Broom Handle Exercises: A Classic Exercise Routine Using Only a Broom Handle

Author: Neville, Richie

Edition: 3

Binding: Kindle Edition

Format: Kindle eBook

Number Of Pages: 28

Release Date: 01-04-2017

Details: The exercise routine that will be detailed below comes from a booklet entitled: Overweight and Underweight: How to Treat Them, printed in the 1920's. Additional images come from Know the Game: Keeping Fit for all ages, a small booklet published in collaboration with the Fitness Advisory Bureau in the early 1960’s.

It's all too easy to dismiss such routines as 'vintage' or 'out of date', but with a little re-imagining, as I have done with this text, you can have an up-to-date FULL workout that will only take 5 minutes or so and only cost you the price of a broom handle! Oh, and sorry, there's nothing I can do to make you fly – but you can cackle when you're doing the exercises if you like...

When I decided to have a go at this workout, I went to a £1 discount store and got a plastic mop that had a screw-in head. Sometimes I screw the head on and use it as a mop – other times I unscrew the head and use it for a workout!

Here is a little bit on why working out with a broom handle (or a mop handle!) might be a good idea:

Isolation Exercises

Most exercises are what are called 'isolation' exercises – that is they are designed to work one part of the body only. A bicep curl for example is designed to work the bicep on the arm, and nothing more.

Machines

Machines in the gym are very good at this type of exercise, because they almost 'lock' the rest of the body in place while you either push or pull the handles for the required number of repetitions. While a beginner may think this is a good thing, a lot of exercise professionals disagree with such machines because they can hamper the development of supporting muscles – it is essentially a 'cheat'.

Free-Weights

On the other side of the coin are 'free' weights – dumb-bells and bar-bells. Using weights such as these means balance and coordination is required, and therefore the muscles required for these things will be develo

Languages: English