7 secret exercises for busy women

Try these #7 secret exercises for busy women!

#1 Posture

Can we DO posture? Does that really count as exercise? Absolutely. However, we don’t want the very British “stand like a soldier” or “imagine you are carrying a book on your head”. Victorian deportment encourages too much tension in the upper body and neck. And distorts our breathing patterns, limiting our pelvic floor control.

Rather channel African children. The Maasai Tribe teach their kids from an early stage to stand still and calm “from the feet up”. This cleverly activates all the lower body muscles while leaving our top half free to breathe freely and gesticulate. Let me explain in this video:

Try this:

feet a little apart, pointing straight forward
press the inside edges of the heels towards each other (they don’t actually have to touch)

That’s it! But as you make that small adjustment at your feet, notice the cascade of muscle activity through the rest of your legs and bottom muscles? Feel the gluts and legs come ‘alive’, feel the stretch on the front of the thighs as your pelvis draws back into neutral, notice your lower abdominals activate and the spine straighten? By the time you even get to your head and shoulders you will feel that by getting the feet ‘right’ everything else has drawn into place?
Posture requires effort

Posture does require effort. You may find that today you can only ‘hold’ this posture 5-10 seconds before feeling tired and fatigued by the effort involved, both physical and mental. That’s ok. That feeling is your muscles working in an endurance hold that they are not used to. But if every time you stand to talk to someone, answer the phone, stand in a queue, you practice this posture….just 10 seconds at a time… within a week it will feel far more natural and you will be able to stand, still and grounded, for many minutes at a time.

#2. Sit well: watching TV

Notice your ” tail bone” and “sitting bones” underneath you.

Bring your weight forward to get off your tailbone and on to your sitting bones. Can you feel your weight evenly left and right? Stretch up through every bone of your spine, drop your shoulders back and down, let the top of your head lift towards the ceiling.

Let the seat support you – but if you have a large gap around your waist tuck a small rolled up towel or thin jumper into the gap to hold your spine in it’s natural curve if you are settling in for something epic ….

#3 Core: in the car

Notice the seat belt where it crosses your lap. It lies exactly over your lower abdominals (transversus abdominis). In a class we often facilitate our awareness of our abs by touching with our finger tips – in the car use the pressure of the seat belt as a natural guide.

Let your abdominals sag against the seat belt on purpose. Now, breathe in fully, let the abdomen swell a little, then as you breathe out, gently draw the lower abdominals towards you. Then hold them gently (just less than 50% of what you could do). And Breathe. Finally, release, letting them sag back onto the belt.

Do this cycle again – draw in as you exhale…but now keep breathing naturally and watch one lamp post go by…watch another go by…let a third go by…then let go. Start a “how-many-can-I-hold-for-lamp-post-challenge”?

Want to learn more about your core & pelvic floor? More pilates exercises here

#4 Walk: everywhere: fast

Walk fast and you burn a LOT of calories. Walking is not for Wimps. It can have all the health benefits of running without straining knees/hips/pelvic floors. But the secret is to find the difference of a power walk vs an amble.

Head up, lower abs in 20%. Walk purposefully. This activates your gluts (bottom muscles) for a more intense leg work out. No casual strolling about – make even the shortest walk count. Learn masses more about the benefits of power walking in this resource article: You can get fitter just walking!

#5 Pelvic Floor: in a queue

Here’s an exercise to ping your pelvic floor muscles awake in less than 35 seconds. Little and often improves muscle memory, reaction times, and encourages quick muscle growth. For information about how to find and feel your pelvic floor & great starter exercises visit our Pelvic Floor School video library.

TURN YOUR TOES OUT, LIKE A BALLET DANCER, 5 squeezes of the back passage area
THEN TURN YOUR TOES IN, LIKE A PIGEON, 5 ‘lift and squeeze’ of the bladder tube area
TURN YOUR TOES NORMAL, both areas together

#6 Balance practice: cleaning your teeth

Balance is a skill you have to train seperately to being “fit”.

Stand on one leg to clean your teeth.

Make sure you don’t collape into your hip as you get tired.
Look in the mirror, pull up your body away from your hips.
Feel the bottom muscles working to hold you.
Notice the strength and stability in your ankle and knee.
Change legs halfway through
Progess by closing your eyes!

Ready to increase the challenge: try one our @Propelvic YouTube sequences:

#7 Be Mindful: with friends and family

Mindfulness is quite simply the practice of being in the now. You formally practice it in yoga and pilates class es. Did you know you can also be mindful in any situation, even complex ones, out on a walk, driving, even cooking. Or to mentally “step back” in the middle of a social event.

Let yourself be completely present so that your mind is in a physiological state of rest but not asleep. Allow your thoughts come and go but you are not remembering, not planning, not analysing or deciding. Rather, sensing, noticing, appreciating….

Yes, even with visiting family….