No Equipment Abs Workout + Hip Mobility is Day 4 in Heather Robertson‘s 12 Week 4.0 program. I haven’t done a Heather Robertson workout in a while but when she posted the trailer about this series I decided to do most of the HR 4.0 workouts. I’m alternating weeks–one week of HR 4.0 and one week of Caroline Girvan‘s CGX Unleash. This week is HR 4.0. However, every Sunday I will be doing the mobility workouts Heather created for this program.
Though this workout has mobility in it, do not think it is an easy feel good workout. The workout starts with core work and I was breaking a sweat by the end of the core work. The hip mobility work does drop the intensity down a notch but it is all active mobility work. Though you do get some flexibility work with your mobility it is all dynamic, so you are constantly moving through out. It never really gets relaxing until the stretch at the end, which stretches out the hips you were working.
This workout is timely for me because I have been suffering with pain in my left hip for about a week. I have been doing Caroline Jordan’s Hip Massage for Pain Relief every day but it is not doing the magic it did last time I did it. But I am still doing it daily. In fact, I did it as soon as I finished this workout. My hips were nicely warmed up for it.
No Equipment Abs Workout + Hip Mobility is 42:44 minutes; 50 second intro, 2:15 minute warm up and 3 minute stretch. Equipment: a fitness mat. This workout is made up of two circuits. An ab circuit followed by a hip mobility circuit. The exercises are done interval style: 40 seconds of work followed by 10 seconds of recovery. There is a timer in the lower right hand corner of the screen counting down your intervals and recoveries. During the recoveries Heather previews the next exercise.
Ab Circuit:
- Regular crunch (basic crunch, lay on back with knees bent and feet on mat, hands behind head)
- Bent knee crunch (still on back, legs raised and knees bent at 90 degrees, hands start behind head, crunch upper body and reach hands to tap ankles)
- Oblique crunch (lay on back, one knee bent with foot on mat, other leg is crossed in a figure 4 with ankle resting below knee of floor leg, crunch upper body while bringing opposite elbow to crossed knee)
- Repeat #3 on other side of body
- Hip lift & toe touch (lay on back with legs extended straight to ceiling, hands are on floor beside hips, do one reverse crunch lifting hips and pushing feet to ceiling, when you lower hips back to mat crunch upper body, reaching hands to feet)
- Reverse crunch (lay on back w/ hands on mat beside hips, lift hips pushing legs to ceiling then lower hips while also lowering straight legs until they are a few inches off the mat)
- Slow leg drop (lay on back, head/shoulders elevated, arms raised and open in a V, lift straight legs to ceiling and lower very slowly)
- Side bridge (in side elbow plank with top arm extended to ceiling, raise and lower hip)
- Repeat #8 on other side of body
- Elbow plank hold
- Shoulder tap and climb (in straight arm plank, tap one hand to opposite shoulder, repeat with other hand then bring one knee under body toward opposite elbow then repeat with other leg)
- Bicycle maneuver
- 30 second rest
- Repeat #1-13
Hip Mobility:
- Slow squat & shift (lower into a deep yogi squat with elbows pressed against inner thighs, shift body side to side for about 6-7 seconds then raise out if squat and immediately lower back into squat and repeat)
- Squat & extend (hinge forward into forward fold with fingers under toes, lower into a deep squat then lift hips back into forward fold)
- Knee tug & circles (lay on back, torso is leaned back on elbows, pull one knee into chest, open knee out to side then extend is straight beside other leg, repeat on other leg)
- 90-90 twist (sit on mat with both legs bent at 90 degrees, one in front of you and one to the side, with hands on mat behind hips, rotate legs, swapping leg positions, cross hands in front of chest genie style then hinge forward over one thigh, continue rotating side to side)
- Kneeling lizard (get into deep kneeling lunge, place same side hand on inner knee of front leg and push leg out to side then release pressure)
- Repeat #5 on other side of body
- World’s greatest stretch (start in down dog, shift forward bringing one foot forward so you are in deep lunge, rotate torso toward front leg while reaching same side hand toward ceiling, return to down dog and repeat on other side of body)
- Figure 4 bridge (lay on back w/ one knee bent and foot on mat close to glutes, other ankle is crossed over knee so you are in figure 4, extend arms overhead, raise hips into bridge while raising arms to ceiling)
- Repeat #8 on other side of body
- Repeat #1-9
For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
