Sometimes I can easily explain or demonstrate an activity for a patient in the gym, and they’ll immediately understand and start working. With other patients on other days, it can feel like we’re trying to communicate in different languages. That’s not off-putting, however. When I find myself in a situation like this, I’ve learned to compensate in several different ways, sometimes by providing visual targets.
Visual targets can take the guesswork out of exercises by providing definite movement guidance. They can also be a lot of fun. You can change the exercises up a great deal by doing nothing more than moving the targets around, and both the variety and fun factor can help make them not feel so “exercisey.”
5 Target-Touching Exercises
I often use target-touching exercises for my patients with excellent results in strength, flexibility, and balance. As with all new exercise routines, I suggest discussing them with your medical provider to ensure that they are right for you.
1. Rotating Toe Touches
I was introduced to this exercise when I was in middle school, which means that it’s about a thousand years old. OK, maybe only about 900 years old. Anyway, it’s a wonderful exercise that not only works on flexibility, but on cardiovascular enhancement as well. Using your toes as a target keeps your downward movement and rotations consistent.
Step 1: Stand with your feet approximately 3 feet apart (a little wider than hip-width). You want a good, comfortably wide stance, but be sure to keep yourself well balanced and without pain. Hold your arms high and to the sides.
Step 2: Slowly bend down and reach across your body with your right hand to touch your left toe before slowly returning to the starting position. As soon as you stand back up, repeat the movement on the other side.
Step 3: Touching your toe and then returning to standing counts as one repetition. Try to perform three sets of 20 repetitions per side.
Modifications: I recommend bending your knees slightly if you need to take the strain off your back. You can alternate from side to side as you go, perform all repetitions on one side and then the other, or perform one set with your right hand and then the next with your left hand. In other words, be creative and figure out what works best for you.
Why I Like Them: Rotating Toe Touches are great for flexibility since you reach all the way down to your toes and out to your sides, as well as for aerobic capacity. You’ll feel your heart rate climbing quickly when performing this exercise.
2. Wall Target Touches
Many of us remember a song about boots and walkin’ and that they were going to be used to walk all over some poor fellow who had evidently brought it upon himself. Well, this exercise was made for touchin’—specifically, touching your toes to different targets stuck on a wall.
Step 1: Place four tape targets randomly on the wall from 1 to 3 feet high. Why? Because we want your body working hard to figure out the best movement patterns. You want to place them to both the right and left of your tape floor markers to encourage movement across your midline. Be sure to place some of them out to the sides so you can get good left and right movement while performing this exercise.
Step 2: Stand on your left foot and use your right foot to slowly touch the targets one after the other. Repeat with the other foot.
Step 3: Repeat this pattern for three rounds of target touches.
Make It More Challenging: Place three small tape “Xs” on the floor, perpendicular to the wall. Space them evenly in line from approximately 2, 3, and 4 feet away from the wall. Repeat the touching pattern once for each floor marker, for three rounds of target touches in each place.
Why I Like Them: Wall Target Touches are a superb balance activity. You think the leg you’re touching the targets with is getting a workout? Well, the leg bearing the weight and balancing as you perform the wall touches is working even harder.
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3. Heel Touches
Heel Touches are done lying on the floor—which is a good thing. That flat surface very specifically controls the lateral flexion of your spine, which loosens it up while working on your core musculature.
Step 1: Lie on your back on a strong, supportive surface with your knees and hips bent and your feet flat on the floor approximately hip-width apart. Place your arms by your sides.
Step 2: Raise your head and shoulders off the floor, and engage your core muscles. Flex your trunk to the right side, and reach toward your right heel.
Step 3: Repeat the movement with your left hand, touching your left heel.
Step 4: Reaching down and touching your heels on one side and then the other counts as one repetition. Try to perform three sets of 20 repetitions.
Modifications: If you can’t quite touch your heels, reach as far as you can. Since this exercise focuses on lateral trunk movements, it’s common for people to be able to go farther in one direction than the other at first. Once you warm up, you should be able to reach farther.
Why I Like Them: Heel Touches are a great lateralization exercise for your spine that leaves you nice and “noodly.”
4. Wall Touches
In case your arms were getting jealous while you were performing the earlier leg exercises, I have one that should make them happy. This exercise is a great movement for your shoulders and is also fantastic for your spine. While the Heel Touches work your spine from side to side, this exercise works it rotationally, making them very complementary to one another.
Practice Note: Turning your head during this activity can make some people dizzy. If you’re one of them, skip the head turns or move slowly.
Step 1: Stand about 6 inches to 1 foot away from a wall—close enough to touch it while remaining in an upright standing position as you reach around. Place your feet hip-width apart, and let your arms hang by your sides.
Step 2: Reach around the front of your body with your right hand and touch the wall behind your left side around knee level. Follow the movement with your head, turning it to the left when you touch to the left, and to the right when you touch to the right. Return to the midline and repeat the movement with your left hand, touching the wall behind you to the right. Don’t rush the movement, but at the same time, don’t drag. Pace your movements at approximately one second per touch.
Step 3: Next, reach around your left side with your right hand and touch the wall at around hip height, then repeat the movement with your left hand.
Step 4: Reach around to the left and touch the wall at shoulder level or higher as feels right, with your right hand, and then your left.
Step 5: Performing all three levels of touches on both sides counts as one set. Try to perform 20 sets. Sounds like a lot, but once you get rolling, it’s kind of like a flowing dance.
Why I Like Them: The repetitive side-to-side rotational movement of this exercise is delightful for maintaining spinal rotational flexibility, something that can potentially diminish over time and lead to decreased quality of life.
5. Standing Knee Hug
Hey, you’ve been doing a pretty good job on these exercises, so give yourself a hug. A knee hug, that is, because we’re not quite done with exercising. This exercise can be a little challenging because of its single-leg-standing requirement, but trust me, your knees will appreciate this and will feel deeply loved. The target here, by the way, is your chest.
Step 1: Stand tall and lift your right knee until you can clasp both hands around the top of your shin, then pull your knee as high as you can toward your chest. Keep your core activated, and pull your leg up instead of bowing your shoulders toward the leg. Hug your leg for five seconds, then do the same with your left leg.
Step 2: Lifting your knees and hugging them counts as one repetition. Try to perform three sets of 15 hugs per side.
Modifications: If you struggle with balance, stand next to a wall or counter for support. It’s best to start this exercise by moving slowly, which will help maximize your balance at first. If you can’t bring one or both legs up very high when you stretch, just do what you can.
Why I Like Them: Standing Knee Hugs provide a magnificent stretch for your glutes and hamstrings, release lower back tension, and engage your core. They also enhance your balance.
Target-touching exercises are fantastic for fast, accurate workouts, and in some cases, let you easily vary the activities to suit your needs. Some of these exercises are unique, and I think you’ll have fun trying them. I suggest performing them at least three times per week, and ideally five times per week. Good luck, and I hope they work well for you.
About the Fitness Model: Aerowenn Hunter is a health editor for The Epoch Times. She’s an accredited yoga therapist with more than three decades of teaching experience.
