Hi Anna. Great workout. Question about thrusters: I try really hard not to hold my breath but I almost always find myself doing it. I know that isn't good. Do you have any tips?
Hi! There’s no perfect way to breathe, no real right/wrong. Experiment with a few ways and see what feels best! These two feel most obvious/logical to me:
Inhale as you lower into the squat, exhale as you press up
Inhale while standing, hold your breath briefly while you squat, exhale forcefully as you press the weights overhead
But as long as you are breathing at SOME point in the movement and not feeling downward pelvic floor pressure (or experiencing other PF symptoms like leaking) you’re good.
Anna, is there another modification you can recommend for the the bear crawls/taps? Per my usual, my pesky hip flexors take over, and I can barely do 3-4. Maybe there is something that would help me build up to doing it? Thanks!
If you’re crawling, make your steps TINY. Like an inch or two per step.
Whether you’re crawling or just hovering, keep your knees extremely low — like barely floating off the floor.
Make sure to really use your breath and feel the area below your belly button gathering inwards and upwards on the exhale to activate your deep core before your knees lift.
Building up would look like starting with bear taps — stay in one place on all fours, inhale to prepare, then exhale as you gather and activate your deep core and float your knees up, and inhale as you lower back down to all fours (and repeat). When that feels more manageable, hold a static bear “plank” for 2–3 deep breaths in and out. Over time, work your way up to holding that plank for more like 20 or 30 seconds+.
If you want to just swap in a different exercise for now, you could go for mountain climbers, or something like a plank shoulder tap, or up-down planks (lowering to forearms, lifting back up to hands). (The latter two can be done from a knee plank.)
Don’t forget that warming up with some of those pelvic tilts and bridges can be helpful for opening up/releasing your hip flexors before you start doing exercises where they tend to over-fire for you. I remember we tried that with Pilates at some point — did it help?
Hi Anna. Great workout. Question about thrusters: I try really hard not to hold my breath but I almost always find myself doing it. I know that isn't good. Do you have any tips?
Hi! There’s no perfect way to breathe, no real right/wrong. Experiment with a few ways and see what feels best! These two feel most obvious/logical to me:
Inhale as you lower into the squat, exhale as you press up
Inhale while standing, hold your breath briefly while you squat, exhale forcefully as you press the weights overhead
But as long as you are breathing at SOME point in the movement and not feeling downward pelvic floor pressure (or experiencing other PF symptoms like leaking) you’re good.
Thank you! This is helpful.
Anna, is there another modification you can recommend for the the bear crawls/taps? Per my usual, my pesky hip flexors take over, and I can barely do 3-4. Maybe there is something that would help me build up to doing it? Thanks!
Hi! A couple of small adjustments to try first:
If you’re crawling, make your steps TINY. Like an inch or two per step.
Whether you’re crawling or just hovering, keep your knees extremely low — like barely floating off the floor.
Make sure to really use your breath and feel the area below your belly button gathering inwards and upwards on the exhale to activate your deep core before your knees lift.
Building up would look like starting with bear taps — stay in one place on all fours, inhale to prepare, then exhale as you gather and activate your deep core and float your knees up, and inhale as you lower back down to all fours (and repeat). When that feels more manageable, hold a static bear “plank” for 2–3 deep breaths in and out. Over time, work your way up to holding that plank for more like 20 or 30 seconds+.
If you want to just swap in a different exercise for now, you could go for mountain climbers, or something like a plank shoulder tap, or up-down planks (lowering to forearms, lifting back up to hands). (The latter two can be done from a knee plank.)
Thank you! I am realizing I probably need to go back to some basics and work up to the bear moves!
Don’t forget that warming up with some of those pelvic tilts and bridges can be helpful for opening up/releasing your hip flexors before you start doing exercises where they tend to over-fire for you. I remember we tried that with Pilates at some point — did it help?
I will try to get in the habit of doing that every time. Thank you for the reminder!