Welcome to The Ultimate Wellness Circle June!
This month’s health and fitness topics include:
Aspen Fitness Trainer Alycia Gillis’s “Top 10 Core Exercises” + Video Instruction!
15 New Recipes - Check out the June recipes for some of my summertime favorites!
My “Drop A Dress Size” Workouts for beginners and advanced exercisers
Scroll down to see all of your content for June!
Love,
Lisa
Hi everyone! I’m very excited to introduce you to one of my favorite local fitness trainers, Coach Alycia Gillis! Alycia is sharing her “Top 10 Core Exercises” with you this month + video instruction - I think you are going to love it!
Simply scroll down this page to access all of your recipes, workouts and Bonus material for June!
June Recipes
This is how I feel about summer cooking: I don’t want to spend tons of time in the kitchen, but I DO want to make meals at home using all of the seasonal produce that is so stunning at this time of year. The nice thing about summer cooking is that since the ingredients are so wonderful, you don’t have to do much to them in order to make a great dish. Here are some of my favorites!
Download The Recipes
June Workouts
“Drop A Dress Size” is one of my favorite full body workouts! These workouts are done in an interval format, for beginners and advanced exercisers.
For each exercise perform 3 sets of 15 reps. You will need light to moderate hand weights for some of the exercises in this program.
Drop a Dress Size
Drop a Dress Size (Advanced)
June Bonus Content
Coach Alycia Gillis’s: “Top 10 Core Strengthening Exercises”
Athletic Director, Private Trainer and Group Fitness Instructor at The Snowmass Club - Alycia uses a wide variety of fitness tools to bring out the BEST IN YOU. Her workouts are fun, challenging and will push you in a direction based on your specific goals and needs.
She has extensive training and certifications which all complement her fitness philosophy: that anyone can have improved posture, flexibility & strength at any age.
Alycia’s passion is to help you learn and discover more about how your body moves and how you can train to feel better, become more energized and stay pain free for the many years to come!
Alycia is an avid marathoner (She has run 8 marathons!) and enjoys skiing, biking and hiking in our beautiful mountain town.
1. Bird Dog Crunch
Bird Dog Crunch is a core body exercise that strengthens the lower back and abdominals while helping your body learn to balance and find stability. If you learn how to do Bird Dog Crunch you will have an exercise that helps teach and train your body to be stronger in the center, providing you with more strength overall.
Notes on this exercise:
Kneel on the mat on all fours. Reach one arm long, draw in the abs, and extend the opposite leg long behind you.
Bring the elbow and knee in towards your center as you round your back remember to draw in your abs. Repeat for desired number of reps then switch sides.
Complete 1-3 sets of 20 reps.
NOTE: 1 set for beginners, 3 sets for advanced exercisers
2. Glute Bridge Hold
Build your butt and tone your thighs without putting pressure on your lower back.
Notes on this exercise
Bend your knees and put your feet flat on the ground just close enough that you can graze your heels with your fingertips when you stretch your arms down by your side. Your feet should be about hip-width apart
Drive your hips up as high as possible, squeezing the glutes hard. Brace your abs and extend your hips so that you don’t hyper extend your back.
Squeeze your glutes and hold at the top for 5 seconds. Concentrate on feeling your glutes work. Don’t just go through the motions. Actually think about the muscles that should be working as you hold. Complete 1-3 sets of 5 reps
3. Reverse Crunch
The reverse crunch really targets your lower abs. It gets deep into the core muscles and really strengthens the abdominal area.
Notes on this exercise:
Lie flat on the floor, lift legs directly over your hips crossing at the ankles. Anchor your hands on any secure structure over head.
Using your ab muscles and not momentum, curl your hips off the floor and reach your legs towards the ceiling, bringing your knees slightly towards your chest.
Slowly return to the starting position. Remember to breathe during the exercise, exhaling as you lift your hips and inhale as you return to starting position.
Complete 10-20 reps for 1-3 sets.
4. Reverse “Tabletop” Plank
This exercise gets its name from the popular yoga pose- Tabletop. Traditional tabletop is usually just for stretching or even used as a resting position in between other poses, but we’ve turned it around-literally, and now tabletop can be a strength move, too! This exercise is done as an isometric exercise, meaning your joints don’t move - Just hold it!
Notes on this exercise:
Start seated with bent knees and feet on the floor directly under knees. Place hands behind your hips slightly wider than shoulders with fingers pointed towards your body.
Lift hips and torso off the floor and gaze up towards the ceiling keeping your neck relaxed. Keep your knees, hips, and shoulders parallel to the mat as you hold your plank squeezing your glutes and core.
Hold this position for 10-30 seconds. Complete 1-3 sets
5. Plank Punch
The plank pose is one of the greatest core exercises you can do, but kicking it up a notch by adding these punches and balancing on one arm will deliver killer head-to-toe body-shaping benefits.
Notes on this exercise:
Start in a forearm plank position, with your feet hip width distance. Your core should be tight, shoulders pulled down and back, and your neck neutral.
Bracing your abs and engaging your quads and glutes, punch one hand out and over head, at about shoulder height. Move in a controlled fashion and try not to really rotate or let your butt go up in the air as you punch.
Keep alternating punches at a controlled pace. Try to keep your core braced and your hips as stabilize as possible as you alternate punches. Make your core really work to fight the urge to rotate.
Repeat 10 - 20 times for 1-3 sets
6. Blast Off Plank
Another great, high intensity plank variation.
Notes on this exercise:
Start in a plank position, with your feet hip width distance. Your core should be tight, shoulders pulled down and back, and your neck neutral.
Bracing your core, bend your knees and thrust the hips backwards. Reverse this movement “blasting” forward to the plank position. Make sure you shoulders do not travel past the wrists.
Complete 1-3 sets of 10-20 reps.
7. Reverse Plank Toe Touch
This one is fun, super challenging and great for core, stability and balance. Plus, it will get your heart rate up too!
Notes on this exercise:
Start in a tabletop plank position as instructed above.
Lift your left leg up and reach your right hand toward your left toes. Return your hand and foot to floor, lifting the pelvis back to tabletop by squeezing the glutes. This completes one rep. Switch sides for the next rep.
Complete 20 reps for 1- 3 sets.
8. Plank To Down Dog with Toe Tap
A dynamic exercise that strengthens core, improves flexibility and gets your heart rate up all at the same time.
Notes on this exercise:
Begin in a high plank position.
Push backwards from the palms of your hands, using your core. Hinge at the hips to a downward dog position while using one hand to touch the opposite foot or ankle. Return to the high plan and repeat…althernating.
Repeat 10 reps on each side, 1-3 sets
9. Rainbow Plank
A fat-burning version of the traditional forearm plank, Rainbow Planks (with hip rotation!) strengthens your abs, obliques and lower back, whittling your waist as a result.
Notes on this exercise:
From a forearm plank, slowly rotate the spine to lower your left hip to just above the floor (about one to two inches from the ground). Come back to plank.
Now lower the right hip toward the floor. This counts as one rep.
Complete 1-3 sets of 10-20 reps.
10. Bridge With Alternating Leg Raise
Lay on your back with your hands by your sides, your knees bent and feet flat Tighten the abdominal and buttock muscles
Raise your hips staying level through the pelvis area. Raise one leg while keeping your pelvis raised. Lower the first leg (keep those hips up!), then raise the other.
Complete 3 sets of 20 reps
