ADVENT CALENDAR OF CORE: DAY 17

Day 17– One leg only!

As always click the link for your bauble. : )

How did you go with the Kneeling Superman? It’s a tough one to do correctly, requiring a lot of core control.

Today we are going to be repeating the Kneeling Superman again and adding in the One Legged Bridge. Both of these also require great core control to stop your body twisting when one leg leaves the floor. Preventing your body from involuntarily rotating will help you transfer your power into forward motion whist you run. We don’t want you to be zig-zaging up the trails after all!

One Legged Glute Bridge

Like in the standard glue bridge, the One Legged Glute Bridge is performed by transferring your weight through your shoulders and heels. During the exercise, take care to target your glute and not let your hamstrings do the work – we’ll work on those later.

Start with a two legged bridge and progress. To get into the correct position, you need to lay on your back with your knees up and legs bent at 45 degrees. From this position, you need to slowly lift yourself into position, targeting your glute. As we are performing the exercise think about that $50 bill we’ve been trying so hard not to lose in our other exercises. Contract your glute muscles to pinch the note and make sure it’s not caught by the wind and lost forever. If you feel your hamstrings kicking in and your glutes relaxing, STOP, readjust and try again. Make sure you are transferring your weight through your heels, not your toes.

To advance from a two legged to the one legged bridge, we need to remove the weight off one leg and hold our lower leg straight. Starting from a two legged bridge and moving to a one legged version is a great way to ensure your one legged posture is correct. When you transfer your weight to one leg only, you must take care to keep your hips in the same position as they were during the two legged bridge. Don’t allow them to drop towards the side now not supported by your leg. This is where your core control comes in: hold your core tight to stop the rotation.

If you are trying the One Legged Glute Bridge, focus on quality. Don’t continue if you are unable to hold your posture correctly. If this occurs, perform a two legged bridge instead.

Your One Legged Glute Bridge should look like this.

Check out the photos below:

The Exercise Set:

For today’s set, we will only be performing One Legged Bridges and the Kneeling Superman. While this may seem like a breeze, remember the cues and avoid all rotation of the hips by tensing your core. This really isn’t as easy as it sounds if you are doing the exercise well. Here is the set. Remember correct posture is paramount.

Come and try us for free and let us know how you have been doing with your #CalendarofCore. If you can’t make it to a session why not post a pic on our Facebook wall with #CalendarOfCore or send us an email.

Until tomorrow, Wild Runners.