Follow along to these exercises to get your hips and entire lower body warmed up!
FEEL: You should feel your glute and hip muscles working the most. You should also feel your core and shoulder muscles working.
COMPENSATION: Make sure you lift your hip off of the ground and push the band up all in one motion.
FEEL: You will feel the calves, quadriceps, and glutes on the leg you are balancing on working the whole time.
COMPENSATION: On the leg you’re standing on, you should be in triple extension at the top of the movement – heel lifted off the ground, knee straight, hip in extension. Do not compensate away from this form
FEEL: You should feel like your balance is being challenged. You will also feel your foot muscles, hamstrings, and low back being challenged here.
COMPENSATION: Try not to losing your posture and excessively leaning forward/backward or side to side. If you lose your balance it is ok, take a step and get back to starting position. Do not allow yourself to fall or take the risk of injuring yourself.
FEEL: You will feel the muscles on the front of your thigh working with this exercise.
COMPENSATION: Avoid leaning your trunk forward. The more you lean into the band the easier it will be to keep your trunk upright.
FEEL: On the working leg, you will feel your quads and calfs working when you reach forward vs. your glutes more when you reach backwards. However, your entire leg will be getting a workout.
COMPENSATION: Do not put all of your weight down on the ground with the leg you’re reaching with, just think of tapping an eggshell. Focus on good torso and knee position the entire time, do not let your knee cave in/out, keep your pelvis level to the ground, maintain good balance.
FEEL: You should focus on maintaining a rigid/stiff foot/ankle as well as your legs, think of this exercise like you’re bouncing on a pogo stick. You want to keep your legs stiff so that you ‘bounce’ like you’re bouncing on a stiff spring.
COMPENSATION: Do not let your knees excessively bend or your heels touch the ground, stay stiff and bounce on the balls of your feet.
FEEL: You should feel the quadriceps muscle of your down knee holding your body up.
COMPENSATION: Do not lean forward and shift the weight to your front leg. Try to use your back leg as much as possible to achieve the lift-off.
FEEL: You should feel your core, hips, and shoulders working.
COMPENSATION: Do not let your hips/back move. Pretend you have a cup of water balancing on your low back. Don’t let it spill!