Side Plank Hip Stretch
I don’t know about you, but I only have so much time in the day to accomplish anything, and that includes my yoga practice. Case in point: Today I have 5 meetings in LA, and only one of me.
Yet I want, as we all do, to sneak some fitness in there somewhere so I look and feel my best, even when life becomes hectic. In our era of doubling and tripling up on how much work we can tackle (As I type this, I’m checking email on my iPhone and reading my texts!), our workouts have to keep up.If they don’t, stress, tension, and unhealthy body fat will build up as our exercise efficiency declines. This isn’t to say you have to work out more…just smarter.
On-the -Fly Fitness
When I can only get on the mat for 15 minutes, I try to layer my poses so for every one move I do, it’s giving me the benefits of two, or three. As I solidified my style, Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga, I created variations on classical postures that I call my Core Poses. They focus on moving the body in new ways that gives us more strength, flexibility and calorie burn in less time. In addition, with yoga, the deep breathing helps you center and detox, and the more challenging poses amp up your heart rate and help you get your cardio in.
Today I’ll offer you one of my faves—a twist on Side Plank that adds in a sweet hip-opening stretch along with the arm and shoulder sculpting and core strengthening it already boosts. Do this for one minute on each side, and you’ll transform, tone, and de-stress as much as if you did it for twice as long!
The Move:
Side Plank with Hip Stretch
- Come into the top of a pushup on your mat, hands shoulder-distance and feet hip-width.
- Roll onto the pinky edge of your right foot and step your left foot halfway up the mat, toes facing away from you.
- Bring your weight onto the right hand only and lift your left hand onto your hip or into the air.
- Be sure to ground way down into your standing foot and hand so you don’t sag the hips or the shoulder.
- Breathe here for up to one minute, then rest out in Child’s Pose for a moment.
- Repeat on the other side.
Sadie Nardini is the founder of Core Strength Vinyasa Yoga in New York City and the creator of the bestselling Total Body Transformation DVD series. For more information about Sadie or to access her free yoga videos and tips, go to SadieNardini.com
From: Anjeanette | 9/13/10 at 1:50 pm
Side Plank pose is one of my favorites. It’s great for the obliques. I found Leeann Carey has a great free yoga video that breaks it down. I thought your readers might want to check it out: http://planetyoga.com/yoga-blogs/index.php/free-yoga-video-side-plank-pose/