Video Transcript

Hi, my name is Alyssa Nimedez and I am a fitness instructor here at Crunch in Burbank, and today, I'm gonna show you how to get your back a little more flexible. Now, the goal of these exercises is to try to get you into one of these. You could either, this is a little more advanced, I'm gonna start off with my feet planted, and I'm just gonna go directly into a bridge. So, what I'm gonna do is I'm just gonna push on up and stretch on open. Now, that's your goal, but, I'm here to show you some exercises on how to achieve that in the future. So, we're gonna start off laying down, abs are in, pull those feet in, roll on down. Now, if you've ever been to yoga, this is one of the steps they have you do, quite frequently, to achieve the Wheel, which I call the bridge. So, we're gonna push on up, abs in, glutes are in, now place those hands underneath, you open up those shoulders, look up to the ceiling and just hold here for a few moments. You just wanna hold here, getting used to this position, 'cause you're pushing off your feet, planting them into the ground, you're lifting those hips up, you're opening up those shoulders, and you're just getting used to this position, and come on down. We're gonna do it one more time, release and exhale, up. Grab on to those hands, pulling those glutes in, and holding here. Now, you wanna feel the weight distributed on the ball of your foot. You don't want to let those knees to come out, pull them in and release. And, we're gonna roll on up, and I'm gonna show you another position. So, you're gonna come on to your knees, I'm gonna stay sideways, and you're gonna sit up tall, your feet are about hips distance, and parallel, your abs are in, and what I want you to want, what I want you to do is release back. Grab on to those heels, if you can. If you can't, don't. And, you're just gonna open up those hips, stay here for a few moments, and come right back up, one hand at a time, grabbing on to your waist, your lower back. Same thing, now remember, if you can't go down that far, don't worry about it. If you're here, that's okay. I just want you to get used to the feeling. I have one more exercise for you. But, we're gonna do this one one more time. So, inhale in, and exhale, release, go as far as you can. If you need to stop here, stop here, if you can go further, grab those heels, relax that neck, open up through those hips and come back up. So, now, this is the third and final step to achieving a bridge position. So, what we're gonna do is, it's a little more advanced, but this is what I teach, or what I taught when I taught gymnastics. It's one of my favorite ones because you get to kind of control how you bring your hands as far down as you want, and you bring it right back up, so, you're training your muscles to go down, and you're training them to go up. Now, I'm gonna show you what I mean. Okay, so, I want you to stretch open your arms, and reach back, can you touch the mirror? Is this comfortable? Is it uncomfortable? If you can't, you can just step back, or step further, it's up to you. So, this is a good position for me. My arm's straight, I'm gonna be able to bend as far as I can, and what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna push against the mirror, now, I was actually too close, so, what it's gonna happen is I'm gonna walk my hands down as far as I can. So, say you can't go any further? Walk your hands back up, push yourself up. So, it takes a lot of muscles, a lot of core, to push yourself back up but that's a feeling that is gonna really help you for your bridge, so let's do that again. This time, I'm gonna walk all the way down to show you what it looks like, and, can I touch the floor? I can, and right back up. And, push up. And, that's the third and final exercising into learning how to do a bridge. If you need more information, of course, follow me on Instagram at Stylemefit_ (underscore) or my website at www.style-me-fit.com, and I'm Alyssa Nimedez. Thanks, guys!