15-Minute Towel (or Slider) Workout
A photo posted by Nicole Perry (@nicoleperr) on Mar 8, 2015 at 10:48am PDT
I have one more towel/slider workout today and then I’ll relax with all these faux-megaformer moves, promise.
15-Minute Towel (or Slider) Workout
Equipment I Used:
- Towel (or sliders if you have them)
- Exercise mat
- Gymboss Interval Timer
Set a timer for 15 rounds of 50 seconds of work and 10 seconds of rest. I know 10 seconds isn’t very long—it’s basically just giving you enough time to set up for the next exercise. If you’re a beginner, you can change the interval lengths (maybe do 40 seconds of work and 20 seconds of rest). You’ll go through the following five exercises three times.
Sliding Side-to-Back-to-Curtsey Lunges (Right) |
Your right leg will be the base leg; the towel will go under your left foot. Starting in a standing position, slide the left leg straight out to the left, bending your right knee down into a side lunge. Press through the right heel to come back up to standing and then transition smoothly into a back lunge, sliding the left foot back behind you as you bend the right knee. Again, press through that right heel to rise back up to standing and then slide the left foot to the right, shooting the left leg behind the right foot as you bend the right knee down into a curtsey lunge. Press back to standing and start from the top of the sequence.
Form cues to keep in mind:
- The right knee should never stick out farther than the toes. To achieve this, think of sitting your hips and bum back into the lunges as you lower.
- At the top of each lunge (when you’re standing), try not to lock your right knee straight. Keep a soft micro bend in it so that the muscles are still working (rather than shifting your bodyweight into a locked joint).
- Keep your bodyweight in the right heel. The left foot is supporting little—if any—of your bodyweight.
Siding Side-to-Back-to-Curtsey Lunges (Left) |
Army Crawls |
These are fun! Well…”fun”. You know what I mean. The move is called Lizard in Lagree Fitness and it’s the feet that stay still while you move the carriage with your forearms (everyone loves to hate this move). Off the machine, put your feet on a towel and get into a plank with your forearms at the end of an exercise mat. Army crawl your way up the length of the mat, one forearm in front of the other, maintaining the plank position as you slide forward. When you can no longer go any farther forward, reverse the motion, crawling your forearms backward towards the starting edge of the mat. As you move, try to keep your hips level in a plank. They’ll want to dip side to side with each step of the forearms; use your core strength to stabilize them. Beginners: you can do these from your knees, just make sure to add an extra towel for padding.
Hip Bridge Heel Sliders |
Start in a bridge position, feet on a towel stacked underneath your knees, shoulders, neck and head resting on the ground with arms by your side. Squeeze your glutes and core to lift your hips off the ground so that from shoulders to knees is a straight, diagonal line. From this starting position, start to slide your feet out, straightening your legs and rolling onto your heels. Try to keep your butt off the ground, even at your farthest extension. When you’ve gone as low as you can comfortably go, drag your heels inward, coming to a flat foot as you slide your feet back to the starting position. A note about form: This goes for any hip bridge exercise, but especially when you’re adding in these sliding hamstring curls: you don’t want to overextend your low back. It’s the smallest change in position (as you can see below), but think of it as the difference between engaging and not engaging your abs. In the picture to the left, I’m engaging the backside of my body to keep my hips lifted: squeezing my glutes and back, but not activating the front of my core. You can tell by the slight upward arch of my midsection. In the picture to the right, I’ve engaged my whole core, pulling my abs in tight with a slight upward tuck of the pelvis. My low back is not over-stressed, and the top of my body forms a straight diagonal line.
Windshield Wipers in Plank |
Start in a forearm plank position with feet on a towel, shoulders stacked over elbows. From here, you’re going to swish both feet to the left, squeezing the left sidebody. Swish them back to center, then to the right. Continue: left, center, right, center. Maybe my floor just was a little sticky, but these had to be one-part slide, one-part hop for me in order to get a full range of movement. Keep this exercise in mind, too, if you struggle with windshield wipers laying on your back.
