Less Me  

Set 1 -2 -3.

Spine Routine – I begin with the spine to stretch and strengthen the back before proceeding with abs.

Double knee-to-chest stretch-   `25 reps

Trunk flexion stretch-  `25 reps

Lower trunk rotation stretch-  `25 reps

Mid-back rotation stretch –  `25 reps

Ab Routine – When beginning an ab routine, be more concerned with correctly completing the movement with control and less concerned with the number of reps.  As your body becomes stronger, the reps will be easier to increase.  Remember when working abs, your lower back is being stressed as well.

Pelvic Curl- `25 reps

Spine Stretch –   `25 reps

The Hundred –  `25 reps

Single Leg Stretch- `25 reps

Swimming –  `25 reps

Plank –  `25 reps

Modified Plank

Full Plank

Plank With Ball

Saw –  `25 reps

This constitutes 1 set.  I do three sets, alternating 10 minutes of cardio between each set.

Care is given to insure that I complete each rep with proper form, using both positive and negative force in each rep.  Also pausing at the moment of maximum exertion.

SPINE

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Double Knee To Chest Stretch

Double knee-to-chest stretch -

Lie down on back.

Pull both knees in to chest until you feel a comfortable stretch in lower back.

Keep the back relaxed Hold for 45 to 60 seconds.

Release. Repeat 2 times.

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Trunk Flexation Stretch

Trunk flexion stretch

On hands and knees, tuck in chin and arch back.

Slowly sit back on heels, letting shoulders drop toward the floor

Keep the back relaxed.

Hold for 45 to 60 seconds.

Release. Repeat 2 times.

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Lower Trunk Rotation Stretch

Lower trunk rotation stretch

Lie down on back.

Pull both knees toward your chest and hold at 90 degrees.

Lower your knees to the left side until it reaches the floor.

Keep the back relaxed.

Hold for 45 to 60 seconds.

Release. Repeat 2 times on each side.

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Mid Back Rotation Stretch

Mid-back rotation stretch

Lie on stomach. Lift body so that only hands and feet touch floor.

Reach to each side as far as possible, keeping chest as low to floor as possible.

Hold for 45 to 60 seconds and release.

Repeat 2 times on each side.

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ABDOMINALS

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Pelvic Curl

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Pelvic Curl

Set Up – Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Make sure that your feet, ankles, and knees are aligned and hip-distance apart.

This exercise starts in neutral spine. In neutral spine, the natural curves of the spine are present so the lower back is not pressed into the mat.

Begin Sequential Breathing

Inhale. Bring your breath into your chest, then belly, and down to the pelvic floor.

Exhale. Release the breath from the pelvic bowl, the belly, and then the chest.

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Inhale. Exhale.

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Do a pelvic tilt by engaging the abdominal muscles and pulling your bellybutton down toward your spine. Let that action continue so that the abs press the lower spine into the floor.

In the pelvic tilt position, your back is very long against the floor and the pelvis is tilted so that the pubic bone is a little higher than the hip bones.

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Inhale – Press down through your feet allowing the tailbone to begin to curl up toward the ceiling. The hips raise, then the lower spine, and, finally, the middle spine.

You will come to rest on your shoulders at the level of your shoulder blades, with a nice straight line from your hips to your shoulders. Do not arch beyond this point. Be sure to support this movement with the abdominals and hamstrings.

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Exhale – As you let your breath go, use abdominal control to roll the spine back down to the floor.

Begin with the upper back and work your way down, vertebrae by vertebrae, until the lower spine settles to the floor.

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Inhale – Release to neutral spine. Prepare to repeat the exercise by initiating the pelvic tilt on the exhale.

Repeat this exercise 3 to 5 times.

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Tips: If you have upper back or neck problems, you may want to practice engaging and releasing just the pelvic tilt portion(through step 3), or roll up just part way.  Your shoulders and neck remain relaxed throughout the exercise.

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Spine Stretch

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Spine Stretch 1

Sit up tall on your sit bones.  Your legs are extended about shoulder width apart, and your feet are flexed.

Reach the top of your head to the sky but let your shoulders stay relaxed.

Inhale and extend your arms out in front of you, shoulder height.  (A modification here would be to place the fingertips on the floor in front of you between your legs.)

Exhale as you lengthen your spine to curve forward. You are going for a deep C-Curve.

Allow a deep release in the hips as you keep your shoulders down and reach your fingers toward your toes.

Inhale and reach a little further as you enjoy the fullness of your stretch.

Exhale and initiate your return by using the lower abdominals to bring the pelvis upright. Roll up through the spine to sitting.

Spine Stretch 2

Modifications for Spine Stretch

If your hamstrings are tight, sit on a little lift, like a folded towel. You can also try this exercise with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor.  It also works quite well to do this exercise with the fingertips running across the floor in front of you. This variation will take some pressure out of the shoulders and upper back.

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The Hundred

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The Hundred

Lie on your back with your legs bent in tabletop position with your shins and ankles parallel to the floor.

Inhale.

Exhale: Bring your head up with your chin down and, using your abs, curl your upper spine up off the floor. Keep the shoulders engaged in the back. Your gaze is down into the scoop of the abdominals.

Stay here and inhale.

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Exhale: At the same time, deepen the pull of the abs and extend your arms and legs. Your legs reach toward where the wall and ceiling meet in front of you. You can adjust them higher if need be, or lower for more advanced work. They should only be as low as you can go without shaking and without the lower spine jumping up off the mat.

Your arms extend straight and low, just a few inches off floor, with the fingertips reaching for the far wall.

Hold your position.

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Take five short breaths in and five short breaths out (like sniffing in and puffing out). While doing so, move your arms in a controlled up and down manner – a small pumping of the arms.

Be sure to keep your shoulders and neck relaxed. It is the abdominal muscles that should be doing all the work.

Do a cycle of 10 full breaths. Each cycle is five short in-breaths and then five short out-breaths.

The arms pump up and down a few inches, in unison with your breath.

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Keep your abs scooped, your back flat on the floor, and your head an extension of your spine, with the gaze down. OK – not hard!

To finish: Keep your spine curved as you bring your knees in toward your chest. Grasp your knees and roll your upper spine and head back to the floor. Take a deep breath in and out.

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Single Leg Stretch

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Single Leg Stretch

Prepare: Lie on your back with your knees bent and your shins parallel to the floor. This is tabletop position for the legs.

Take a few moments to breathe deeply into the back and lower abs. See Sequential Breathing for more on working with the breath.

Inhale.

Exhale: Pull your abs in, taking your bellybutton down toward your spine, as you curl your head and shoulders up to the tips of the shoulder blades. As you curl up, your left leg extends at a 45-degree angle.

The right leg remains in tabletop position with the right hand grasping the right ankle and the left hand moving to the right knee.

You will maintain your upper-body curve throughout the exercise. Be sure to keep your shoulders relaxed and your abdominals deeply scooped.

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Inhale: Switch legs on a two-part inhale. Bring air in as the left knee comes in, and bring more air in as you gently pulse that knee toward you.

Now the left hand is at the left ankle and the right hand at the left knee.

Exhale: Switch legs. Bring the right leg in with a two-part exhale/pulse and extend the left leg.

The hand to leg coordination continues with the outside hand of the bent leg going to the ankle and the other hand moving to the inside of the knee.

Repeat: Switch legs up to 10 times. Release the exercise if you are finding tension in your shoulders and neck or if your lower back is taking the strain.

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Swimming

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Swimming

Lie on your stomach with the legs straight and together.

Keeping your shoulder blades settled in your back and your shoulders away from your ears, stretch your arms straight overhead.

Pull your abs in so that you lift your bellybutton up away from the floor.

Reaching out from center, extend your arms and legs so far in opposite directions that they naturally come up off the floor. At the same time, get so much length in your spine that your head moves up off the mat as an extension of the reach of your spine. Keep your face down toward the mat; don’t crease your neck.

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Continue to reach your arms and legs out very long from your center as you alternate right arm/left leg, then left arm/right leg, pumping them up and down in small pulses.

Coordinate your breath with the movement so that you are breathing in for a count of 5 kicks and reaches, and out for a count of 5.

Hopefully you feel like you are simulating swimming!

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Do 2 or 3 cycles of 5 counts of moving and breathing in, and 5 counts moving and breathing out.

Tips - Keep everything long, long, long, reaching from your center. Keep your head and neck working as extensions of your spine and don’t break the line at the neck.  Protect your lower back by keeping your tail bone moving down toward the mat.  If the breathing pattern is too complicated at first, leave it out.

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Plank – 3 options

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Modified Plank:

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Modified Plank

Plank pose is well-known for its challenge to the core and stabilizing muscles. One of the great benefits of developing these muscles is that they support rest of the body. Plank will benefit you most, and keep stress out of your neck and back, if you build up to doing the full version by securing the stabilizer muscles first.

In this prep exercise for plank, you will get a good sense of how to engage your core and stabilize your shoulders to support the pose.

Begin on your knees and walk your hands out on the floor, allowing your legs to stretch out behind you. Place your forearms, parallel to each other, on the floor. Many people find that making a fist with the hands is helpful. Your shoulders should be directly over your elbows.

Lift your belly up away from the floor as you extend your spine so that it’s very long. It is important that you keep pressure out of you lower back by pulling up the lower abs.

Anchor your pubic bone to the floor, and allow your tailbone to move down toward the floor as well. This move will create more length in spine and protect your lower back.

Keep your shoulder blades and collarbone broad, and make sure that your shoulders are away from your ears.

Your neck is a long extension of your spine, so your head is not dropped or tilted up.

Breathe fully as you hold the pose for 30 seconds.

If your weight is starting to drop into your shoulders and arms, release, rest, and try again.

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Full Plank:

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Full Plank

Step 1: Preparation

Begin on your knees. Place your hands on the floor in front of you, fingers pointing straight ahead. Your arms are straight and elbows are not locked.

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Engage your abdominals and lengthen your spine, extending energy through the top of your head and down through your tail bone.

Lean forward to put your weight on your hands. Align your shoulders directly over your wrists.

If bearing weight on your hands causes wrist pain, use a wedge or pad to lift the heel of the hand enough to relieve pressure on the joint.

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Step 2: The Extension

With your abdominals lifted, extend your legs straight behind you. Keep them together and send energy through your heels.

Your toes are curled under so that some weight is on the balls of your feet.

Without over-tightening, activate your legs (especially your hamstrings) and bring them together, emphasizing the center line. Similarly, activate but do not clench your gleuts (butt muscles) — think of pulling your sit bones together.

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Breathe deeply, allowing the breath to expand into your lower ribs and back.

Hold your position for three to five breaths.

Take a break and repeat up to five times.

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Reminders:

Your body is in a straight line from the ears, through the shoulders and hips, and to the heels. Do not arch or sag.  Keep the abdominals lifted throughout this exercise. You want to engage the muscles of the pelvic floor as well.  Put some space between the base of your scull and your neck.  If you start to shake, release the pose, breathe, and start again.

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Plank With Ball:

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Plank With Ball

Begin.  With the ball in front of you, place your belly on the ball and walk your hands out so that your body rolls along the top of the ball. At a certain point you will be able to lift your legs away from the mat. Center the ball under the middle of your thighs.

* This is where you can adjust some of the difficulty of the exercise. The further out you walk your hands, the harder the exercise will be because more weight will shift to your upper body, and it will be harder to stabilize yourself the ball. Ultimately you will be able to walk out to your shins.

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Stabilize Your Shoulders

Roll your shoulders back and down away from your ears as you center your hands under your shoulders. Fingertips point forward.

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It’s tempting to let your weight fall into the shoulders. Instead, keep your chest wide and press evenly down into your hands to stay lifted. Put some attention on the backs of your arms, not just the front.

An alternate arm position is to place the forearms on the mat with the elbows under the shoulders.

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Learn about shoulder stability in Pilates exercises.

Engage Your Core

Send your tail bone down toward the ball, and pull your abdominal muscles in and up. This is where you want to focus the attention for control of the exercise.

With your belly lifted, make your spine as long as you can. Send energy out the top of your head and out your heels. Your legs are together and reaching behind you.

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Your Body is a Long Line

You will be on a diagonal, but you want your body to be in a line from your ankle to your ear. To do that, and to keep from rolling off the ball, you have to keep your spine long, your belly lifted and your legs extended.

On the ball, you don’t have as much weight on your legs as you do with plank on the mat, but you still have keep your legs and butt engaged. Part of being stable on the ball is to keep the sit bones and inner thighs hugging in to the midline of the body.

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Breathe

Take a few deep breaths, extending the line of your body as you do.

If you are wondering how to breathe deeply with your abs pulled in, read, Lateral Breathing.

Release and repeat 3 – 4 times.

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Saw

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Saw 1

Saw Preparation:  Sit up straight on your sit bones.

Your legs are extended in front of you, about shoulder width apart. If you have tight hamstrings you may need to prop your hips up on small lift, like a folded towel.

Arms are stretched out to the side, even with your shoulders.

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Inhale: Get taller as you turn your whole torso, but use your abs to keep your hips even with each other.

Exhale: Let your gaze follow your back hand as you stretch forward and reach the pinky finger of your front hand across the outside of the opposite foot.

Exhale a little more as you reach a little further.

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Saw 2

Once your reach extends to its furthest point, maintain your turned position as you inhale and return to sitting.

Exhale and undo your turn, coming to the starting position.

Repeat this exercise 3 times to each side.