Shake It Off!
Here’s our second home-workout for #MoveMe week – no equipment needed (just a sturdy coffee table or chair for tricep dips) so you can easily get this done at home and get your heart rate up and your muscles firing. Repeat the workout 4 times through and don’t forget to post on our Facebook page or Tweet us to let us know how you got on.
Reverse Lunges x 10 (each leg)
Mountain Climbers x 10 (each leg)
Tricep Dips x 10
Elevated Press Ups x 10
Plié Squats x 10
Reverse Crunch x 10
How to perform each exercise with good form:
Reverse Lunges: Standing with feet hip-width apart and hands resting on hips, engage your core muscles and take a big step backwards, bending both knees so that the back knee almost touches the floor and the front knee creates a 90 degree angle between upper and lower leg. Press down through the heel of the front foot as you come back to the start position. Switch leg each time.
Mountain Climbers: Lie face down on the floor then lift yourself up into a high plank position with your bodyweight supported on your hands and toes. Your hands should be directly underneath your shoulders and shoulder-width apart, your core muscles should be engaged with your belly button pulled in towards your spine and your spine should be aligned. From this starting position, drive one foot forwards towards your hands (see main image) now ‘jump-switch’ your feet back and forward, keeping your body in good alignment throughout.
Tricep Dips: Use a sturdy coffee table or dining chair as your bench (unless you have a bench!). Sit on the edge with your hands either side of your bottom. Grip the edge of the chair or table, walk your feet straight out in front of you and slide your bottom off the ‘bench’, supporting your weight on your hands/arms. Bend your elbows and lower your body down towards the floor, keeping your back close into the ‘bench’, and your elbows tucked in. Raise yourself back up so that your arms are straight but don’t sit back on the bench. The further away from the ‘bench’ your feet are, the more intense this exercise becomes so adjust your position accordingly.
Elevated Press Ups: Use the same ‘bench’ as you did for your Tricep dips, or if this is too high, perhaps the edge of a sofa. With your feet at right angles to your ‘bench’, start in a high plank position, bodyweight supported on your hands, core muscles engaged, then carefully step one foot at a time onto the ‘bench’ so your feet are raised. Lower your body down through your arms, leading with your chest until you are about 3 or 4 inches from the floor. Drive through the hands and arms, pushing back up to the start position as you would for a normal press up. Elevating your feet makes this exercise more intense than normal press ups so be sure to use good form and not arch your back. Fewer press ups with good form are better than more with poor form!
Plié Squats: Stand with your feet wider than hip-width apart and your toes turned outwards. With your core muscles engaged and keeping your chest up, bend your knees to lower your body down as far as you are comfortably able, aiming to get your thighs parallel to the floor. Drive down through your heels and squeeze your glute muscles tightly as you return to standing.
Reverse Crunch: Lie flat on your back with your arms by your sides. Engage your core muscles in, keeping your legs straight, raise them up toward the ceiling, lifting your bottom and hips off the floor as far as you are able. Slowly lower them back down to the floor, hips and bottom first. This movement should be relatively slow and controlled with abs pulled in tight throughout.
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