DIABETES SPECIAL SECTION
Try Kate’s simple home workout for improved muscle tone.
SQUATS
● Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, resting your arms down at your sides.
● While bracing your core and keeping your chest up and neck neutral, bend your knees and push your hips back as if you’re going to sit in a chair.
● When your thighs are parallel to the floor, pause.
● As you rise back to the top squeeze your buttocks, then repeat. You can also hold some dumbbells to create more resistance. Do 10 times.
SPLIT SQUATS
● Start in a split-leg position, with one leg forward and one back. Engage your core.
● Flex your knees and lower your hips until the back knee is just above the floor.
● Push back up through your front leg and return to the starting position.
● Do 10 on each leg.
DEAD BUGS
● Lie on a mat with your arms extended straight up above your chest so they form a perpendicular angle with your torso.
TRICEPS EXTENSION
● Standing upright, hold a dumbbell in one hand and it lift overhead, arm fully extended. Ensure your head stays aligned over your chest, core engaged and shoulders relaxed.
● Inhale to slowly lower the weight behind you to 90 degrees, bringing it behind your head by bending at the elbows. Keep your chest aligned over your hips and don’t let your back arch. The weight should not touch the back of your head.
● Exhale as you push the weight back up overhead and repeat, 10 times each side.
● Bend your hips and knees to 90 degrees, lifting your feet from the ground. Your torso and thighs should form a right angle, as should your thighs and shins. This is the starting position.
● Engage your core, maintaining contact between your lower back and the mat. You want to make sure your spine maintains this steady and neutral position throughout the exercise.
● Keep your right arm and left leg exactly where they are, then slowly reach your left arm backward, over your head and toward the floor as you simultaneously extend your right kn
