Avoid facing the winter weather with dorm workouts

The “inner thigh raise” works out your legs.

Marisa Tomsky Staff Writer

Rainy day? Too cold out? Or you just don’t feel like leaving your dorm room to go to the gym? Have no fear, dorm workouts are here!

There are five basic moves that will tone your legs, butt, lower abs, upper abs, and your arms. These moves are simple but if you do them correctly and consistently, you’ll see results.

Start with the legs first. This exercise is known as the “inner thigh raise.”

What you’ll need: You and a chair. First, you want to pick one side of your body to lie on. Whichever leg is on top, put that foot on the chair.

Your bottom foot, which should still be resting on the ground, should be slowly brought up to touch the bottom of the chair. Hold that position for 30 seconds. Repeat 5 times. Switch legs.

From the legs, move up to the butt. The next exercise is called the “hip extension lift.”

You can keep the chair for this exercise as well. Instead of lying on your side, lie on your back and place both of your feet on the chair, having your knees come to a 90-degree angle.

When you’re in a comfortable enough position, drive your hips up off the floor toward the sky. Hold your hips up for five seconds before slowly controlling them back down to their starting position. Repeat 20 times.

The next exercise is called “lying leg raises.” They’re simple and they target your lower abs.

To start, lie on your back on the floor, placing your hands under your hips. Keep your feet together. Keeping your legs as straight as possible, raise your legs straight up towards the ceiling.

Slightly pause at the top before slowly controlling your legs back into their starting position. Think that’s too easy? You can use ankle weights to add resistance. Repeat 20 times each leg.

Next, we’ll move to the upper abs. Here’s how to do a personal favorite: “toe touches.” You’re going to start by lying on the floor on your back.

Raise your legs up vertically so they form a 90-degree angle with the floor. In order for this exercise to work, you need to make sure that your legs are as straight as possible.

Raise your arms straight up over your chest so that they’re parallel with your legs. Without moving your legs, lift your upper body (making sure that your shoulders are leaving the floor), and reach towards your shoelaces.

Hold that position for a second or two before slowly coming back down to the start position. You can increase difficulty by holding a medicine ball or dumbbell in your hands.

Arms are sort of difficult to work out without any weights aside from your standard pushup. But those can get boring, so we’re going to switch it up and give you three variations from those regular pushups.

These variations are all dependant of your hand-position. Their names are the “9:00 pushup,” the “2:00 pushup,” and the “triangle pushups.”

For all three of the pushups, you set up as you normally would. For the 2:00, your hands need to be turned slightly inward.

For the 9:00, your hands need to be turned completely facing out.

For the triangle, make a triangle with your pointer fingers and thumbs. Proceed to do a pushup like you regularly would.

Practice these dorm workouts with regularity and you’ll see results.