Bringing Awareness To Your Essential Exercise

Day 1: The First 10 of 30

Over the last few weeks, we have placed a huge emphasis on awareness. And we have also covered the theory of greasing the groove.

As a refresher:

Greasing the groove can be defined as exercising with low reps or performing activities for a short duration without exhausting the body or the muscles to failure

Pavel Tsatsoline claims, we need to grease the neurological “groove,” or pathway, between your brain and the exercises your body performs in small incremental steps so that the brain learns the movement, you begin to have better form and in doing so, slowly improve the routine, build more strength and are able to do more.

And this is the perfect place to begin. We have in total 30 essential core and strength instructional videos, a 5-minute Dynamic Mobility Warm Up15-minute core and strength workout and a 28-day/4-week plan.

To really begin to get the benefit of these, your task is to bring your awareness, your child’s mind of curiosity, to these routines.

Watch each video, give them a try, take your time, grease the groove and see how you feel.

Be aware of any sensations or aches or stiffness. Get your form right and allow yourself the time to get used to each one of these routines.

There is no need to rush anything. Just enjoy the motion and your body at work. No Gung Ho.

Even if you know them well, or have done tried them before or are just a complete beginner, just slowly go through each one. Learn the movement and get your form.

By not rushing as you would in a gym or class, you have the space and time to reframe your awareness of each move. And slowly gain good form when doing longer routines.

Below are the first instructional videos with a transcript included.

But before we proceed …

THE SAFETY AND HEALTH WARNING

Before we proceed, we want you to understand that these articles and the content we provide are based on simple daily increments and it is EXTREMELY important not just for understanding what success is but also how not to injure yourself. (i.e. it’s not success)

As a Million Step Participant, you have already agreed to our health and guidelines on safety. BUT we ask that you read them again HERE.

For anyone else reading this, again, we ask that you use common sense, do only what you can and also read our guidelines HERE.

Squats

Stand with your feet slightly wider than your hips.
Keep your chest up and your spine in a neutral position.
Tighten your core as you sit back like you’re trying to sit down on a chair.
Try and lower yourself until your thighs are parallel with the floor.
Also, make sure that your knees stay aligned with your toes and don’t cave in. Now push your feet into the floor to come back to your starting position.

Reverse Lunges

Stand with your feet hip-width apart and then step backwards with your right leg and lower yourself until your knees are at a 90-degree angle.
Keep the weight on the front leg and push through your heel to get back up to the starting position.
Now repeat this on the other side

Donkey Kicks

Get your hands and Legs on to the mat with your hands in line with your shoulder and your knees in line with the hips.
Bend your legs and kick mid-air maintaining an angle of 90 degrees.
Flex your knee and lift it to a hip level making sure you feel the contraction in your glute at the top of the moment.
Try and keep your lower back from arching.
Now lower your leg and repeat it on the other side.

Side Plank

Start on your side with your feet together and your right hand placed directly under your shoulder.
Keep your core tight and your hips raised creating a straight line from your head to your toes.
Now hold the position without letting your hips drop for the desired amount of time before switching and repeating on your left side.

Superman

Lie face down on a mat with your arms extended in front of you and keep your arms and legs straight throughout the exercise.
Now raise your arms and legs up off the floor holding it there for two seconds then return to starting position.

Bicycle Crunches

Lie on your back with your legs stretched out in front of you.
Place your hands lightly behind your head with your elbows open.
Lift your chest up slightly as you bend one knee and bring it towards your chest.
As you twist your torso meeting your knee with the opposite shoulder straighten your starting leg out as you twist towards the other side bringing your other leg in and repeating this to the other side.

V-Sit w Leg Extension

Sit on a mat with your legs bent then lift your legs off the ground while leaning back creating a v-shape with your body.
You can place your hands behind you to lightly support yourself if balancing in this position is too advanced make sure you’re keeping a straight back and chest lifted.
Extend one leg at a time while focusing on keeping your core engaged.

Kneeling Push-ups

Get on your knees and place your hands on the floor in line with your shoulders hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
Contract your core and keep your legs engaged to form a straight line from your knees to your shoulders.
Keep your elbows close to your body as you bend them to lower yourself down until your chest nearly touches the floor.
Then push yourself back up to the starting position.

In and Out Jumps

Stand with your feet together then bend your knees and jump up separating your feet in midair.
Land with your feet wider than shoulder-width apart lowering into a squat.
Now jump up out of the squat and land back in the starting position.
Repeat this for the desired amount of reps.

Bird Dog

Get on your hands and knees with your knees about hip-width apart and your hands firmly placed on the ground shoulder-width apart.
Brace your core as you point one arm out in front and extend the opposite leg behind you.
Keep your hips squared to the ground and your abs engaged throughout the entire exercise and work to minimize any extra movement in your hips during the weight shift.

Remember what we said before and will say again and again.

Just try them gently and with awareness even if you are a quite good. Just call it a revisit

It does not mean you failed if you could not do them all

You have the rest of your life to be an expert at it.

But every time you come back to them, just do what you can and stop.

And come back again to it later in the day or the next day.

And keep doing it till one day, they become natural.

If you don’t like a routine or cannot do it. That’s fine, just stop.

And you can always come back to it.

It’s that simple.

Give your body, and importantly your brain, the chance to slowly build up the strength, dexterity, pattern recognition and knowledge they need.

• You’ll Grease Your Groove.
• You’ll build endurance.
• You’ll bring mindful awareness to each activity that you do.
• You’ll build patience with yourself.
• And you’ll just keep getting fitter.

To find out more about the Million Steps Challenge and how we can help you, your business or charity, please visit https://millionsteps.com

Or Register your organisation interest: Million Steps CoVid-19 Package here