abs workout! Really focus on the core muscles to flatten that belly. The first exercise is just to lift those knees, using your abdominals… think good posture. Your back is strong and straight. We're starting to use all the muscles in the core. Right now, pull the belly button in, relax your shoulders and lift those legs. That's it. Feeling it all through here, pull and engage the abs. Tighten up that tummy. That's it. The more we practice pulling in the abs, the better naturally it will be there. Nice and flat pulled in. We got two more. That's it. You’re tall. Back is strong and straight. Last one. Beautiful. Now next level. Bring your arms behind you. Press it back. Like a sit up. And now we'll do crunches. Little crunches, belly button pulls up and in, that's it hollow out through the abs.