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One of the best exercises you can do for your legs and core is completely free, requires no equipment and can be done while watching TV at home. Plus, there’s no movement involved, you don’t add extra weight, and it won’t affect your joints. This makes it perfect for new athletes, seniors and people with joint problems that prevent them from doing other forms of exercise.
The wall sit is a great exercise and is very underrated in my book. People often use it leading up to a ski vacation as it prepares your legs and glutes to get into that squat position. I used it a lot during COVID, when all the gyms were closed and I was bored repeating bodyweight squats, so I started a daily wall-sit challenge: four one-minute sets every day for two weeks.
As a result, my core and legs got much stronger, and while you don’t have to do the full four minutes a day as I did, a week of wall hanging would be a perfect way to start your Get. Fit for ’23 fitness journey.
Wall sits are part of a family of moves called “isometric” exercises. Isometric moves are workouts that don’t involve movement: instead, you assume challenging poses to induce tension in your muscles. For example, you can adopt a plank position to work your abs. In a study published in the International journal of sports medicine (opens in new tab)Isometric exercises like these have been found to be beneficial in improving muscle strength in people with limited mobility, perhaps even more so than traditional “dynamic” strength training.
Because your knees and hips don’t move at all, there’s no extra weight to put on your back, and your feet don’t touch the floor like running or jumping exercises, it’s incredibly forgiving and a great way to get started. It’s still a tough workout, though, and while you might not be tracking steps on your best fitness tracker, you’ll probably still be able to see your heart rate spike after a few sets.
To get started, just lean your back against a wall and slide down. Your feet should be out in front of you, shoulder-width apart, and your thighs should be parallel to the floor. Keep your shoulders against the wall and look straight ahead. The TV is an excellent centerpiece (and a welcome distraction).
Now, here’s the tricky part: you have to hold the position for a certain amount of time. If you’ve never tried this before, or if you’re new to strength training, 15-30 seconds might be an attainable goal for you. Once you’re in this position it’s kind of awkward to fiddle with your phone and set the timer so I’ve just Amazon EchoDot in my living room to ask Alexa to set a one-minute timer. Then you just hold the position for the required time.
Easier said than done. Very quickly your quadriceps, glutes and hamstrings will light up. For an added benefit, make sure you’re looking straight ahead, place your hands behind your head or extend them in front of you, suck in your stomach a little and tighten your abs.
I’m not gonna lie to you, it sucks. Every time I heard Alexa’s soft tones say “okay, one minute, start now,” I caught myself gritting my teeth in anticipation of the hard time ahead. The soft alarm sound at the end of that minute was a lifeline, but it felt like it took forever to get there. It had gotten to the point where I started to dislike Alexa’s voice, associating it with those gritty wall seats.
However, it’s still much more effective than playing with a timer and rushing to get into position, and any little hack that removes a barrier to practice, no matter how small, is a win in my book. I found that it’s much easier to set timers with a simple voice command.
Once I got back to the gym, I noticed that I hadn’t lost much strength in my legs and glutes, even after my long absence from the squat rack. All those wall seats have also increased my running: research published in the journal Medicine and science in sport and exercise (opens in new tab) suggests that stronger glutes and quads are a factor in top speed. A strong core also helps maintain good running posture.
Coincidence or not, I ran my personal best half marathon after training at home using this unconventional, underappreciated method. Now that I’m training for a full marathon, which takes place in April 2023, I’ll be adding the wall-sit back into my regular fitness routine.
If you ever think you really need to get some exercise while watching Netflix at home, try three sets of 30 seconds at the wall to get you started. Don’t blame me if you get hated on you smart speaker subsequently.
First publication: May 2022.