(Difficulty: Beginner)
Description:
Start by sitting in a chair with your feet shoulder-width apart and your core engaged.
Hold a small weight in each hand at shoulder level, with your palms facing forward and your elbows bent. Push one arm up, while keeping your palms facing forward.
Slowly lower the weight back down to the starting position by bending your elbow and bringing the weights back to shoulder level.
Alternate completing reps on your right and left sides.
(Difficulty: Beginner)
Description:
Stand straight up with your feet together and arms at your sides.
Jump up, spreading your legs to the sides while simultaneously raising your arms out to the sies and overhead.
Jump again, this time bringing your feet back together and lowering your arms.
Repeat for 10 reps in a fluid motion.
(Difficulty: Intermediate)
Description:
Start on your back with knees bent, feet flat on the floor.
Press through your heels to raise your hips, performing a glute bridge.
From here, lift one foot off the ground, bringing your knee towards your chest. Lower the foot, and do the same on the opposite side, just like a march.
Squeeze your glutes to keep your hips in the air for the entirety of the reps. Complete 10 reps on each side.
Modification: If you get dizzy while lying flat on your back, place a few pillows behind your head, neck and upper back so that you are lying on an incline.
(Difficulty: Beginner)
Description:
Sit on the ground with legs straight out in front of you.
Lift one foot off the ground as far as you can using your quads and hip flexor muscles. Return it back to the ground, and repeat on the opposite side.
To make the exercise easier, Support your back on a wall or bottom of the couch.
Modification: Sitting in a chair, lift one thigh up while keeping the knee bent, and opposite foot on the floor. Lower it back to the ground, and then lift the opposite leg up. Complete for 10 reps on reach side.
(Difficulty: Beginner)
Description:
This exercise will use a weight such as a dumbell, or milk jug.
Start on your hands and knees in a table top position. Hold a weight in one hand, with the opposite hand and both knees on the ground.
Pull the weight up with one arm to your hip, keeping your elbow tight and back flat. Lower the weight in a controlled motion, completing all 10 reps on one side before switching to the next side.
(Difficulty: Beginner)
Description:
The tricep is located on the back of your upper arm, and plays a big roll in any “pushing” motion of every day activities, such as pushing a stroller or closing a door.
Sit on the edge of a chair, hands gripping the seat’s front edge. Slide your hips forward off the chair, knees bent at 90 degrees. Lower your body by bending your elbows, keeping the elbow tight to your sides.
Push down to straighten the elbows and return to the starting position.
to increase difficulty: straighten the legs out in front.
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,
Other variations that may show up in the BumptUp Pregnancy program:
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.
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!
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.
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!).
A staple in any PE class, a pushup is a basic upper body movement that can be done almost anywhere, with no equipment needed.
Doing a pushup the correct way SHOULD be challenging, and we have developed a series of progressions to develop the same muscle groups in a safe and effective manner.
(Difficulty: Beginner)
Beginner Pushup
Use a chair, couch, bench, box or even a wall to elevate the hands. Kneeling on the ground facing the box (or other surface), place the hands about shoulder width apart. Bend the elbows until the chest lowers to the edge of the box, controlling the tempo throughout the movement.
Elbows should stay tight to the sides of the body. Make sure the back stays flat, so that the hips and shoulders move at the same speed.
(Difficulty: Beginner)
Start in a split stance, with one foot slightly in front of the other. With each small jump, switch your feet.
Knees should stay almost straight, and hops should be about as small as if you were jump roping.
(Difficulty: Beginner)
Start lying flat on your back, with knees bent and feet planted on the floor near your hips. Push through your heels, raising your hips in the air.
Think about squeezing your glutes and hamstrings at the top, holding for 1-2 seconds
*If you get dizzy laying flat on your back, place 2-3 pillows behind your head, neck and upper back so that you are lying on an incline. You can also sit on the ground and lean against your couch or any piece of furniture that won’t move.
