Halloween is coming and it is a SPORT. There is so much to the sport of trick-or-treating and this Halloween we want to give you some of the best strength exercises to help you get the MOST candy in your neighbourhood.
Not sure if this is still a thing, but when I was younger Trick-or-Treating felt like a marathon with my friends. We would start fairly early and go late into the night until we got BAGS and BAGS full of candy and carried it around all night. I know for a fact if we strength trained prior to this and improved our muscular endurance our experience would have been so much more fun! Of course Trick-or-Treating is not a competition… BUT! For kids and parents (helping their kids), here are some FUNtastic exercises for you!
Single Arm Farmer’s Carry
This is a great exercise to strengthen your core.
Exercise cues:
- Keep your head up
- Keep you Chest upright
- Shoulder blades down and out (a more relaxed position that having your trapezius muscles up to your ears)
- Keep ribs down
- Belly breath in (some bracing)
- still continue to breathe
- Keep Pelvis tucked beneath you
- then begin to walk
REGRESSION: Simply do the same exercise but no walking component. Stay still for a certain amount of time.
Explosive Rotational Lifts with Medicine Ball
Another great core stabilizing exercise but this time with more power with it. This is an explosive exercise to help you use your core and rotate in order to put your heavy bag of candy over your shoulder.
Exercise cues:
- Start with Medicine ball on the opposite side of the shoulder you want to throw it over
- make sure no one is behind you and it is safe
- Bend your knees a little bit to gain some power
- push and extend your knees while simultaneously throwing the medicine ball over your shoulder and let it drop completely
REGRESSION: Same exercise standing but NOT explosive and using your body to do a lift motion towards the opposite shoulder without letting go of the medicine ball
Single Arm Behind the Back Pulls
This exercise essentially imitates dragging your candy bag behind you with a single arm once it gets too heavy to simply farmer’s carry it or even have it over your shoulder.
This can be done in the gym with some weight attached to a band or rope or a TRX attached to a sled as you pull behind you!
Exercise cues:
- grab the band/rope/TRX behind you
- keep your hips and body square forward
- Continue to walk forward and pull the weight with your single arm
REGRESSION: Use just a band or a pulley system with light weight and do the same motion
Mini Band Pull-Aparts
For those of you who can’t wait to eat your candy or for the parents that just want to be sneaky and just grab one single piece before their child sees them, this is a great exercise to open that treat bag quickly while getting a great lat workout.
Exercise cues:
- Start by holding the mini band in your hands
- Keep your hands low
- Keep your shoulder blades down
- Actively pull your shoulder blades out and away from your body (using those strong lat muscles!)
- Then pull your arms apart
REGRESSION: Simply pull the band apart and do an isometric muscle contraction (where you hold the exercise for a certain amount of time) instead of continuous reps.
Hope this helps! If you have any questions about other exercises or treatment plans to help improve your Trick-or-treating experience for NEXT Halloween feel free to book in with one of our lovely practitioners. They would love to help!
