Partner 2 should execute a lateral raise, pulling the handle up and out to the side with their arm extended.Partner 2 should stand to partner 1’s right side and grab the other handle with their right hand.Partner 1 should act as an anchor, stepping on the band near one handle with the handle near their left foot.Using your partner as an anchor, target your shoulders with a lateral raise. Complete the desired number of reps, then switch arms.Partner 2 should face partner 1 and grab the other handle and hold the band taut, hinging at the waist until their body forms a 45-degree angle with the ground and pulling the band straight back until their arm is completely extended.Partner 1 should act as an anchor, grabbing the band by one handle and holding it in front of them.Target the back of the arms one at a time with a little help from your partner. Partner 2 should extend their arms and press the handles out, then back.Partner 2 should stand facing away from partner 1 and grab the handles, assuming a press position with the band underneath their arms and a staggered stance.Partner 2 should row, one arm at a time, by pulling their elbow to the back wall.Īgain here, one partner will anchor while the other chest presses.Partner 2 should stand facing partner 1 and grab the handles, then back up until the band is taut and stagger your stance.Partner 1 should act as the anchor, grabbing the band in the middle and holding it in front of them with extended arms.One partner will anchor as the other rows. Partner 2 should pull the band across their body and up above their right ear with arms extended, twisting the core to the right as they go.The band should be positioned at waist level on their left side. Partner 2 should grab the other handle and stand to the right side of partner 1, far enough away to make the resistance band taut.Partner 1 should act as an anchor, holding the resistance band in front of them with both hands, and squat down.Target the core and arms with a woodchop - partner-style. And again, start with a 10-minute cardio warm-up to get your muscles working. Choose a light or medium resistance to start, then work your way up. The instructor looks up from my wife’s prone form.Resistance bands are a great way to strength train without a ton of impact. Finally, with my balance beginning to falter, I stand, and exhale sharply.
I’ll have nothing left for the other leg, I think. I push out sideways with my left foot, against the springs of the reformer, concentrating on my breathing while my wife and the instructor discuss connective tissue and levels of pain relative to childbirth. “I’m a physiotherapist,” the instructor says. “He also says I need a physiotherapist,” my wife says. “Tough love,” I say, stepping on to the reformer. “That’s what he said,” my wife says, lying down on a mat. “Actually, it’s good that you’re here,” the instructor says, her voice softened by a face mask and a visor. “Actually,” I say, holding up her phone, “I’ve got it.”Īt 8.54am I step into the pilates instructor’s consulting room, followed at a short distance by my wife, her shoulders hunched, picking her way across the room as if through broken glass. People are always getting stuck in their loungers, and the paramedics always tell them to move.” “I saw it on one of those ambulance shows. “Is this because you don’t want to go to pilates by yourself?” she says. I lead her gently back to bed, and put an extra pillow under her head. “Help me!” she says, through gritted teeth. She is standing on the other side of the bedroom, in the dark. On Wednesday at 7.45am, I am woken by my wife shrieking my name. “There will be a way to cheat – I just haven’t worked it out yet.” “But somehow I ended up doing more,” I said. “I’m actually working,” said the oldest, pointing at his laptop. “All the oxygen in the room,” my wife said. “I should be able to slack off while she’s claiming the instructor’s attention.” “Your mother sucks up all the oxygen in the room,” I told the oldest one after the first session.
Of the couples I knew from the gym who exercised together, it always seemed to me there was one committed partner, and one who got away with gliding along in the other’s slipstream. “See if it’s cheaper,” I said, “if we do it together.” My wife went along for a one-hour assessment and, on her recommendation, so did I. A leaflet for a local pilates instructor came through the letterbox. Over the summer, I grew slack, and then started to seize up. I ordered a skipping rope, and used it for exactly 15 minutes. I bought a gym mat, and tucked it under the kitchen sofa.
“You haven’t been for five months anyway,” my wife said. “When this is over, I’m never going to a gym again.” “You know what?” I said, pulling a Cornetto from the freezer. Then at the beginning of lockdown last spring, I was struck by a revelation.
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