Find the Warrior With-in (Video)

If you know me, I love stretches and exercises that can multi-task. I like my efforts to address several things a once. The warrior series definitely gives you a bang for your buck. This series addresses the calf, hips shoulders and if you use the secret weapon the Aston push off, where you use the floor to connect from your feet though to your legs and trunk, it will even tone your abs too! What more can you want? You can do several rounds of this in as little as 5 minutes! Everyone has five minutes!

Start with:

Warrior 1 -set up your lunge by shifting onto one foot, take one leg back in alignment with that hip as you hinge forward, not too wide, not too narrow (if you are falling over you need more width) then push off of the back foot and reach both arms forward and  then to the sky with legs in a lunge position.

Warrior 2 -still lunging the legs reaching same arm forward as front leg, reaching arms long and away from each other play with the push off your back leg to keep your spine long.

Exalted Warrior- again pushing off the back foot to lengthen and reach front arm forward and up then back arm down to back leg, bracing on your back thigh, but keep pushing off the ground for powerful support!

Reversed Warrior- Want to add a twist? Try Reversed Warrior, it is like warrior 2 but with the opposite arm forward. Go back to Warrior 1 position and continue around with front (leg) arm

You may notice I do a lot more moving around and shifting forwards and back-that is some Aston Set-up techniques.  That movement helps me maintain length, width and depth. Also, my feet are not exactly in line like you may have heard they “should be” -I need more base of support due to tight hips, if you have tight hips, you may need  a slightly more wide stance too! Give it a try, play a little, as you get more balance, you can narrow your stance.

Please share, comment, and give me feed back.  I want to know if you have any modifications you do in your warrior series? If you have ever tried this form of stretching? How do you feel when you spend the time to really stretch even if it’s five minutes?

***I want to let you know I had to “just get over” not being perfect on video and share this with you. We are all on a journey to our best body-including me! Why not start today!