Stroll Her Strong™ Workout: 8 moves for a Full Body workout
ARMS, LEGS, ABS, BACK, AND BUTT
Did you just have a baby recently? Or, you might be a grandmother pushing your precious grand babies!
If you push a stroller, this workout is for you!
Check out these 8 moves for a full body, booty kickin’ workout. Do each for 1 minute with a 15 second rest and because you repeat 3 of the exercises to hit both legs - you have a total of 11 exercises. Completing 2 rounds - plus your 5 mins warm up - gets you to ACOG’s recommendation of 30 mins for the day. Remember to work to your own pace and ability. We always start with a short warm up of walking or, if you are reading to run, a slow comfortable jogging warm up. Do as many rounds as you please or break it up through the day.
A Few Safety Tips:
Push with 2 hands on the stroller. This does 2 things: it keeps your body aligned and it keeps your baby safe in the stroller
Always buckle baby in securely
It’s recommended that your baby is 6-8 months old before you run with the stroller.
It’s also recommended that you are at least 6 months postpartum before you begin running.
Always use the stroller brake when stopped or for stationary exercises.
Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate… and Hydrate. Especially, in the summer!
Listen to your body. If you don’t feel well or feel dizzy, sit down and hydrate. Only continue if you feel ready.
And with all 4TFM cueing:
Exhale to Engage your Pelvic Floor and Activate your Transverse Abdominals
to support your pelvic floor and stabilize your core!
Warm Up
Take 5 mins to get loosened up. In our Florida summer this takes about 5 seconds but you get the drift…
If possible have both hands on the stroller
1) Walking Lunges
The key here is to keep your head and chest up. Also, push the stroller with straight arms. Trust me, you won't kick the stroller or bump your knee and you’ll thank me for letting you in on that tip. Think of your normal cues for lunges:
Keep your head and chest upright. Think of standing tall!
Inhale as you step into the lunge. Take care that the front knee doesn't go past the foot. Think of lunging as bending the back leg rather than the front and you’ll be fine!
Exhale and engage your pelvic floor and medial glutei as you come up to the standing position.
Did you know that the medial glutei ( those muscles on the upper outer part of your butt and hips are responsible for hip stability?) Use that to your advantage. You’ll feel stronger if you engage those glutes as you stand up out of the lunge. Also, don’t forget your pelvic floor. She worked so hard during pregnancy and birth and using your ideal cue ( may that is the elevator or jelly fish or whatever you think of when you lift up down there!) will help you not pee or feel like your organs are falling out!
Make sure that you are alternating your lead legs
2) Bicep Curls
Hold your baby (or use weights or a band) to strengthen and tighten up those arms! This is a fun one for baby and they usually love it! Make a game of Peek-a-Boo or singing. This is actually a great one for The Wheels on the Bus… Especially, the verse about “The People on the Bus Go Up and Down” which you would sing in time with baby coming up and down!
A few reminders:
Keep your shoulders rolled back and down and your elbows close to your body.
Exhale as you bend at the elbow and bring baby up to your face. The interaction is priceless and your baby will just love this!
Inhale as you lower baby back down.
3) Plank With Alternating Knee To Outside Elbow
Make sure to put the stroller brake on the locked mode
This is a core workout… Actually, a Head-to-Toe workout. First thing to do is to lock the brake on your stroller or you may end up on your stomach! OUCH!
You will find that your hands fit nicely on the side bars of the stroller and step back into your plank position. Maintain your plank position with your head as a natural extension of your spine. Don’t forget our 4TFM breathing cues:
Exhale as you bring the knee up and to the outside of your elbow
Inhale as you lower back to the ground
Alternating legs
4) Side Step With Leg Abduction
This beauty will burn your glutes and abductors of your legs. The key here is to keep your arm that is holding on to the stroller fairly straight to put some distance between you and the stroller. You will work one side for a minute and then the other side.
Cueing goes as such:
Step out to the side away from the stroller to squat
Step together ( you will pull the stroller a little)
Step back towards the stroller and abduct (or lift) the outside leg as you step back together (you will push the stroller a little)
Remember to repeat on the other side! For ease, just turn your body around and not the stroller!! ha!
5) Tricep Dips
We all want to firm up those arms… especially in the summer! But even more important is to feel strong! Triceps are a favorite of mine and there are a zillion ways to hit them but this one works great and your baby loves the face time with you! (Also, Sophie was a little more interested in finding her cheerios in the stroller!)
Tips:
Don’t forget to Lock the brake!!
Keep your head and chest up
Push up out of your shoulders so that you aren’t sagging into them. That puts a lot of stress on that joint.
Keep your elbows in line with the shoulders as you lower into the dip.
Exhale as you push back up out of the Tricep dip
6) Single Leg Calf Raises
If you are a runner, this exercise is for you and is part of the running readiness exercises that we do in Postpartum Recovery® Fitness classes. This exercise is also much harder than it looks!! Try it! You will be shocked at how few you can do… The goal is to work up to 20 on each leg! As you press up in the calf raise be mindful of keeping the foot aligned and not letting the ankle roll out to the side.
7) March: Out , Out, In, In
Step Aerobics anyone? This is like the old step aerobics routines… Out, Out, In, In… Up, Up, Back, Back… only we have taken it a step (no pun intended) further.
What are the steps? Check out the video above for clarification!
Out, Out, In, In (OOII) means to march wide and then narrow
Back,Back, Forward, Forward means to start with your feet together and then march back in to a plank and march forward to the start position for OOII
It sounds more confusing than it is and once you get the hang of it, you’ll see how it flows.
This is one that you do on both sides, first leading with the Right leg, and the next round leading with the Left.
8) Shoulder Press
This is your baby’s absolute favorite exercise. The will laugh and giggle while you huff and puff! Ha!
Keep your body in Neutral Posture and your head and neck as a natural extension of the spine.
Exhale to raise baby up in front of your face
Inhale to bring baby back down to shoulder height.
Give that sweet baby a kiss on the forehead!
Don’t forget to stretch or if hop on over to our Youtube channel to find a stretch that suits you.
Or Follow along over on our YouTube Channel with the Stroller Her Strong video to see these exercises in action! Give us a like and subscribe to our Channel while you are there!
And we would love to know what other videos or blog topics that you are interested in!