Showing posts with label mountain climbers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mountain climbers. Show all posts

Monday, September 14, 2020

Day 12 of 22: Mountain Climbers + Push-up

Day 12 combined two different previous challenges into one: we do a mountain climber knee lift across the body (elbow-to-knee even though I say knee to chair erroneously in the video), and follow that with a chaturanga (half-pushup). 

To warm up the hips with lunges and standing one leg lifts. I didn't want to tire us out, but I wanted to make sure we had our hip flexors ready to tackle the challenge without overdoing it. Two sets of eleven make it even more accessible. Participation options as always include staying vertical, lifting the leg to the toe instead of full knee up, skipping the push-up, or any variation that works for your body in the spirit of the challenge. I chose to exhale when I lifted my knee and when I did the half push-up, which meant I was taking shorter length breaths for this sequence as opposed to the long inhales and exhales we usually do in our yoga classes. But as this particular flow was more vigorous, it seems appropriate. 

Alignment with the arms, shoulders, hips, and knees as always is important, to build on the lessons of previous days. Thanks for watching!

 To donate to my challenge, click here: https://fundraise.activeheroes.org/fundraiser/2872670

To start your own challenge, click here: https://activeheroes.org/22pushups/


Day 9 of 22: Mountain Climbers

We've been exploring variations of "push-ups" with our Gentle Yoga adaptations for the #activeheroes #22pushupchallenge, and today we tackled something else in plank territory with a core focus: Mountain Climbers. Traditionally in a fitness class you might do this exercise tucking the knees up under the body rapidly to raise the heartrate, but today we are focusing on the lift of the leg, across the body (if possible for your body) for some oblique abdominal work, while maintaining stability through the legs and chest with support in the arms. 

An even gentler version could include bending a knee instead of lift it at all; try a variation that suits you! I prefer to do the exhale on the knee lift, and the inhale as the body opens and lengthens. We did all 22 reps in a row today.

Sorry if the video and audio are slightly off; I tried to correct in the editing software but wasn't able to get it exact as the resolution of the video isn't that high. 


 To donate to my challenge, click here: https://fundraise.activeheroes.org/fundraiser/2872670

To start your own challenge, click here: https://activeheroes.org/22pushups/