Strengthen Every System of Your Body

Signing up for a sport but afraid you may break a bone? Afraid your heart won't be able to keep up? Afraid you will get squashed because your muscles are too tiny? Read on and learn how to eliminate these factors.

Steps

Strengthen your arms and wrists.

  1. Hitting your bones against hard objects strengthens them.[citation needed] Find a solid, sturdy wall, and hit your palm as hard as comfortable against the wall.
  2. Wrist Curls- Take a dumbbell and hold it so your palm faces upwards with your arm perpendicular to your body. Using only your wrist, raise the dumbbell repeatedly and then do it with the other arm.
  3. Reverse Wrist Curls- Take a dumbbell and hold it so your palm faces downward with your arm perpendicular to your body. Using only your wrist, start with the dumbbell below your arm and pull it up so it is level. Do this repeatedly, and then work on the other arm.
  4. Wrist Rolls- Using a rope, attach a weight to one side and tie the other side to the center of a sturdy stick or rod. Hold it out in front of you by the stick, with your palms facing down, and roll up the weight to the stick. Then, roll it back down to the floor.
  5. Golf Wrist-Cock Exercise- Have your arm by its side and hold a golf club by the end of the handle. Using only your wrists, point it toward the sky, then down again. Start with a light club, then work your way up.

Strengthen your ankles.

  1. Jump From heights as to put pressure on your ankles. Careful-Don't Jump from too high. Learn how to land safely. Start and two-three feet off the ground. Absolutely do not go any higher than comfortable.
  2. Alphabet Range of Motion- Sitting down, cross your left leg over your right leg. Using your right ankle, trace the letters of the alphabet from A-Z, imagining your big toe as a writing instrument. Then, cross your right leg over your left and do the same with your left ankle.
  3. Ankle Lifts- Tie a belt or a similar sized piece of rope around both ends of a light dumbbell so it forms a triangle when you hold it by the center of the belt or rope. Sit on a counter and insert your feet (covered by shoes) into the triangle and lower your feet with the weight. The rope should be just below your toes. Using your ankles, lift the weight repeatedly. When you are finished, grab the weight with your hand or let it drop to the ground.
  4. Ankle Turns- Sitting on that same counter, slide a long rope or jump rope under one foot. Holding onto the rope, pull left so your ankle tilts left, Then, going against the force caused by your arms, push your ankle right. With your ankle now tilted right, pull right and push your ankle to the left. Do this repeatedly and then do it with your other foot.
  5. Toe Raises- Stand on the ground with both feet parallel. Raise your ankles so you are standing on your toes, and then go back down. Repeat until tired.
  6. Heel Drops- Put a phone book or another large book on the ground. Stand on it with the balls of your feet so your heels touch the ground. If they can't touch, find a smaller book. Raise your feet up so they form a 90° angle with the book. Hold the position for a few seconds, then let your heels fall back to the ground. Repeat until tired.
  7. Proprioception- Don't let the name of the last exercise scare you, it's just as easy as the others. Grab a large elastic band and put it under one leg of a sturdy, four-legged chair. Put your left foot inside the band so that your left foot is closest to the chair. Holding onto the chair, cross your left foot in front of your right leg as far as the elastic permits. Do this repeatedly. Then, turn around so your right foot is closest to the chair with your left foot still inside the elastic. Pull your left foot away from you as far as the elastic permits. Do this repeatedly. Then, do the exercise again with your right foot inside the band.

Muscular System

  1. Go to the gym. Try to lift as much weight without hurting yourself as possible. Aim for ten reps of each machine. (More reps can cause you to be sore or can cause injury. Plus, this way builds more muscle.) If you have a Bowflex- USE IT! Do push-ups, situps, jumping jacks, knee bends, whatever.

Urinary/Digestive System

  1. Get plenty of fiber, but don't overdo it.
  2. Drink plenty of water. Take a drink before you get thirsty and, when you do, take one more gulp than you think you need. You may need to visit the toilet a little more often to begin with but your bladder will gradually adapt to hold more and you will become dehydrated less easily. Most people drink less than half of the recommended daily intake of water and you are probably not used to having enough. Water is vital for all life and the basis of a healthy existence.

Cardiovascular System

  1. Go for a run every once in a while. Run in a 5k/10k. Challenge yourself. See how far you can run without stopping. Set goals. ("By the end of summer, I will be able to run {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} in one hour") Goals are different for everyone. Make them personal and individual. Or work with a partner.
  2. If you have knee or ankle problems, or just hate running as exercise (don't worry, plenty of people do) then find some way to be in your target heart rate range for 10 to 60 minutes. You could go on a bike ride, play a game of soccer or basketball, hop on the elliptical machine, etc. Remember, though, if you are not working hard then you won't get the benefits. See Calculate Target Heart Rate for more.
  3. Don't eat cheeseburgers/donuts/anything high in trans fat. Deep fried foods will slow you down on the track. Trans fats build up around the walls of the arteries, thus making it harder for the heart to send blood and oxygen to your muscles.
  4. Challenge yourself to see how long you can hold your breath. This will make it easier to breathe out on the field.
  5. If you learn to play a wind instrument, that helps a lot! Singing is an excellent substitute for this if an instrument is not available.



Tips

  • Start small and work your way up.
  • Stretch so you don't hurt yourself. This also helps you build denser and stronger muscle fiber that won't tear of injure so easily.
  • More weight with fewer reps actually builds denser muscle. This kind of muscle is much more healthy and it is the reason that animals are so much stronger than they look. Aim for 10 Reps of the heaviest weight you can lift without hurting yourself.
  • Set up a routine. Try to fit all the target areas into your daily wake-up or something.
  • Learn how to fall. Seriously. The biggest mistake you can make is sticking your arms out as a first line of defense against the concrete/ground. So find a way to fall that balances the pressure over all of the strongest parts of your body.
  • Running is a fantastic all round fitness and stamina exercise. If you have knee problems cycling is also very good. If you get knee pain or back pain while running stop wearing supportive shoes and try a bit in bare feet or thin soles. Never run in shoes in a way that would be uncomfortable in bare feet - you may need to try it out. If you love or hate running read "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall. It is a book for everyone with an open mind.

Warnings

  • Don't hit your hands too hard against the wall, or hit them the wrong way. Your fingers/hand may get hurt. An old book or wad of waste paper can be used to protect your hand a little. If your elbow begins to hurt stop immediately and begin again with constant pressure rather than hitting. Never have a locked elbow in this exercise.
  • Some of the steps in this article may seem unreasonable, and if they don't seem comfortable to you, you may want to try other methods.
  • This was not written for women with osteoporosis. If you have this condition, refer to a medical professional.

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