If you are a fitness enthusiast, you must know several exercises you can include in your workout routine. Some are basic and for beginners, whereas some are advanced exercises, especially for experienced or professionals. This article will discuss some performance, strength & conditioning exercises. Continue reading to know these exercises and try to include them in your routine.
What are Performance, Strength & Conditioning Exercises?
Performance exercises are those that help improve your overall workout athletic performance. Some specific exercises are suggested for athletes to enhance their sports performance.
Strength & conditioning exercises strengthen your muscles and joints while improving your mobility. While completing our day-to-day obligations, we move all over the place. So it is always better to make strength and conditioning exercise a part of our workout routine for both performance-based activities and everyday functionality.
10 Exercises for Performance, Strength & Conditioning
- Push-Ups
Push-ups strengthen muscles in the upper body, such as the triceps, shoulders, and chest. Start with a plank position and maintain a straight line from head to feet. Then lower down until your chest almost touches the ground. Now push your body up with your arms to return to starting position.
- Squats
Squats are one of the most effective exercises when considering strength and conditioning for your lower body. This exercise strengthens stabilizer muscles around your knees and improves the explosiveness of your hip hinges, glutes, and quads. While doing squats, make sure to maintain a proper form.
- Planks
Being an effective way of working stabilizer muscles in your core, planks also target muscles in your back, glutes, and shoulders. Take the position on the ground as if you were going to perform push-ups. Just use your forearms instead of your hands as your base. Try to hold this position for maximum time.
- Glute Bridges
With this, you can work your hamstrings and glutes. Lay on your back and place your feet about hip-width apart and close to your backside. Lift your hips upwards by pushing with your heels and holding for a second. Bring your hips down to the ground without making contact with it. Hold this position for three seconds.
- Romanian Deadlifts
While improving your balance and posture, Romanian deadlifts also strengthen your hamstrings. Begin with standing upright with a slight bend in your knees. Then roll your shoulders back and down while shifting your hips behind your heels. Then run your hands down your legs till you’re compelled to bend your knees. For completing a rep, push through with your heels and hips.
- Bulgarian Squats
It strengthens glutes, hip flexors, core, hamstrings, and stabilizer muscles while improving your balance. Place one of your feet on a bench behind you while standing. Then roll your shoulders back and down and slowly drop your body towards the floor. Now push back with your front heel to the starting position.
- Burpees
Burpees are included in most dynamic movement or plyometric strength and conditioning programs. It is an excellent combination of push-ups and jumping jacks, giving you a full-body workout. It helps to improve your cardiovascular endurance and also helps to burn fat.
- Pull-ups
It is a great way to strengthen your back, shoulders, and biceps. Stand underneath a pull-up bar with your feet elevated off the ground. Grab the bar with either an overhand grip or an underhanded grip. Pull yourself towards the bar until your chin is at the same level. Return to the starting position while hanging.
- Reverse Lunges
Reverse lunges are a vital strength exercise for athletes. It helps avoid injury while working on muscle recruitment and balance. You have to work on the ‘acceleration’ phase by stepping back. And then again, driving back up to standing. This is one of the best exercises for hamstrings and glutes.
- Lateral Lunges
This exercise is another variant of lunges that focuses on recruiting muscles such as hips, glutes, adductors, and abductors. Since you perform lunges on your left and right instead of front or back, they are called lateral lunges.
