Whether you’re bored from not being able to go to the gym or you just want to be able to work out at your own pace, WeStretch’s strengthening routines are perfect for you! These routines focus on strengthening with stretching, using only your body weight and various movements. While these routines won’t necessarily help you bulk up, they will help you with functional strength training, which is essential for everyday life!

Before we begin, if you don’t yet know what our routines look like, feel free to check out our post explaining what they are!

When you are about to start your strength workout, you will achieve the best results if you warm up beforehand. Go outside for a brisk walk or try one of WeStretch’s sport warm-up routines.

There are three different levels of strengthening within the customization screen: beginner, intermediate and advanced. Typically, the higher level you go, the more poses you will do within your chosen time frame.

Beginner

Beginner strengthening offers two options- the aptly named ‘beginner strengthening’ and the ‘lower body strengthening’. Both routines are relatively simple, offering roughly half-stretching poses and half-movement poses.

While you will often see the same poses pop up within a single routine, the order varies to keep you moving in different ways and to keep you on your toes! There is a lot of movement in these routines. This is to help you get accustomed to moving between sitting and standing poses. This also uses your body weight to strengthen forgotten muscles with stretching.

If you have trouble getting to your feet quickly, we recommend starting with the fundamental WeStretch routine that Ada designs for you. This will allow you to adjust to more movement without being as taxing.

The beginner strengthening routines are perfect for those who have just begun to start moving and want to be pushed safely. To start out, try doing a strengthening routine one day a week and increasing that as you get stronger.

If you customize your routine to remove all floor poses or all standing poses, your routine generation will fail. These routines are built to emphasize movement between standing and sitting, and shifting your body weight to build strength.

Intermediate

Much like how beginner strengthening offers two choices of routines, the intermediate offers similar options. These routines will help you to raise your heart rate and get you sweating, but they are still a fun challenge!

They have fewer stretching poses overall and more movement, which means that you will be getting up and down a lot more. By building strength with stretching, you gradually build muscle without needing extra gym equipment. The intermediate strengthening routines are great for people who already do moderate exercise and want just a little bit extra in their day.

Advanced

The advanced routines offer the choices of doing the advanced level of full-body strengthening and the unique core-specific routine.

While the full-body advanced strengthening has the highest number of poses per minute out of all of the strengthening options, the core exercises routine has the least.

Both routines will physically push you, with a solid mix of movement and stretching. Several of the poses will be in more difficult positions, such as stretching while in a lunge or a plank. While you should be decently quick on your feet to be able to keep up with these routines, you don’t need to be a professional athlete to be able to succeed at them.

Core strengthening, specifically, has fewer poses overall, but uses several stretches to work on building strong core muscles. You will not be doing crunches, but instead will do poses such as holding a plank while stretching your left foot out to the side.

The movement poses are the base of every routine, strengthening or otherwise. There are 16 of them in total.

 – Standing – T-Pose – Arms Behind Back – Touch Toes – Plank – Knee Sit – Straddle Sit – Cobra –

– Arms Up – Straddle T – Lunge Right – Lunge Left – Cat – Diamond Sit – L Sit – Dead Man –

Karen, WeStretch’s founder recommends doing three different 10-minute stretching routines in a row for the greatest 30-minute workout. She likes combining her favourite aerobic routine, with a strengthening session, ending with a focused pain relief stretch. These sets of stretches will get your heart rate up, build your functional fitness levels, and provide relief to tight muscle groups.

Trust My Coach offers a great blog post about the health benefits of functional strength training if you are looking for further learning.

Exercise and strengthening don’t have to be out of your reach. WeStretch offers routines for everybody and everybody. Download Westretch from your favourite app store or check out our computer browser app! 😊

Any links included are for reference, additional information, or entertainment value only, without monetary compensation. Contact us on social media or at support@westretch.ca. Photos courtesy of Unsplash.

This article is not intended to act as or replace medical advice. Please talk to your healthcare practitioner if you have any concerns.

Written by Kayla Willsey

Updated May 17, 2021