Rationale : Regular exercise is crucial for everyone, including individuals using wheelchairs, as it promotes overall health, strength, and well-being. Engaging in a serious workout regimen offers numerous benefits for people in wheelchairs. Firstly, it helps to improve cardiovascular endurance, which is vital for maintaining a healthy heart and circulatory system. IMPORTANT – In order to build muscle optimally, you must target each muscle group 2-3 times a week. Since leg day is out the question for people in wheelchairs, we created this fully optimized plan in order to maximize upper body gains, in other words we replace legs with more biased upper body routine.
Note: Muscular hypertrophy range of 8-12 reps are used to maximize optimal muscle gain in order to counter muscle dystrophy
Disability note: similar to other disabilities, machines will be used for mostly all exercise to help with stability and lower the factors of injury
Push (Chest, Shoulders, Triceps)
Warm-up for Push Exercises (10-15 minutes):
Arm Circles: 30 seconds forward, 30 seconds backward.
Shoulder Taps: 1 minute – Assume a plank position and touch your opposite shoulder with each hand.
Chest stretch using resistance band 30-60 sec
Chest Opener: 30 seconds – Stand tall, interlace your fingers behind your back, and open your chest.
Shoulder Stretch: 30 seconds each arm – Gently pull one arm across your chest and hold.
Triceps Stretch: 30 seconds each arm – Reach one arm overhead and bend at the elbow, reaching down the middle of your back.
Workout
Flat chest press machine – 3 reps of 10 to 12 reps
Incline chest press – 2 sets of 10 to 12 reps
shoulder press machine – 2 sets of 10 to 12 reps
Lateral raise machine – 3 sets of 8 to 10 reps
Tricep pushdowns – 2 sets of 10 to 15 reps
Pull (back and biceps)
Warm-up for Pull Exercises (10-15 minutes)
Neck Circles: 15 seconds each direction – Gently roll your neck clockwise and counterclockwise.
Arm Cross Swings: 1 minute – Swing your arms back and forth, crossing them in front of your body.
Resistance Band Rows: 1 set of 10-15 reps – Attach a resistance band to a stable anchor and perform rowing motions.
Doorway Chest Stretch: 30 seconds – Stand in a doorway and place one hand on the door frame, then gently turn your body away to stretch the chest.
Upper Back Stretch: 30 seconds – Clasp your hands together in front of you, round your upper back, and push your arms away to stretch the upper back muscles.
Wrist Circles: 15 seconds each direction – Rotate your wrists in circles to warm up the forearms.
Workout
Lat pulldown machine – 3 sets of 10 reps
Machine rows – 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps
T-bar row – Chest supported* – 2 sets of 10 to 12 reps (elbows flared)
Incline curl machine – 2 sets of 10 to 12 reps
Legs
Warm-up for Leg Exercises (10-15 minutes)
Leg Swings: 1 minute each leg – Stand next to a wall and swing one leg forward and backward.
Hip Circles: 30 seconds each leg – Stand on one leg and make circular motions with the other leg to warm up the hips.
Bodyweight Squats: 1 set of 10-15 reps – Perform controlled squats to engage the leg muscles.
Walking Lunges: 1 set of 10-12 lunges per leg – Step forward into a lunge, then alternate legs.
Calf Raises: 1 set of 15-20 reps – Stand on the edge of a step or curb and raise up on your toes to warm up the calves.
Hamstring Stretch: 30 seconds each leg – Stand straight and bend forward at the hips, reaching towards your toes.
Workout
Leg press machine – 3 sets of 10 to 15 reps
hack squat machine – 2 sets of 10 to 12 reps
Leg extension machine – 2 sets of 10 to 15 reps
hamstring curls – 2 sets of 10 to 12 reps
Dietary note: Factoring in all the high rep exercise, make sure to increase carb and protein level to account for calories burned by the higher rep range
Disability note: If the amount of sets specified is too much volume for you, hence making you too tired, feel free to cut down the number of required sets to reduce volume. However, do not reduce the number of reps or skip exercise and/or warm ups as those take priority.