Pink cupcakes

There they were standing on the dock at the lake, my nieces' high school varsity volleyball team. They were not in their typical volleyball attire, instead they were dressed to the nines in beautiful short dresses and high heels for the homecoming dance. My niece was dressed in a short pink frock, and she joked that she was a “pink cupcake.” Under all those twirling skirts were their spandex volleyball shorts, and while we were taking their pictures, they showed off their muscular, toned teenage legs with a quick skirt pull. All of us taking pictures laughed. They were so cute, so fun, so free, no body image issues for them.

As I watched them, I was reminded of the joy and freedom that comes with youth. I thought of all the fun we used to have as teenagers with no thoughts of fad diets, exercise regimes or high blood pressure. We just played sports, wore mini skirts, skied, biked, and went to the beach with our friends, with never a thought that we would need to be "told" to have a healthy lifestyle when we were older.

Well, I guess as we age, we need to have this healthy lifestyle conversation more often, in order to continue to have gorgeous legs like these cupcakes.

So here's to our legs, and six exercises to get us going:

1) Wake-Up Quads: Sit in a chair with knees bent at 60 degrees and your feet flat on the floor. Put a small ball or towel roll between your knees and then squeeze on the ball, pinch your glutes together and push your feet to the floor. Hold for 5 seconds. Do two sets of 20 to make sure your quads are working to prevent knee pain.

2) Mini Squats: Stand with feet shoulder weight apart, with hip, knee and second toe lined up. Then do three sets of 10 reps. If you have knee pain, go back to Wake-Up Quads.

3) Lunge Twists: Step forward with your right foot till your right knee bends to about 90 degrees, and as you do, your back leg will bend to about 90 degrees. Then hold your arms straight out in front of you and twist your upper body to the right, then to the left. Come back up to standing. Then do same exercise on the left leg. Do two sets of 10 on each leg. If there is any pain, go back to the Wake-Up Quad exercise to reset muscles, or don't add the upper body twist until you are stronger.

4) Modified Plank Hip Lift: Start on hands and knees in all fours position, then go to elbows and toe position. Then lift right leg towards ceiling 10 times. Then rest and do left leg. Do two sets with each leg.

5) Modified Plank Side Leg Lift: Lay on your right side. Push up to elbow, and outside of leg on the floor. Then lift left leg towards ceiling 10 times. Repeat for another set of 10. Then roll to left side and lift right leg for two sets of 10.

6) Side Shuffle: Stand with feet shoulder width apart and get in mini squat position. Then shuffle to the right 10 steps and to the left 10 steps. Repeat this three times. Keep hip, knee and second toe pointing forward as you go sideways. You can add a resistance band around your knees or to really challenge yourself you can do it at your ankle level. No knee pain should be experienced, if you have any stop and go back to Wake-Up Quads. If it continues, and you are unable to progress because of any leg pain, you need to go to physical therapy right away.

Remember, you need strong healthy legs all your life so don't give up on them. Make a lifestyle change and get moving.

Sheree DiBiase, PT, is the owner of Lake City Physical Therapy. If you need help with your sexy legs for your pink cupcake dress, Sheree and her staff can be reached in Coeur d'Alene at (208) 667-1988, or the Spokane Valley at (509) 891-2623.