09: Mobility & Core Flow | 25 Minutes | Active Recovery Workout to Improve Core Strength!

Hey, everybody. I'm Amy from Bodyfit by Amy. And this is your mobility and core workout. This is an all body weight active recovery workout where we are going to get some gentle cardio, some mobility and add some core focused exercises. Of course, I'm going to give you lots of different options to work to your level. Are you ready? Let's do it. Let's start just by finding that good posture. Feet about shoulder width apart. Standing position. Standing. Stacking the ears over the shoulders, shoulders over the rib cage, rib cage over the pelvis, over those hip bones, hip bones over the knees, over the ankles. And just find your center here. You can even have one hand on your belly, one hand on your heart. Just trying to release the tension while also lengthening through that posture. So we're not holding the tension here, flaring those ribs out. We're not hunching forward, we're trying to let go, but also have that good posture. So just a few breaths from here. We won't stay here for very long, but use the breath to really expand, especially on that inhale, inhale and then contract on the exhale. Everything coming in and up. Feel how we connect with that core. Especially thinking about stacking the rib cage over the pelvis. And just try to clear your head of anything that might be stressing you out today. And just be here and then let's go ahead. We'll start with a little march. So we're not going to do much of a warm up per se because we don't really need it. Right. We are going to be getting a lot of mobility throughout this workout, but the way it's going to work, we're going to start with some gentle cardio up top, work our way down to the mat, and we'll start with something that's more in the mobility flexibility category and then we'll take it to a little bit of a core focus. Now if you want to keep this. Let's go big arms right through here. In more of the mobility flexibility recovery day, you don't have to add the core. You can keep doing what we're doing or if you want to get a little bit more of a core focus, I'm going to give you those options. So let's just shift our weight right through here, roll those shoulders to the back and then bring those knees in right through here. So let's start. We're keeping these little knee raises, so just bringing it down right here. So a little gentle cardio. And what I want you to think about is engaging the core, we're getting stretch through the arms, opening up wide through the chest, through the shoulders, and bringing the knees up. So we're getting through the hip flexors, but we're also contracting in that core. Can even do a little hold at the top if you want. A little more balance right through there. Bringing it up. And then let's hold right here. Let's bring the knee in and out one side. If you want to just keep the knee raises. You can. Otherwise, it's a little standing crunch. If balance is too much, you can grab onto the wall or a chair and just do one side. Yes. Let's switch our sides right here. So it's a standing crunch again. If you want to just keep alternating with those side knees, you can. Focusing right in the center. 3, 2. Good. Tap it out and roll right through here. We're going to take it into that side lunge, opening up the hips. So really great mobility. You can take it nice and slow. Watch me here. Start with just the legs. Opening it up, and bring it here. You don't have to go super low or super fast. It's more about opening up the hips, shifting the weight to the back. You can even turn that heel up if that helps with mobility. I like to do a little reach and a little reach. I know your arms might be tired from what we just did, so totally up to you. Giving yourself just a second to hang out to get that hip open. And then let's stay all on this side. So we're gonna go in, bring it up, and twist. So here's that core again. Sit and bring it up. If you'd rather keep alternating, you can. If you can do a little twist, standing crunch, shift into it, cross it right here. You don't have to go the same speed as me. It's your workout. Be where you are today. Breathe. Two more, and then let's stay right here. So crossing again. If you just want to alternate, you can. One side twist. You may need a little balance, but trying to aim, you don't have to actually get there. But opposite elbow, opposite knee. Breathe, core focus. Two more. And here. Let's get ready. Same thing. Other side. We'll do the little side lunge across the knee. Then we'll isolate the knee cross. Here we go. Sit low, bring it across. You can make this smaller or bigger. You can get lower or higher. Whatever is best for you. Notice I'm doing a little lean, So I open up through that torso. Right. So sit, lean, twist, and up right here. Yep. There's that balance again. Two more. Hip opener. And then core rotation. Hold it here. If you can twist, that's not right for you. Keep the knee or alternate the knees or go side to side. Twist. And here, two more. And here. Relax. Roll those shoulders. Let's take it to that little rainbow skater. So here, tap behind. And you don't have to get super low. I know that your legs might be feeling it from that side lunge, so think more about this. Big arms. And then the cross again. Little twist. Hip opener. If you want to get lower, you can here. Or keep it higher. Again, nice and slow. We're thinking mobility, gentle cardio, a little bit of heart rate up, right? Yes. Four, three, two. Now, you can keep just doing that. Everyone here. Side knee. You don't have to cross behind. Going big arms or one arm if you want to balance. Side crunch. Right here. Right, balance. Two arms or one lower, high. There's that heart rate, right? 4, 3, 2. Yes. Other side. Cross behind. Open it up. Here we go. If you'd rather just keep. Keep the rainbow skater alternating, you can keep it there right here. 4, 3, 2, 1. Catch your breath, Come to the edge of the mat. And we're going to take it to an inchworm. So if the inchworm is not right for you, you can just take it to a hinge, reach it up, hinge down. You can even walk out a little bit and get that stretch and bring it all the way up. But if you can, we're gonna walk our way all the way out. You can drop to the knees if you need to, or stay in that plank or walk it back. So that core is going to build itself in here. Let's go for it. Shoulders back, reach up, hinge, hips to the back. Walk it out. Interim is such a good move. You know, I love it because you get that mobility all through the entire body, especially through your back, through your spine, through the hamstrings, through the glutes. But then we also get the upper body working here, the core working. We get that stretch and bring it up. And you can experiment if you want to hold that plank out a little longer. Even if you're just on your knees and you come forward a little bit, you're going to feel that if you want to hold for an extra count or two, to get a little bit of extra core, you can. If you need more of that mobility, take it here. Reach. There we go. And let's get one more, and then walk it back and reach it up. Catch your breath. I know that one Always gets my heart rate up a little bit. I don't know about you, but feeling it. All right, team, so one more thing standing, and then we're taking everything down to the mat. So we're moving into that world's greatest stretch. So you know it because we do it. If you've done my workouts before, we do it in a lot of our warm ups. We're gonna step back, we're gonna reach up into that low lunge. If you want, you can just hold it here if you want. Reach down, reach up. And we're just going to switch in between. So starting from the lunge, and then if you want, then I'll show you. You can switch it. Going, moving, switching from the plank, adding some core. But let's start right here. We're going to step back, open up the hips. Low lunge. If this is right for you, stay here. Otherwise, take it down, reach it up. Take it here, take it here. Other side. Down, reach up. So really good opener. The reason it's called the world's greatest stretch. Hip flexor, leg, hips, on both sides, both ways. Torso, core, shoulders, all of that mobility. Getting the stretch, getting the strength. Now, you can keep doing that or take it back from the plank here. Reach to the plank. So if you want some extra core up to you, your core is going to be working either way. You can take it from the plank position. Maybe that's better for you, maybe it's not. Breathe. Let's go. One more each side at your own pace. Right here. And down on all fours. Stretch back into that child's pose. Allow yourself that nice, good stretch. We're gonna stay down on the mat, so now is a good time. If you'd like a quick sip of water, grab it. Otherwise, meet me on the mat and let's start in that all fours position. So sit back into your child's pose. Little stretch. And we're going to start just by taking that little reach under. So watch me one time. Coming up to all fours. Reach under and stretch. You can drop your head, lean into that shoulder and join me with that. We're just going to alternate right and left. So coming up to all fours. Core engaged. Sit back into the child's pose. Reach under through the shoulder. Bring it up to all fours. Reach under and breathe. Okay, one more each side. Last one. And then hang out in the child's pose. Whatever feels good for you. Press those shoulders down. Maybe it's better to be a little higher. Maybe you can sink back a little deeper. Whatever is Right for you, and let's come all the way down. So if this is not right for you, I want you to stay on all fours. I'll give you an option, but if you can, we're going to come all the way down on your tummy. And we're in that little baby cobra, right, that modified Cobra. If that's not comfortable for you, I want you to come up on your knees and just get a little stretch through here or on your hands, whatever feels better for you. But if you can, we're going to get that little stretch. We're going to walk those hands out in front stretch, and then walk those hands back to here. So starting just with that, now you could keep going with that, taking it down. You can even rest your head on the mat. Feel that stretch? If that's not right for you and you need to be on your hands, we're just going to walk the hands out. Not quite child's pose, but walking them out more in front. Just like that. Either one works. Feel that stretch. Feel that mobility right through here. One more, and then bringing it back up on the elbows. Now you can just hold this stretch gently. Look side to side. Or if you want, we're going to add some plank singles. So plank singles are where we're going to lift from here, but only using our core. So watch me here. Inhale to expand, exhale. Use your core to lift to the knees, and then slowly down. The goal here is not to push through the elbows, the knees or the toes to use your core to lift. So start with that, and then if that feels good and you want to continue on up to the plank. But again, try not to push through the elbows or the knees, and then as you go down, control it with your core. I love plank singles because they can be a great modification if you are newer to exercise or you're coming back postpartum or after an injury, or if holding a long plank doesn't feel good for you, but they also can be really challenging if you're doing it right. Try not to push through the elbows. Use your core to lift. Right in the center is controlling the motion. Slow down foreign. Let's get one more. You can just keep holding that stretch if that's better for you. And if you want to hold that one up nice and tight. Breathing through it, but little tuck of the pelvis. 3, 2, 1. Slowly down, back into that cobra. And if you want, you can come all the way up that full cobra off. Dog looks side to side. Let's take it into that 90, 90 position. So coming into a seated position, and many of you know this, but if you have it 90, 90, we're going to flip our feet this way, so 90 degrees, both sides. It's a hip flexor. We're also going to turn our body to get the torso. You can use your hands if you need to. You can take it nice and slow. You can make it more fluid. Totally up to you and what is right for you. So we're here, switching sides, and again, if you're able to turn your body and look over your shoulder, you're going to notice that you get a little more of that back stretch, that torso stretch right here side to side. And let's get one more. And whatever side you end up on, I want you to hold it here so you're looking over your shoulder. If this is right for you, you stay here. If you want to turn a little more or lean into that front leg, take it there. If you want to take it into that pigeon stretch, take it there. You pick where you need to be. And once we're in that pigeon stretch, you can hold. You can hold, hold. Everybody love, or most of us love this stretch. It's hard to get into, but once you're there, you feel it, right? But if you want a little variation, watch me here. We're gonna lift up. We're gonna extend that leg out in and lower it down. You don't have to go that far. You can just lift up. You can extend that leg out with the foot down, or you can just hold. Let's get four. Here we go. Use your core lift. Extend it out in, stretch it down, lift out in. It's kind of a tough move, so don't feel bad if that's not what's right for you. If you want to just hold it, you can. Or if you want to keep that foot down in between, you don't have to. All the way lift. And one more core lift. Extend and stretch. Come back to center in that 90, 90. Take it to the other side. That one. Got my heart rate up, team. I don't know about you, but let's take it here. So again, you can just hold this here. You can turn your body. You can come down a little bit. Or if it feels good for you to come into that pigeon and up to you. If you want to, just hold it. Or we'll do that little lift and extend the leg. Here we go. Use your core lift out. In and down. Up to you. If you want to keep the foot down in between and up. Or lift it off the ground. And one more and relax very carefully. Team, let's take it down on to our back. So we're here. You can go down on your side and then roll through, open up the chest right where you are. Feet shoulder width apart. And we're just going to do some little arm slides so our little arm angels, snow angels, find that good position. What feels comfortable for you? Arms out to your side. And then if you have the range of motion, we're going to take them down by our side. Palms are up. We're going to scoop up and around. Trying to at least maintain some contact with the floor. That's going to keep the chest. Chest open. I know it's a little tough with mobility, especially if you got tight shoulders for past shoulder injuries like me right here. Now you can keep just that or you can bring those knees in. So almost like that double leg stretch from Pilates, you can do a big here still bringing the arms around, lifting in the core. You can even just do this with one leg or two up to you. One more big reach. Bring those knees down wherever your arms are most comfortable. You want something to keep that stretch, Bring it in those goalpost arms if that's right for you. Let the knees drop to the side. Little open book, but nice and slow one and then the other. And you get that nice back stretch through here. And then you can keep. Keep just that. Or if you want to add a little core, bring your knees up in the middle. Little reverse crunch. Little lift of the hips, take them down, little stretch. Knees up in the middle, little reverse and down. Or just keep open book open. Booking. And here we are. Almost done. And one more each side. And last one. If you can, hug those knees in. If you can't get both, just alternate one at a time. Just like this. But if you're able to get that nice good stretch, you can even open it up like that. Little happy baby. Either holding on top of the shin or on the hands. And then we're going to grab underneath one. Just little stretch, single leg stretch. Start with just the stretch. You're just pulling it in gently, either on top of the bottom part of the leg or underneath and then switch so you can keep just this nice good leg stretch. You can even add a little shaky right and up. Or if you want, you can make it more of that single leg stretch from Pilates where we're bringing it in and in. So finish strong here. Whatever you need in this moment, do you need just the stretch the extension, relaxing your upper body, or do you want more of that core? Shoulders up. If you want to take it to that crisscross using that deep core, think of that little zipping up of the core. Tucking the pelvis button up the rib cage. Strong muscles all through the center, but the deep core of the pelvic floor. Everything working together. If you want to switch it to the scissors to get more of that hamstring stretch, you can do that. 2. Make sure you're not grabbing right on the knee joint. 4. 3, 2. Hug those knees in again. Either one at a time or both or happy, baby. You can let those knees drop to the side or extend the legs out. And I just want you to take a minute, let your body sink into the mat and just check in with your body. Check in with your breath. Are you feeling less tightness, less tension? A little bit of those feel good. Hormones. Little energized, but also restored, relaxed. You can stay here as long as you need to, but wherever you are, let's get one big deep breath in and out. You did it. That was your mobility and core workout. Great job, everybody.