100 A Day to B Strong Fitness Challenge: Day 20

A G I L I T Y

  • the ability to change directions quickly without straining your muscles or stressing your joints
  • not just a skill for athletes
  • something you never get “too old” for so long as you continue to move independently
  • we work on it in this Day 20 workout ;-)

“Cassie, I just can’t keep up! It’s not even ‘cause I’m outta breath, I just can’t move that fast!!”

Eeehhhh... ;-)

Try these things & see if you’re able to speed up!

  • stay grounded!! As counter-intuitive as that may seem, in order to move so fast it looks like they’re floating, athletes are literally using the ground as the equal & opposite force that allows them to propel themselves with the amount of power & speed that they do. Stay grounded
  • staying grounded means bending your knees to keep your center of gravity low
  • bending your knees means you should be hinging your hips - booty back, head forward, spine straight [I went over this a ton more in yesterday’s post about lateral lunges] - so that your center of gravity is centered over your feet. If your center of gravity gets too far in front of/behind your feet, you’ll be off balance & unable to move as swiftly
  • engage your lats [un-shrug your shoulders] & pull your abdominals tight so that you’re not puffing your rib cage out
  • breathe!!!!

Nice, now let’s get to those side shuffle drills!!

100 A Day to B Strong Fitness Challenge: Day 19

Day 19 has one of my FAVE lower body moves: Lateral Lunges!!

  • they work the inner AND outer thigh, along with the booty of your bent leg
  • they stretch the inner thigh of your straight leg
  • and they challenge your core stability b/c it’s hard AF to keep your posture in check when you’re moving sideways [“laterally”] AND each side of your body is doing all kinds of different stuff [LOL!!]


Here’s what you need to do in order to make sure you’re loading your muscles & not your joints/back so that you’re building strength, not creating tension that could cause you pain:

  • the foot that steps side is the knee that bends - the other leg stays completely straight
  • as you step side, hinge your hips: booty back, head forward, spine straight
  • if you hinge your hips correctly, your upper back shouldn’t round over, nor should your shoulders collapse down in front of your chest
  • hinging your hips while keeping your abdominals pulled tight also keeps your lower back from arching & your rib cage from “puffing out” excessively
  • sticking your hips back for the hip hinge will also load the heel of your foot that you stepped on - which is great for engaging the booty
  • if your knee is poking forward excessively/you feel the majority of your weight shifting into the ball of your foot, stick your butt back farther!!
  • drive through the heel of your foot [of the knee that’s bent], to initiate standing back up again. Push with power & move with enough speed to give you the momentum to move that foot back beside the other & stand all the way upright again

Here's the demo video so you can see what I'm talking about:

There you go! Time to give it a try!! Get it, Fit Fam!!

100 A Day to B Strong Fitness Challenge: Day 18

Day 18 is the perfect workout for #motivationmonday!! It’s tough enough for the motivated souls & quick enough for the unmotivated [LOL!!]

There's a “Plank Drill” today so here are a few notes to make sure your form is on point each step of the flow:
Side Planks

  • when you open to each side, you want to create a straight line from one hand to the other so that all your joints in both your arms are stacked perfectly
  • keep your lats engaged [unshrug your shoulders]
  • keep your hips stacked - avoid letting your top hip open so far that it falls back behind your bottom hip
  • keep your hips lifted away from the ground - avoid letting your body “sag” so that your bottom hip moves toward the floor

Cross Under Crunches

  • begin with your feet 1.5-2 feet apart
  • when you cross one knee toward the opposite elbow, the heel of your supporting foot falls to the ground, allowing you to completely rotate your pelvis & work your obliques [take a look at the pic above if you’re not sure what I mean]
  • be sure to square your pelvis back up with the ground & rotate back to the ball of your foot as you return your crunching leg back to the plank position

Downward Dog

  • poke your butt up AND press your chest back toward your toes at the same time so you create a pyramid shape with your body
  • press your heels toward the ground to feel a stretch in your calves & hamstrings [back of thighs]
  • press your chest back so that you feel a stretch through your armpits & back [your shoulder girdle], but be sure to keep your lats engaged & avoid letting your shoulders cover up your neck
  • to come out of the downward dog, lower your hips AND move your shoulders back to stack over your wrists so you’re in a proper plank

That’s the plank drill for ya!! Now give them demo vid a watch so you can see it in action:

That's all, folks!! Time to get movin'!!