Margie Weiss: I'm Margie Weiss and this is Fix-it Zone Fitness for women. This exercise that we're going to do, I like to do last because it's a multi-group exercise, which means it takes a lot of groups of muscles and works them all out at the same time. It's really good for core stability, for gluteus, for hamstrings, everything from the knees to the belly.
So, what we're going to do is have the girls lift their hips up off the ground, about an inch. Object is to take the belly and press downwards, it's a pelvic tilt. Notice that the knees and the feet are shoulder-width apart. So, we're going to press downwards and then release a little bit. Press down, breathe out, and release a little bit. The rear end never quite touches the floor as it goes down and in. You can do it slow or you could do it pulsing, where you go squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze.
Now, that's position number one that you might want to do for 30 seconds to a minute. Then you're going to take the knees and press them together. Your feet remain apart. Same action, the pelvic tilt, where you're pressing your belly down as if somebody is punching you in the stomach. When your back rounds, obviously you're going to see the curve of the hips. You're going to do that one maybe 30 seconds, if you get tough, maybe a minute. Once you've done that, you're going to bring your feet together, so you have your knees and your feet together. Same thing, pressing down and lifting, pressing down and again, the same 30 seconds to a minute as you get better.
Fourth and last position is going to be to turn your toes out. So, your heels are together. It's like first position. You're pressing down and you're lifting, that's the slow. If you want to pulse, you do a little faster, one and two. Range of motion; when you pulse is less. You can also do what's called an isometric, which is a squeeze and freeze, where you don't do anything but hollow the back and hold. Even though your movements are still, you're not moving anything at all, you're still getting a workout. If your legs shake, because this is the last exercise you've done in the leg workout and the glute workout, that's a good thing. It means that you've worked the muscles.
Now, we have to stretch them out at the end, so we lower the hips, and we're going to cross one leg over the knee. You're going to reach straight through so that you grab your calf and you're going to draw the legs into the chest. You can round your back and lift your head a little bit if you want, or you can keep it on the ground, but this is going to stretch the gluteus.
Now, because we've used both legs, we're going to switch the legs here and stretch out the other glute. Crossing the legs, knee goes up, stretch through and retract for the calf, and pull on in and around your back. You're going to really feel a nice long stretch to the glute, and then you're going to slowly drop it back down and roll yourself on over. You may want, right at the end, once you've rolled yourself over, to round your back a little bit, stretch it right up here through the lower back, hands going to the thighs, to bring yourself on up. That would be the final exercise perhaps in a fix-it workout, because it does so much exercise for so many of the body parts; from the waist down to the knees.
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