If you’re a nurse, you spend lots of time on your feet and you lift patients well beyond your own size. Doing the following workouts can benefit / better prepare your body for things that may come your way while on shift. Learn these effective workout routines for nurses.
Effective Workout Routines for Nurses
Aerobic Strength & Endurance: Your job demands aerobic endurance, right? But if you don’t keep up with it, you’ll suffer from depletion of energy, depression from exposure to sickness, and disease from a compromised immune system. By participating in cardio exercises, you will enhance your mood, energy level, and immune system. Studies suggest at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio exercises, five days a week, or vigorous for 20 minutes, three times a week. And since you’re mostly stopping and going, then stopping and going again, its probably best to do interval training.
The Important of Squats: Your body relies on your glutes, hamstrings, and quads when lifting heavy objects and patients, so squats may be your new best friend. They will help strengthen those muscles and, in turn, take stress off your lower back.
Upper Body Strength: Exercises such as chin-ups, push-ups, and dips will engage most of your upper body. Nurses need these types of exercises, and can dump the ‘muscle isolation’ movements. Bent-over barbell rows, or dead-lifts, will strengthen your back and lower-body muscles. Core strengthening exercises such as planks, are a good use of your time. Planks work your abs and back muscles at the same time, and can be done on both your forearms and a standard push-up position (arms straight). Try working up to two-60 second planks!
Circuit Training: What are circuits? One to five minute segments that involve using both cardio and strength training exercises. We know this can be beneficial for nurses… We can just see you now; racing to patients and then lifting them! Incorporate upper body and lower body moves, while maintaining a steady heart rate. Lunges are a good example of this — getting the low-impact aerobic activity while working large muscle groups.
Enjoy!
cited: http://woman.thenest.com/good-workout-routines-nurses-18253.html
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