With little people around it’s hard to make a moment for ourselves! So here goes a 15 minute at home workout that you can do whilst your little ones and not so little ones are around.
The workout includes:
– Core, back and glute activations so your workout is more effective.
– Push-ups: to target your chest muscles and help with your posture
– Squats to build lower body strength
– Tricep dips to increase mobility and build strength of upper body.
Opposite arm leg extensions
Starting from a table top position with your knees under your hips, wrists aligned with your shoulders, straight back, shoulders away from your ears and chest up.
Extending one leg and its opposite arm out, keeping hip bones and shoulders aligned. Preventing from rotating and imagining your shoulders and hip bones are one corner of a big rectangle each. Make sure the leg that is doing the extension doesn’t go higher than your hip level and the arm that is doing the extension doesn’t go higher than your shoulder level. Bring both leg and arm in and repeat with the opposite for 3 sets of 10-15 reps.
Glute bridges
With your back and feet flat on the ground, your heels close to your bum, knees are hip width apart, arms right by your sides and head aligned with your spine. Booty band above your knees (optional).
Take your hips up until you see a straight line between your shoulders, hips and knees. Making sure you are keeping your knees apart. Then bring your hips down one inch off the ground and go for 3 sets of 10-15 reps.
Lying cobras
Lying down with your head aligned with your spine and your body in one straight line, get your shoulders off the ground with the palms of your hands down and rotate from your shoulder taking the palms of your hands up towards the ceiling; squeezing your shoulder blades together to activate you rhomboids (muscles of your upper back). Go for 4 rotations and bring your shoulders down again. Do 3 sets of 5 reps.
Push Ups
Starting in a modify plank position (on your knees) with your pelvis tucked in, neutral spine and your hands under your shoulders. Your shoulder should be away from your years and rotated back.
Bring your chest down by bending your elbows and making sure they are pointing slightly to the back, whilst keeping your spine neutral, not arching and sticking your bum out. Extend your elbows to go back up and start again. Do 3 sets of 10-12 reps.
Modify Push-ups
If you have abdominal separation, push-ups on the ground might not be the best option for you because the position builds too much intra abdominal pressure, no worries! You can still exercise those chest muscles to improve your Mum posture and do them incline using a chair or any other piece of furniture you have around. Here I’m using an ottoman. Technique is the same but instead bringing your chest to the ground you bring it to the surface you are using. Go for 3 sets of 10-12 reps.
Squats
Standing nice and tall with your feet hip width apart, toes pointing to the front. Hinging at the hips like you are seating on a chair, lower yourself keeping knees behind your toes and body weight distributed between the ball of your feet and your heels. Make sure your chest is up and proud and check if you can relax and activate your pelvic floor at the lowest point of your squat. If you can, great! If not, then that’s not your lowest, keep going up little by little and checking your pelvic floor until you find YOUR lowest point. Inhaling on your way down and relaxing your pelvic floor and exhaling on your way up and switching on through it. Do 3 sets of 15 reps.
Side view
Tricep dips
Sit on a chair, I’m using an ottoman again. With your hands right next to your hips, straight back, chest up and shoulders away from your ears. Your feet are flat on the ground with your knees bent. Take half step to the front to get your bum off the seat and start bending your elbows and keeping them pointing back until they are 90°. Now all you need to do and get yourself up again. Go for 3 sets of 10-12 reps.
Please seek professional advise on your post partum journey and don’t forget to pay your women’s health physio a visit before going back to exercise. Mums can be fitter and stronger than before with the right training and rebuilding from the inside out.
Meli Comaschi Cordoba Mum of 1 and Mum Fitness Professional
