(Difficulty: Advanced)
equipment: yoga ball
Description:
Categories
Tag: Advanced
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Ball and Baby Knee Rolls
(Difficulty: Advanced)
equipment: yoga ball
Description:
- Lie flat on your back, and place your feet on top of the yoga ball. Your knees should be bent at a 90 degree angle, and the entire back of your thigh and leg should be in contact with the ball.
- *Your baby can participate too! Have your child resting in the crease of your hip, straddling your belly.
Your hands can be up to support your child in place, or you can have them simply at your sides - With your feet on the ball, roll your knees to one side, untill your thigh touches the grass. Use your core and hip flexor muscles to lift your legs back up to the starting position
- Repeat on the opposite side, completing 5-10 reps on each side in an alternating pattern.
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Ball and Baby Hip Lift
(Difficulty: Intermediate/Advanced)
equipment: yoga ball
Description:
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Primal Pushup Hold
Difficulty: Advanced
Start by getting down on all fours on a mat or a flat surface. Position your hands directly under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Your back should be flat, and your core tight.
To tighten your core, gently exhale as you lift your belly button away from the floor. You can also engage your pelvic floor by pretending you were trying to hold back gas or stop the flow of urine.
Lift your knees a few inches off the ground, so your weight is supported by your hands and the balls of your feet
Hold This position for 20-30 seconds.
(Difficulty: Advanced)
Description:
Start in a normal plank position. Keeping your back flat, slowly rock your shoulders forwards and back, just like your body is functioning as a jig saw.
Make small movements, and keep your core tight throughout the movement.
Complete 10 reps.
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Front Foot Elevated Lunge
(Difficulty: Intermediate/Advanced)
Description:
Find a low step, and stand 2-3 feet behind it facing the step.
Just like a normal walking lunge, reach forward with one leg to take a longer step, with the front foot landing on the stair.
Lower the back knee down, and then push off of the step to bring the front foot back to starting position.
Repeat for 10 lunges each side.
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Standard Warm Up
Before any of our suggested workouts or building your own from our library of exercises, do this quick whole-body 5 minute warm-up!
Note: This counts as part of your total exercise minutes for the week!
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Single Leg RDL (Romanian Deadlift)
Difficulty: Advanced
The acronym RDL is a common term for any form of Romanian Deadlift. A key component to this exercise is the hinge, or bending at the hips, while the knees stay relatively straight. Keep the back flat, head looking forward.
Single leg RDL
Start with one foot slightly in front of the other, with the back foot elevated and toes in the ground.
As you hinge at the hips, keep the back leg extended behind you. Your back leg should raise in the air as your chest leans forward.
The front foot, or working leg, should feel this in the hamstrings (back of legs) and glutes (booty)!
- hold a weight with arms straight, or hold one dumbell (or soup can!) in each hand
- using a resistance band, stand on the center of the band, anchoring it with your midfoot. Reach down to grasp each end of the band firmly, so that the band increases tension throughout the movement.
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Split Squat Variations
A staple leg exercise in the BumptUp Pregnancy Program, this page serves as a comprehensive guide to explain the Split Squat, and its many variations. The split squat can be used in many ways throughout your training, and are a great way to strengthen the glutes, hamstrings, quads and core!
Difficulty: Beginner to Advanced
To perform a split squat,
- Stand with one foot forward and the other foot back.
- Lower your body by bending both knees.
- Keep your front foot flat on the ground and your back heel lifted, keeping your toes in the ground.
- Lower until your front thigh is parallel to the ground, and back knee is almost touching the ground.
- Push through your front heel to return to the starting position.
- Complete required reps without moving your feet, and then switch legs to complete the reps on the opposite side.
Other variations that may show up in the BumptUp Pregnancy program:
Isometric Hold
Difficulty: Beginner
Stop at the position at the bottom of the exercise! Bend both knees, and hold here with the back knee just a few inches above the ground. This simple exercise will get tough! It is a great way to work the muscles without adding more impact.
For this one, hold it for 30 seconds (if you can) vs doing a set number of reps.
Oscilating (BOUNCING)
Difficulty: Advanced
From the same starting position, drop the back knee down, and quickly come almost all the way up, then immediately back into the next rep. You never stand all the way up with this exercise, which adds a little “bounce”. You may want to do 30 seconds vs. a set number of reps for this one!
FRONT FOOT ELEVATED
Difficulty: Intermediate
Find a low step or box and place the front foot on it. Drop the back knee down. This will put less stress on your knees and will focus on the quads of the front leg.
REAR FOOT ELEVATED
Difficulty: Advanced
This variation puts much more load on the working leg, making the exercise more difficult. Assume the same starting position, however find a small stair or box to elevate the back foot. The higher the foot, the harder the exercise.
Any of the above variations can be made more difficult by adding weights (or soup cans!).
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Bear Crawl with Baby
Difficulty: Advanced