Do It Better – Week 4 Day 1
Welcome back! Are you ready for your last week?
Core and glutes today:
Lateral plank
The side plank is a great exercise for strengthening the obliques. You will hold your body on your side in a straight position supported only by one arm and the side of one foot. Strong obliques can be quite useful as core stabilization muscles. Your shoulder stabilizers keep you aligned as well. This exercise doesn’t put pressure on your lower back or neck as many core exercises do. This exercise can help you be able to sustain good posture and ease of movement by building a strong core and better balance.
- Starting position: Lie on your right side, legs extended and stacked from hip to feet. The elbow of your right arm is directly under your shoulder. Ensure your head is directly in line with your spine. Your left arm can be aligned along the left side of your body.
- Engage your abdominal muscles, drawing your navel toward your spine.
- Lift your hips and knees from the mat while exhaling. Your torso is straight in line with no sagging or bending. Hold the position.
- The goal should be to hold for 30 seconds. Change sides and repeat.
At first, you may only be able to hold the side plank for a couple of seconds. As soon as you start sagging or rolling forward or backward, it is time to end the plank.
Single leg glute bridge
The single-leg bridge exercise is a great way to isolate and strengthen the glutes and hamstrings. You need strong butt muscles for running and jumping. The single-leg bridge makes the list of the best butt exercises. Even if you’re not an athlete, everyone could use more glute activation to counter time spent sitting. In order to hold the pelvis level throughout the exercise, you need to contract both the abdominal and lower back muscles. This will help stabilize your spine. This move is great for any desk-bound worker because it improves hip mobility and lower-back strength.
Lie flat on your back.
- Starting position: Bend your left knee and position your foot firmly on the floor, lift your right leg, bending your hip and knee 90 degrees. Allow your arms to rest by your sides on the mat.
- Exhale and gently press your left heel into the floor, activate your glutes, and raise your pelvis off the floor until your body forms one straight line from chin to the knees, resting on your shoulders. As you raise the hip, do not allow your back to arch. The lift comes from your glutes, and not from your back muscles.
- Inhale as you lower your pelvis to return to the starting position.
Tips to get the most out of this workout
- Read the instructions on how to do the exercises. If you skipped it, scroll up. It´s important to keep the technique in mind to perform the exercises correctly.
- Watch the first two sets before you start and visualize yourself performing the exercises.
- Grab the equipment you need (mat, resistance bands), put them in position, and keep close your bottle of water.
- Mute your phone. Next 10 minutes you´ll be unavailable.
- We aim for a total of 10 sets (5 sets each exercise), with no rest in between. However, if you need to rest, press pause and take your time.
- Each set is 1 minute long. If it´s too much for you right now, do as many repetitions as possible.
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