Workout Move of the Day: Side Lying-Leg Lift

Hi Friends!
Hope your Sunday is going well. I was super sore from yesterday’s hilly run, but managed to get through a great mat Pilates class. We worked on lots of hips and arms today and I learned a new simple and effective workout that targets inner thighs to share with you!

Side-Lying Leg Lift
Targets: Inner Thighs

Directions: Lie on one side with your head on your arm. Bend the top leg so that your foot is on the floor and your bottom leg is flat on the mat, and your foot is flexed.

Lift and lower the bottom leg a few inches off the ground.

Repeat for 30 seconds or 15-20 reps. Try to keep your head in line with your spine. My head should be more on my arm in this picture.

To make the exercise harder, you can add a weighted bar. I don’t own a weighted bar so I used my Pilates contraption. During mat class this morning, I used a 9 pound bar. Depending on how heavy the bar is, you won’t be able to lift the leg as high.

Outtakes:

   

Cooper Does Yoga:

 

 

 

All done!

*Stay tuned for something exciting happening on the blog this week!

Workout Move of the Day: The Hover

Wow, 100 followers! Thank you Skinnyrunner :) Welcome new readers, thank you for coming. I am excited to check out all of your blogs :)

If you are new to the blog, there are some things you need to know:

~I recently completed my 2nd marathon.
~I have been having knee problems ever since. (Part 2)
~I am cross training in order to prepare for Boston Marathon training.

So if you don’t see a lot of running on the blog right now thats why. Hopefully I will be running again soon!

Thank you for all your feedback on the diet pills/smoking issue. You all were torn as much as I was! I have to admit, I am feeling guilty about not saying anything. The next time we see them I will probably ask how its going and warn her to be careful or something along those lines. I don’t want to preach but I feel like I should say something. Just to clear things up, she isn’t my good friend. If she was I definitely would have said something to begin with. She is my boyfriend’s good friend’s wife.

Anyway…Its time for the…

Workout Move of the Day!

The Hover
The hover is a great way to build up enough strength and endurance to do pushups.

1.) Start in a plank position with your hands under your shoulders and space between your feet.

2.) Slowly lower yourself to the mat as if you were going to do a push up. Try to keep your elbows in and shoulders down.

3.) When your chest is about a fist away from the mat (go even lower than the picture above), drop your knees, but keep your booty in the air. Hold for a few seconds and then push up with a flat back.

4.) You are now in the up version of a modified push up. Pick up your knees to return to a full plank. Hold for 5 seconds.

5.) Repeat 5 times.

This exercise is meant to be done slowly, especially in the lowering phase. Do not just drop to the floor. Take  your time going down, hold, drop your knees and then push up. In the beginning, you may have to do a little wiggle (worm?) with your body to push yourself up and thats okay but aim for to push up with a flat back. Of course, remember to squeeze your core in throughout the entire exercise.

Stressful Day and Workout Move

Work has been crazy lately and I think it has been exasperated being that I can’t run my usual stresses out after a hard day. Fortunately I got some mail to cheer me up:

         

From the picture this looks like a mini pamphlet with lots of information, but in reality it is basically a post card. I don’t care though. I’m framing it.

 

 

 

 

 

This happened in my classroom today:

So I needed one of these:

I swear Starbucks tastes better in the red cups. Its true.

Dan is playing soccer tonight (He’s a goalie). I went to his game last week but tonight’s game is too late for me. It is ironic because I have no problem getting up to go to a 5:30 spin class in the morning but 10:45 at night is way too late for me! I am much more of a morning person and Dan is a night owl. Opposites attract I guess. It actually works out well, especially when it comes to taking Cooper out :)

Workout Move of the Day!

The Hip Bridge
Works: Glutes and Hamstrings

 
From Health.com

Hip Bridge
For a better butt
Lie on your back with your knees bent, heels on the floor, and toes lifted and pulled up toward your shins. Raise your buttocks off the floor until your back forms a straight line from knees to shoulders, and hold for 1 second before lowering. Repeat 15 times.

Make it Harder:

1 Legged Bridge

Hip Bridge on Stability Ball (double and single leg)

I love this move, but find the 1 leg version so hard! This is a great exercise for runners, so give it a shot!

Workout Move of the Day: T-Turns

Previous Workout Moves of the Day
One-Leg Chaturunga
Plank w/ Back Row

T-Turn (w/ push up)

photos taken from here.

Muscles Worked: Core, chest, triceps, shoulders and stabilizers.

Directions:
1.)Start in push up position, making sure that your hands are under your shoulders, your back is flat and your head is in line with your spine.
2.) Squeeze your core in, perform 1 push up.
3.) Return to start and turn to one side so that you are in a side plank. Hold for a few seconds and return to start.
4.) Perform another push up and turn to the other side. (1 rep)
5.) Repeat for 10 reps (or build up to 10 reps)

*This is an advanced exercise. If it is too challenging, start building endurance by holding a plank and work up to modified push ups (on your knees) and then traditional pushups. You can also make it easier by doing the plank to side plank and taking out the push up or doing every other one. I like this exercise because I find it challenging to do 10 push ups in a row, but find I am able to do more with the “break” in between. I also love side planks.

Give it a shot and let me know what you think!  Come back tomorrow for a GREAT giveaway!

Workout Move of the Day!

As marathon training continues to peak, I have been taking more yoga classes than I usually do. In athletic yoga today, we did an advanced version of the traditional Chaturunga.

From About.com:



Traditional Chaturunga:

Benefits: Strengthens the arms, wrists and abdomen. Good preparation for more challenging arm balances.

Chaturunga is like a push-up, and as such is a great arm strengthener. It is part of the Sun Salutation vinyasa sequence of poses.

Instructions:

1. From Plank position, bend the arms straight back, keeping the upper arms hugging into your sides.

2. Lower down toward the floor, stopping when your forearms and upper arms are at a right angle.

3. Keep the whole body very level.

4. Push back into the heels.

5. Roll over the toes coming into Upward Facing Dog.

Beginners: Drop your knees to the floor until you build enough strength to support the body with the arms. Practice Knees, Chest and Chin if Chaturunga is not possible.

Advanced: Hold the pose before coming forward into Up Dog. If you have tried practicing Plank with one leg at a time lifted, try moving into Chaturunga while keeping your leg lifted.
*This is what we did!

Such a great move. I didn't feel like I was in Yoga. I felt like I was in bootcamp! I was literally shaking by the end. Try it and let me know what you think!