I don’t know about you, but I’m all about efficiency and saving time. This goes for exercise too!
Sometimes if you’re in a rush, it’s easy to just say you don’t have time for exercise. While time is an easy scapegoat, what if you could be more efficient with your time AND still get to exercise?… Sounds pretty great, right??
That’s our goal with the star exercise this week!
We’re combining two moves into one to work aspects of both the upper and lower body. The two moves we’re incorporating are a mini squat and a hammer curl.
A mini squat is a classic exercise to target multiple muscles in the legs, especially the quadriceps (a.k.a. muscles in the front of the thighs) and the glutes. While we’re starting with a mini squat, you can absolutely advance or even further minimize the depth of your squat, depending on what you feel comfortable with.
The hammer curl is often confused with a bicep curl. While very similar, the arm placement is slightly different. During a hammer curl, the palms will face each other, whereas, during a bicep curl, the palms are facing up towards the ceiling. Additionally, a bicep curl really focuses on the bicep muscles (as the name would indicate), and a hammer curl incorporates multiple muscle groups in the upper arm and forearm, including the biceps, brachialis, and brachioradialis muscles. Other differences will be further explained in our demo video below.
For the hammer curl, you really can utilize any type of resistance, whether this is a resistance band, which is what we’ll be demonstrating with, or free weights work just as well.
Besides choosing your form of resistance, all you need is an open space to work in!
As always, if you’re recovering from a recent upper or lower body injury or surgery, make sure to get the okay from your doctor, surgeon, and/or rehab specialist before giving this a go.
Step 1: Starting Position:
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Stand so that your feet are hip width apart.
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Your feet will be standing on the center of the resistance band (you can choose a light, medium or high resistance band tension).
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Hold one end of the band in each hand. Your palms will be facing your legs.
Step 2: Mini Squat:
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Sit back into your mini squat so that your hips move towards your heels (**not so far though that you lose your balance backwards).
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As your knees bend and your hips move back, allow your torso to incline forward slightly. This will help you counterbalance the hips moving back, so that you keep your balance.
Step 3: Hammer Curl:
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Once you’ve completed your mini squat and are standing upright again, begin to bend the elbows into your hammer curl.
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Try to bend the elbows to at least 90-degrees, but you can move beyond this if tolerable.
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You can move in and out of this position without a hold, or you can add a short hold time, such as for 2 seconds.
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Return to your starting position.
Continue alternating back and forth between your mini squat and hammer curl for 10-15 repetitions. Practice 2-3 sets.
There you have it! A two-for-one special!
This is a fun one to incorporate if you haven’t tried it before.
Since we’re combining these two motions, take a look at the following demonstrating for a better visual and breakdown of the moves:
Make sure to give this one a try!
