If you’d like to improve your health health as well as your strength, do wall squats, reports Knvul Sheikh for the New York Times. This isometric exercise can reduce your blood pressure better than aerobic exercise or other types of workouts. And, no, it does not involve using a barbell or any other weight!
A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that if you could squat with your back against a wall–as if you were seated on a chair, sort of–four times for two minutes each time, with two-minute breaks between each squat, you could improve your health. All it takes is 14 minutes and endurance!
In short, eight minutes of isometric exercise three times a week should reduce your blood pressure in a meaningful way. If you can take a brisk walk for 30 minutes five times a week, that’s great too. But, if you do the wall squats, you can address high blood pressure without the aerobic exercise.
All exercise is good. And, many exercises could reduce blood pressure. If walking 15o minutes a week isn’t getting your blood pressure down, it could be worth adding on the wall squats to your repertoire. You might avoid having to take a prescription.
The researchers did not review studies on the value of doing planks. But, they did look at 270 trials of nearly 16,000 people to see the effects of different isometric exercises on blood pressure..
Isometric exercises work to lower blood pressure because the positions reduce blood flow to muscles that are contracted. When the exercise ends, your muscle tissue receives greater blood flow. Then your blood vessels relax and allow for easier blood flow.
Here’s how to do a wall squat. Stand with your feet hip width apart a couple of feet in front of a wall. With your back facing the wall, lean against it. Then lower your upper body down. If not the first time, over time your goal should be to get your back down as if you were seated.
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