For the next three minutes or so, you will perform the following series of movements to the beat:

1. Start with burpees and arm circles.
2. Transition to shadow boxing.
3. Dive into crocodile push-ups.
4. Do a crunch variation that Elev8d Fitness calls “polar opposites”.
5. Finish up with a little core work.

By the end of this speedy session, you’ll be feeling pretty darn tough. Go for round two and play it again if you have the time and energy!

If you enjoyed this workout, you’ll love more of Elev8d’s quick, effective routines. Check these out:

8-Minute Weight-Loss Workout Series

Do-Anywhere Total-Body Workout Series

16-Minute Challenge Workout Series

Related: Low-Intensity Interval Training: Better Results by Doing Less

The post Try This Awesome One-Song Workout appeared first on Sonima.

Working muscles in isolation like this conditions the body into an imbalanced alignment. For example, the front of your body might be muscular and strong from focused lifting, but the back of your body might be weak and underdeveloped. This ultimately tweaks your alignment and throws your posture out of whack.

A Better Approach to Working Out

When it comes to optimal training, all you need to do is move in all the ways your body is naturally meant to move. When you reconnect and activate all your disparate parts, the whole body becomes infinitely more athletic and functional.

“Our body was designed to move in eight core ways: over, under, around, sideways, rotation, flexion, extension, and push/pull,” Bradley says. “These movements originally allowed us to hunt, gather, and survive. But in our modern lives, we don’t run our bodies through the very directions they were designed to move. Our bodies are missing natural, organic movements, ones that will wake up the joints and get the systems moving efficiently.”

Related: 3 Best Exercises for Total-Body Fitness

What Role Does Alignment Play?

This type of functional movement is all about alignment. Why? Aligning the load-bearing joints (shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles) effectively restores the body to a balanced, symmetric structure. And when the body is aligned, you can move the joints through their full range of motion without restriction.

If you think this all sounds lofty, consider the movements you try to do in real life that are restricted by “tightness” or “lack of flexibility”, such as grabbing a kid’s toy from under the table or ducking under a tree branch on a hike. Half an hour on the elliptical won’t help you do any of these better, but core Elev8d moves, like Elev8d Side Unders and Bear Crawls, will.

Simply put: You cannot be functionally fit without incorporating those 8 natural movements, but you can be functionally fit without ever doing another biceps curl or stepping on the elliptical again.

Will Natural Movements Really Get You in Shape?

The answer is a resounding yes. “Basic human movement patterns tend to be multi-joint, which means you’re recruiting more muscles than you would with a single-joint activity. And generally, you can skip the curls and other single-joint moves because you’re working these muscles to an extent by doing these activities,” says Jason Machowsky, RD, CSCS, sports performance specialist and exercise physiologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery. When you’re using more muscles, you’re working harder in a shorter amount of time, burning more calories and building more strength.

Related: This New Fitness Program Promotes Faster Weight Loss

Think about it: Elev8d Side Unders (demo below) work your core, glutes, hip flexors, hamstrings, abductors, and adductors while moving you under and sideways. Finish Line Abs work your deep abdominal muscles, glutes, and hip flexors while mimicking sprinting. These functional movements are total-body, using the muscles as an integrated system.

“To be a functioning human, you need to be whole-body driven. But the way most of us work out is really only part-driven,” Bradley explains. “Being part-driven is why people regularly go to the gym and don’t see results. It’s also why people go to work and their neck is chronically tight.”

So stop doing the traditional exercises that only ask you to be part-driven. They’re simply not as effective for your overall fitness.

Transform your body and become functionally fit with Elev8d Fitness, the revolutionary new approach to fitness that helps you achieve better results by doing less. The innovative At-Home Total-Body Workout Series burns calories, boosts energy, and strengthens and tones from head to toe in as little as 8 minutes a day.

The post Why You Should Ditch Traditional Exercises for Good appeared first on Sonima.

Elev8d Fitness, the new home workout program from the experts at Sonima, is designed and sequenced to position the body for complete engagement. The exercises are slow and deliberate with an emphasis on form. “Our focus is on putting the body in the right place to tax all systems at once,” explains Brian Bradley, Fitness Director of Elev8d Fitness. “When you go slower, it requires a huge amount of stability.”

This also reduces the risk of developing dysfunctional compensations and ensures your body is aligned so you establish proper posture and functionality. When the body is working in concert like this, it can fire all the muscles at once. And that, Bradley explains, is where real transformation happens. “We train the body to function properly to give you a better metabolic reaction from your muscular system all day, long after you’ve finished your workout.” Here’s how it works:

Related: The Most Effective At-Home Total-Body Workout Series

The Plank Problem

When you load up into a forearm plank position, the impulse is often to round the back and shoulders and tuck the tailbone. In this version, you clasp your hands together and wing your elbows out, creating a triangle base to hold up the rest of the body. “And there’s nothing stronger than a triangle,” Bradley says. “But what are you compromising?” In this position, the shoulders and upper back are taking the workload. Sure, you may be working your abs, but nothing is gluing it all together. The abdominal wall is trying to work in isolation and the shoulders are trying to work in isolation.

“When your form is out of whack, your body takes the path of least resistance,” Bradley explains. “That group of muscles is only firing because it’s trying to take over for what the other muscles aren’t doing.” The position of the body in the plank is so compromised that you’re actually exacerbating the compromise rather than strengthening from a position of correct posture.

How Do I Fix It?

If you pin the shoulder blades together and drop the chest cavity, you establish a functional curve in the lower back. This fires the core like crazy but also engages the rest of the body. You may not be able to hold this position as long but that is the point. When you are deliberate with form, your workout engages the whole body and becomes infinitely more efficient. “You are decreasing the time and increasing the work,” Bradley says. “And you’re working six hundred muscles, rather than about twenty.”

And this is what makes the Elev8d Fitness workouts so powerfully efficient. The increase in muscle and joint demand is where caloric burn comes from. An exercise with correct form fires not only the deep core muscles but also the smaller stabilizing muscles around the joints. And that is the key to kicking up your metabolism and efficiently toning the body.

Related: This Workout Boosts Strength in 8 Minutes

The 8-Minute Total Body Transformation

At first glance, this eight-minute workout may not seem particularly challenging. Unlike HIIT, Elev8d Fitness workouts are low-intensity. “Remember, we slow down the exercises to focus on the quality of movement,” Bradley says. By focusing on form, you are asking the body to work in concert. Proper alignment allows the deep core muscles to fire all at once. As these larger muscles fire and do the heavy lifting, you further refine the functionality of your eight load-bearing joints (shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles).

There’s also an inherent feeling of wellness that comes along with proper form and deep muscle work, Bradley says. After a true total-body workout, your metabolic rate will stay raised for hours. You may even find that you’re not craving sugar and you’re sleeping better. “These are the long-term effects of a functional, form-focused method like Elev8d Fitness,” Bradley says. “Your body is working in harmony.”

Love this workout? Try more from Elev8d Fitness powered by Sonima!

The post An 8-Minute Workout for Total-Body Transformation appeared first on Sonima.

Pete Egoscue, alignment expert and author of the Pain Free book series, reveals several 60-second workouts that can be done anywhere and with minimal equipment required. From “rope abs” to “flutter kicks,” these moves are a great way to get a total-body workout and maintain your fitness. “The more in a workout you can engage your entire body, the more stability and strength you will have, the more effective the exercise becomes,” says Egoscue. These creative and simple workouts may only be a minute long, but there’s no doubt they will make you break a sweat!

The post The 60-Second Cardio Workout appeared first on Sonima.

“He showed us everything,” Pete recalls. “I mean, the kitchens, the banquet facilities, even the laundry rooms.” But there was one place that Manuel conspicuously ignored—a big circular building that he didn’t acknowledge as they walked past it toward the outskirts of the grounds then again as they returned to his own office for cool refreshments. Before the tour ended, however, Troi asked delicately, “Manuel, what is this building? Why aren’t we going in?”

“Oh, that’s just a fitness building. Would you like to see it?” he said nonchalantly.

Both obsessed with fitness, Pete and Troi were excited to take a look, so Manuel invited them in. It was a gorgeous, state-of-the art facility. One long stretch of the circular wall was a bank of windows that overlooked the Pacific Ocean and some majestic palisades. In front of those windows was a line of treadmills, all vacant. In fact, the entire gym, beautiful as it was, was a ghost town. Pete asked why, and Manuel explained that it wasn’t peak season, so there weren’t many Americans at the resort.

“They’re the only ones who use this facility,” Manuel confirmed. Then he shook his head, confused and disapproving. “We have incredible places for people to jog and walk. We have pools and beaches and so many ways to have fun and exercise. We just don’t understand why anyone who wants to exercise would choose a treadmill over any of those other options, but Americans always do.” He paused then before he added, “When they’re on the treadmill, they never look like they’re having any fun.”

“Somewhere in the not so distant past, fitness got off on the wrong track,” Pete says in hindsight. How? Accidentally. “It wasn’t malicious,” he says. “It was just an unintended consequence.” Which is partly why he created Patch Fitness back in the 1980’s. Patch Fitness is many things: It’s a great workout for any part of the body. It’s an efficient exercise plan for any busy person. It helps realign the body, improve metabolism and boost energy. It’s a workout that burns calories, enhances cardiovascular capability, and tightens the physique everywhere. But just as important as all of that (and numerous other benefits not mentioned), Patch Fitness is fun. And that’s no accident.

Related: Unlock Your Body’s Fullest Potential with Patch Fitness

There’s a human compulsion to measure outcomes and effects, and in the age of endless data at our fingertips, there’s an epidemic of measuring just about everything we do, all under the auspice of charting progress. Today you may be able to do only 15 pushups, but after a month of working out, you can do 25 push-ups, and that’s progress. And that’s good, right?

“Not necessarily,” Pete says. “At no point are we measuring the joy.” In order to accommodate this focus on measurable progress, much of the fun gets squeezed out of the fitness in America, and the problem with that is that the less fun something is, the less likely people are to do it.

That’s why the fitness of the Patch emphasizes the enjoyment aspect. “Every sport ever invented is the combination of spontaneity and fun. Native Americans didn’t invent lacrosse because it seemed like a great way to stay in shape. Volleyball, tennis, football, soccer—you name it, they weren’t invented from a studied effort to stay in shape. They were invented spontaneously as a way to have fun,” Pete explains.

The Patch abides by similar principles—spontaneity and fun. “When was the last time you got down on the ground and crawled around? The last time you stepped up on a chair or hopped on a bench or squatted to get under a split rail fence? You don’t think of any of that as exercise, but it is,” Pete says. That philosophy is a primary impetus behind the Patch.

Whether you’re a professional athlete or a potato fresh off of the couch, when you bear crawl under a bench or jump over that same bench, you are doing it at your level. “You’re not focused on how many reps you’re doing or how fast you’re moving. There’s no digital readout of how many calories you’re burning or steps you’re taking, all of which removes you from the present enjoyment of an activity,” Pete says. “You’re just doing it to the best of your ability in the same way you used to just swing from a jungle gym when you were a kid or jump over a fence on the way to school. That focus on measurement is about fear. It’s about making you feel inadequate if you don’t do enough reps. If you’re exercising from a position of fear, you can achieve a sense of accomplishment at the end of a workout, but you won’t have any fun.”

Again that matters because a fun workout keeps you coming back. “It’s very unpleasant for people to try to get fit doing something they don’t love doing. If you don’t love running, but every day you’re way to fitness is a run, then at some point you’re just going to stop running.”

This fun factor also has an impact on the actual physical performance. “Over the years, I’ve worked with every kind of person, from hundreds of pro athletes to regular people who wouldn’t remotely refer to themselves as athletes,” he says. What Pete has noticed among all of his clients is that when they’re having fun with their workouts, their performance actually improves. Furthermore, the recovery time from that performance decreases. Even the pro athletes, when engaged in conditioning they don’t enjoy, tire more easily and think they are not in good shape.

“They’re constantly paranoid about what they’re doing because they intuitively sense they should be doing more,” he says. “They’re right, but not in the way they think. What they should be doing more of is trusting themselves, trusting their instincts, and migrating toward fitness that they find more fun.” When they do that, they get in better shape.

To date, there have been no studies measuring how much the enjoyment of exercise impacts the body as opposed to conditioning that’s less exhilarating, but relying on his 40 years of observation, Pete knows it to be true. Joy matters. Which is what Manuel at the resort in Baja intuitively knew and what Pete unfailingly remembers every time he puts together another Patch Fitness routine.

Photo by Hailey Wist

The post The Most Important Element Missing From Your Workout appeared first on Sonima.

The question came as a bit of a revelation to Egoscue. Instinctively, he knew he could improve their conditioning. Years of experience studying all of the body’s joints and muscles and how they’re interconnected had long prepared him to create the exact fitness plan they needed. Yet, it hadn’t occurred to him to devise an exercise program using his extensive knowledge of the anatomy until right then. Without much hesitation, he responded, “I think I could. Follow me.”

They walked about three-quarters of a mile from Egoscue’s first clinic in San Diego (he now has 26 clinics worldwide) to a horse show park, an outdoor space where equestrian and dressage riders practiced hurdling over both permanent and temporary obstacles with their horses. A former Marine, Egoscue was well-versed in how obstacle-course training can make you fit and strong. So to him, this place was perfect for what he had in mind, especially since it was set outside (nothing like fresh air and mother nature to inspire you to move).

Related: 25 Beautiful Places in the World to Find Peace of Mind

“It was very challenging, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. You felt good when you were done. And no matter how tired you felt going through it, you felt energized, too,” Egoscue recalls of his fitness regimen for the military.  Back then, however, Egoscue didn’t see the obstacle course as much more than a means to an end. It took him a few more years to connect the dots—combining his later acquired knowledge of the anatomy and unique insights on the role posture plays in our health—to fully understand why those courses were so effective.

“It’s all about negotiating obstacles in various positions and circumstances. It’s an inclusive, holistic way of conditioning that compels the body to work in the way it was designed to work. Bicycling, jogging—these are beneficial, but they don’t promote balance and strength in a varied array of positions. They don’t promote the health of joints and full range of motion, and therefore, don’t boost the metabolism as much. That’s what makes people feel energized—that metabolism boost,” Egoscue explains. That experience maneuvering obstacle courses as a Marine was exactly what Egoscue aimed to replicate with those high school students at the equestrian show park. And he hit a bullseye.

Watching the boys, Egoscue realized he had stumbled upon an ideal means of exercise: An enjoyable way to produce balance, strength and endurance. Of course, he knew he had discovered nothing new. After all, he was only harking back to fitness techniques he had learned in the military.  But during a time when so much fitness had turned (and continues to turn) to the specialization of skills, isolation of muscles, repetition of routines and reduced range of motion, he had been reawakened to the importance of full functional movement in our conditioning.

“Word spread about what I was teaching these kids,” Egoscue remembers. Soon enough, he started training others in the show park, devising exercises and arranging them in a specified order—and people were loving it. Some even asked him to design and build a unit of obstacles that they could do anywhere, anytime. For those who couldn’t meet in the San Diego park, Egoscue created a structure—a series of bases and beams (pictured above)—that people could go over, under and around anywhere.

Over, under and around make up a key concept for functional movement, which is the element that makes the Patch—as Egoscue’s new exercise program later became called—such an effective workout. The young boys had come up with the name for the stretch of commercial tomato patches dividing Egoscue’s clinic from the show park.

“Functional means allowing the human body to fall into its natural groove of movement. If you get on the ground, go over things, under things and around things, you’re eventually going to get more functional. You coax the body to perform natural movement patterns,” says Brian Bradley, postural alignment specialist and vice president of Egoscue. These are the same patterns that may have been lost or neglected due to a sedentary lifestyle.

It all harks back to one of Egoscue’s earliest claims, fully explored in his first book, The Egoscue Method of Health Through Motion: The more we move our bodies in ways that promote full range of motion, the healthier those bodies will be. Even folks who hit the gym regularly are often not as healthy as they could be.

“So much of what we do in the gym is about trying to be perfect in our form,” Bradley says. “First, that’s just not natural. Second, and ironically, by striving to be ‘perfect’ and even symmetrical, people in gyms are losing their natural balance. They’re inadvertently strengthening and working one side harder than the other. With the Patch, people naturally achieve balance through their bodies working as a unit.”

It’s that whole-body aspect that makes the Patch so efficient. Many forms of exercise, especially in the gym (think bench pressing, squats, even lunges or rowing) utilize just parts or peripheries of the body.

“Every single exercise we use in the Patch tires every muscle,” Bradley says. “That’s why a 15- or 20-minute routine from the Patch is worth two days of normal training. It’s also a great warm-up for any type of training you might do afterward. It centers your balance and makes you a hip-driven mover. By using your hips, your body gets twice the result with half the effort.”

And it doesn’t stop there.  “As your day unfolds and you do the activities of normal daily living, your body continues to get more functionally strong and balanced because of the changes that occurred in the Patch workout that you did earlier that day or a couple days prior. Every step you take after the Patch enhances the effects of the Patch.”

While there is an actual Patch apparatus, a series of plastic, portable bases and beams that Egoscue designed and that can be moved inside or out if you happen to own one, the fact is, a Patch routine can be done anywhere. It does not require a specific space or a specific setting. “It just requires you, your imagination and your surroundings,” says Egoscue. “Any outdoor setting with a bench or stairs or playground becomes a Patch. Any indoor setting for that matter, with tables or benches or chairs.”

The cherry on top: Doing the Patch is actually fun—though you won’t catch Bradley using that word to describe it. Making the program sound too playful has its disadvantages. People might be less inclined to take it seriously. But Egoscue is often quick to point out that originally, all forms of what we have come to call exercise were predicated on the notion of play and fun. It’s only in recent decades, and largely in America, fitness has become an obligation more than a joy—for adults, that is, not kids.

“Watch a group of kids running around a playground. They’re exercising like crazy, but they don’t know it. They just think they’re playing and having fun,” notes Egoscue. “Same with the Patch. It’s a hell of a workout, but it’s all disguised as pure, unadulterated, childlike fun.”

Photo by Hailey Wist

The post Unlock Your Body’s Fullest Potential with Patch Fitness appeared first on Sonima.

If you’re new to Tabata, it’s a specific type of high intensity interval training, or HITT, in which you alternate between 20-second bouts of all-out effort and 10 seconds of rest. A complete workout is eight rounds long, or four minutes total. The name comes from Japanese researcher Izumi Tabata, who in 1996 authored a study that showed athletes who trained on an ergometer (an exercise bike) for a total of 20 minutes per week experienced similar aerobic benefits to a group that performed more moderate exercise each week for five hours.

HIIT training techniques, like Tabata, appear to have an outsize impact on fat loss. A 1994 study from Quebec found that while exercisers who used HIIT burned fewer calories during the actual workout than those using longer endurance training, they lost nine times more fat. In 2008, Australian researchers, who compared the fat loss effects of HIIT and steady state cardio in young women, found that HIIT caused a significantly greater decrease in total body fat. Researchers aren’t sure why HIIT techniques are so adept at annihilating adipose. A 2011 review of 64 studies published in the Journal of Obesity chalked it up to several potential factors, including the hormonal response it causes (HIIT stimulates the release of fat-burning catecholamines) and a possible appetite-suppression effect.

For all of these reasons, Tabata has recently captured the imagination of trainers and other fit-minded individuals, who have applied the :20/:10 pattern to seemingly everything, even planks. And that’s where things have started to get wonky, and leads us to the part that everyone screws up.

Related: The Case for Exercising Less to Get the Results You Want

The crucial element of Tabata, according to Craig Marker, Ph.D., associate professor at Mercer University and Research Director at Strongfirst.com, is intensity. “The concept of Tabata training is to go at max effort,” Marker says. “One of the reasons that the original research was done on an ergometer was so that there would not be easy place to rest.”

That means any exercise in which there’s a natural place to pause—the top of a push-up, the bottom of a burpee, or the moment after you’ve landed from a jump squat, for example—isn’t really congruent with the technique. “Some athletes might be able to do a push-up in an all-out manner. The difficulty is that one could rest at the top or bottom of the movement,” Marker says, adding, “I am not sure many people have that much upper body endurance to do a push-up in a sprint-like manner.”

Your best bet is any exercise that has constant forward movement, or no easy place for rest. (Both of which are reasons why planks are definitely not Tabata-able.) “The key is to think about accelerating throughout the movement,” Marker says. “It will likely be impossible to keep accelerating for 20 seconds, but the idea is to push as hard as you can.”

You can effectively apply the Tabata protocol to the six exercises below, be in-line with the original study, and presumably be better able to capture similar cardiovascular benefits. But before you do, beginners should take a longer warm-up before diving in to the workout, and may want to scale back the intensity at first.

Keep in mind another often-overlooked fact about Tabata: During the original study, researchers would cut a subject’s workout off at seven intervals if the person was falling off pace. You should do the same—and may even want to wrap it up sooner if you feel like you’re dying a few rounds in, which given the intensity, you might. “I would strongly suggest that people stop at seven sets if their performance is slowing,” Marker says. “I stop most of my athletes at seven sets as it is difficult to maintain that pace for the full eight. Tabata’s team was working with elite athletes. For the everyday athlete, I might even suggest fewer sets, like three to five.” As you get used to the exertion, you can add intervals over time.

Here are six ways to tap into Tabata’s power—and test your own personal mettle.

TABATA WORKOUT #1: Sprints (run, bike, swim)

By land or sea, nothing exudes constant forward motion like a sprint. Mercer says the bike is probably a better bet for beginners. He also recommends against using a treadmill, which can take time to speed up and slow down.

TABATA WORKOUT #2: Jump Rope

Jumping rope in a Tabata format can be tricky if you tend to hit your feet with the rope a few times in a set. But if you can consistently get up and over the line, it’s a great Tabata option. Keep count of how many times you clear it during your first set, then try to hit or beat that number in your successive ones.

TABATA WORKOUT #3: Mountain Climbers

This move poses a dual challenge in that your upper body has to support you while you’re lower body stays in constant motion. Performing mountain climbers with your feet on a slideboard or on a set of Valslides (like this) will make it even more potent.

TABATA WORKOUT #4: Battle Rope Waves

You’ll probably have to head to a gym to get the right gear for this one (pictured above), although the heavy ropes are coming down in price. Remember to keep moving for the entire work interval (see sample moves here). This is another exercise where you can keep track of your reps on your first set (count every time your right arm moves as one), and try to meet or exceed that number on every set that follows.

TABATA WORKOUT #5: Prowler Sled or Plate Pushes

If your gym has a prowler or weighted sled, try pushing that as far as you can during every work interval. No prowler? No problem. Put one of the larger weight plates (a 25-, 35- or 45-pounder) on the floor and push that. Just be sure that you’re doing it on a surface that glides (astroturf is best) and that won’t get damaged by the plate.

TABATA WORKOUT #6: Kettlebell Swings

This is a skill movement—one that’s more technical and involved than you think. It’s definitely not supposed to be a bent-over half-squat with a shoulder raise at the end, which you will see some people do. Read up on how to swing properly before you dive in.

The post 6 Tabata Workouts That Torch Fat appeared first on Sonima.

Eating out most, if not all, meals is one of the lures of travel whether you’re roaming the planet for business or pleasure. A 2012 survey from TripAdvisor of more than 1,400 U.S. travelers found that 65 percent were more likely to overindulge in food while on vacation, and another 49 percent are likely to binge-drink. Nearly a third claimed to always or often pack on pounds during a trip. Here’s where frequent fliers may have a leg-up on vacationers. Having most likely learned the hard way, they know how crucial is is to do some exercise while on the road to burn off extra calories before they end up with excess baggage (not kind that fits in the overhead bin).

Next time you’re away, try to sneak in a quick workout each morning or evening when you’re winding down from a long day. This is especially important if you’re enjoying feasts daily and not doing any form of activity, like hiking, biking, swimming, etc. Don’t worry, it doesn’t need to be an intense sweat-fest. This 20-minute workout video designed by Pete Egoscue, Sonima.com’s alignment expert and author of multiple books including Pain Free, features a series of easy and effective exercises you can do right in your hotel room—no gym equipment, workout clothes, or sneakers needed.

Related: Simple Airplane Stretches for a Long Flight

The post 20-Minute Hotel Room Workout for Busy Travelers appeared first on Sonima.

In the past 30 years the number of births by c-section has skyrocketed. One reason for this, posits Pete Egoscue, the founder of the Egoscue Method, the world leader of nonmedical pain relief, is the skeletal misalignment that results from our modern, sedentary lifestyle.

Through the course of pregnancy, Egoscue explains, the unborn child develops with the head up and it eventually must turn upside-down into position in the birth canal. This requires the pelvis to flare, tip itself forward, and open up to create enough space in the birth canal for natural childbirth. With optimal anatomical alignment this is an easy process, but when the pelvis is not in a neutral position—and for anyone who spends the majority of their day sitting, it probably is not—the body can’t find the muscles to rotate the pelvis into birthing position, leading to a need for c-section or problems with childbirth.

This exercise program is designed to help the body return itself to a neutral position early in pregnancy, so it can prepare for the process of having a baby. For best results, set aside 20 minutes every day to do this program. The targeted exercises will gently and effectively build strength in the subtle supporting musculature essential for good posture and natural childbirth.

Related: Taking the First Steps Toward Pain-Free Living

The post 7 Essential Exercises for Pregnant Women appeared first on Sonima.

When it comes to fitness, it’s not just about what you do or how, but also why you’re doing it. Not all workouts have to be about work—even if they’re challenging. Before you start this 15-minute routine designed by Pete Egoscue, Sonima.com’s alignment expert and author of multiple books including Pain Free, try to set an intention to take this time for yourself, give back to your mind and body, be present in the moment, and aim to have fun. Fact is, you’re not at your desk, in your car, or out running errands. You’re taking a much-deserved recess just like when you were a kid and you’ll feel great for it afterward. And if you don’t have a full 15 minutes to dedicate to this, doing one of the three principle moves in this full-body workout—including plank variations, static squat, and up-downs—when you can will help increase total strength over time.

Related: It’s Time to Bring Happiness to Your Workout

The post The 3×3 Full-Body Workout appeared first on Sonima.

Your best training partner may be sitting on the couch right next to you. You’re both pros at egging each other on to watch one more episode of your latest TV show obsession. What if you were to use that same drive to push each other to do one more rep? This total body workout routine is designed for couples by Pete Egoscue, Sonima.com’s pain and anatomy advisor. You don’t even need to leave the comfort of your living room to do it. In just 15 minutes, you two can feel healthier, fitter, and closer to each other than when you were sitting side-by-side on the sofa.

Start with a series of crunches and bicycles, pressing the soles of your feet together for support, to work your core. Afterward, sit up, face each other, hold hands and take turns pulling each other as far as you can go for a nice stretch. From there, transition to a plank position for one-arm push-pulls (again holding hands) to challenge both your balance and strength. To stabilize yourself, tighten your quads, use your whole body and lock your elbow. Next, continue to engage your quads, core and each other with wheelbarrows and a back-to-back squat—both of which require good partner communication to perform properly. Smiling or laughing through these moves might take your mind off the burn. Wrap up the workout with walkouts where you bend down to touch your toes and walk your hands out for pushups.

Related: A Daily Practice That Can Strengthen Your Relationship

The post A Partner Workout to Help You Get Fit Together appeared first on Sonima.

The excuse to not hit the gym is right in front of you, babbling and flinging food everywhere but his mouth. Babies are a handful and a legitimate reason why many moms—and new parents in general—skip daily exercise. But that doesn’t mean you should sacrifice your health altogether. Do yourself a favor and try to squeeze in 15 minutes of fitness a day.

How will you make the time? A recent survey of 1,154 moms conducted by Woman’s Day and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, a national non-profit founded by the American Heart Association and Clinton Foundation, found that mothers are spending 10 minutes or more a day doing something sedentary with their kids, including eating a meal, watching TV and doing homework. Those 10+ minutes are a good time to do a few simple workout moves from Pete Egoscue, Sonima.com’s pain and anatomy advisor. Get your kids to join you or do it alongside them while they eat, play, nap, or study. If you can’t spare a full 15 minutes, start with five and work your way up.

Related: A Meditation on Self-Care for Mothers

The post A Quick Workout for Busy Moms appeared first on Sonima.

Shoulder Bridge Sequence 

This sequence strengthens the gluteal muscles and hamstrings, while opening the entire front body.

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Challenge Series

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Side-Lying Series

This series targets the glutes, inner and outer thighs, hip flexors, and hamstrings. Focus on keeping the upper body stable.

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

The Bicycle

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Repeat bicycle10 times.

Share

Tweet

Pin

Share

Tweet

Pin

Repeat this exercise 10 times, and then complete the entire sequence on the other side.

Figure Four Hip Stretch

Share

Tweet

Pin

Cross ankle over thigh, hold onto the back of opposite leg. Hold a few breaths as the hip opens up. Switch sides, and breathe well.

Photos by Hailey Wist

The post A Toning Pilates Sequence to Stabilize the Lower Body appeared first on Sonima.

Want to burn calories fast? Jump rope for 10 minutes and torch more than 100 calories, which is equivalent to running an eight-minute-mile, according to the Compendium of Physical Studies. Best part: This aerobic exercise is totally portable (you can do it anywhere from your living room to hotel to the park), a time-saver (takes no time to get a great workout) and easier on your joints than going for a run, reports the Jump Rope Institute.

Because jumping rope for 10 minutes straight is actually much harder than it sounds, Sonima’s pain and anatomy advisor, Pete Egoscue, devised this sweet seven-minute workout plan that incorporates the rope in a realistic way that people of all fitness levels can do. Start by jumping rope for 100 reps to get your heart rate up. From there, use the rope as a prop to do fat-blasting jump rope exercises, including quick overs (lateral lifts over a bench), v-ups, step-ups, squats, and crunches. Cool down with Egoscue’s favorite stretches, like cats-and-dogs and Downward Dog.

Related: What Are the Best Fitness Plans for Weight Loss?

The post A Quick Jump Rope Workout appeared first on Sonima.

Follow this fast-moving 14-minute workout that engages both your small and big muscles groups, from your calves and hip flexors to your glutes and back, to get that strong and lean body that you want. Start with a series of step ups, which you can do on a park bench or your house steps. Be sure to go at your own pace here. Speed means nothing if you break good form. From there, do 30 seconds of running in place to spike your heart rate. Without taking a break, move onto 10 up-downs (aka burpees). Repeat running in place and up downs. Wrap up the workout with floor work, including mountain climbers, roller coasters, donkey kicks, and flutter kicks.

Related: A Simple Solution to Heal Plantar Fasciitis

The post The Strong and Lean Workout appeared first on Sonima.