Last week we wrote about how short and sweet workouts are the best way to stay fit during times when your body might be working a little harder to stay healthy. This week, we’re sharing one of our favorite low-impact workouts. It’s designed to target your glutes and core without being too strenuous: you’ll still work the largest muscle groups in your body, but because you’re not overexerting, you’re less likely to trigger a cortisol spike or immune dip.
Ready?
Warm up
Start with a short warm up by putting on your Intake Band and setting your timer for five minutes. You’ll spend one minute on each move.
Jumping jacks
– focus on making sure your knees don’t dip in
Mountain climbers
– focus on keeping your shoulders over your wrists and don’t sink into your arms
Lunge forward and put emphasis on creating a hip flexor stretch. Switch legs every few seconds.
Figure 4 stretch. Work one side for 30 seconds, and then switch sides.
Have a sip of water, turn on some music, then set your timer for 25 minutes and start your workout!
Each move will be 1 minute with no breaks between. You’ll do two sets of 10 moves, and finish with a 5 minute core challenge. This means you’ll get a bit of a cardio boost, but the main goal is to keep your body engaged throughout the entire workout. Even though most of this workout will be on your glutes, be sure to keep your core engaged from start to finish.
Let’s get to the workout!
- Simple squat
- Sumo squat
- Curtsy jump lunge
- Toe taps (get into a squat as low as you can comfortably sit and keep proper form. Start on your left side and tap your foot out to the left about a foot from your body, then back in)
- Toe taps Right side
- High knees (keep your core engaged and make sure you lean slightly forward, not back)
- Squat side kick (squat down, then rise up and kick with your right leg out to the right. Come back to the squat, rise up and kick with your left leg out to the left)
- Get into a sumo squat and air punch in front of you, keeping your core engaged
- Skip. If you don’t have a jumping rope just jump in place.
- Jump lunge (focus on getting low and complete the full movement, not on how fast you do them)
Repeat the 10 moves above.
Time for a 5 minute ab challenge
Each move is 1 minute, no breaks
- Hold plank
- Keep holding plank! Now lower onto your elbows, and then push back up into plank position. Continue to go up and down from high plank to elbow plank.
- Bicycles (focus on bringing your opposite shoulder to your opposite knee, not your elbow to your knee)
- Butterfly (lay on your back, put the bottoms of your feet together, then crunch up and forward toward your feet)
- Boat pose (challenge yourself by holding your arms in the air)
Done!
You can finish with the same warm up we started with as a cool down. Then stretch anything you feel needs stretching! This helps your muscles and joints stay resilient, and helps counteract any physical or mental stress that might be lingering in your body.
