Planning a wedding can be stressful and time consuming, two things that aren’t historically conducive to giving some priority to yourself, or more specifically, your health. But not feeling your best can just add to the stress of the upcoming event, effectively compounding the bad feeling. It’s a vicious cycle that can easily be avoided by giving a few minutes a day to bettering yourself.
So, without sounding too much like a self-help website, here are a few exercises you can do at home (or wherever) to help ease some of those pre-wedding worries and make sure you look good walking down the aisle.
Plank It Out
By now, everyone has heard of or done a plank and it’s easy to see why. This is an exercise you can literally do at your office desk and maybe you should. A 30-second plank every hour can go a long way to help strengthen your core and tighten that stomach.
Make sure while you’re doing the plank that your hips don’t sink too much or are raised too high. You want a flat back while focusing on keeping your core tight. Start off at 30 seconds for each plank and increase as you get stronger.
Challenge yourself: take your plank to the next level by doing Commandos. From the plank position, push yourself up into the push-up position, then back down again. Repeat at least 15 times.
Dead Bug - The Good Kind
Need some more core work? Of course you do. Dead Bug can help you make your core tight by not only working your abs, but your balance as well. Lay flat on your back and put both of your hands straight in the air. Bring your knees up so that your legs are at 90 degrees.
Take one of your legs and extend it until it’s about an inch off the ground, never letting it touch, and then bring it back to 90 degrees. Do 15 straight on each leg.
Challenge yourself: Feel free to add some side planks into the mix between sets. Set the goal for three sets and focus on good form.
Burpees. Yup, of course.
Burpees are everyone’s favorite exercise (*huge eye roll*), but they’re effective and good for a lot of different things. In this burpee, you should come down to the push up position and actually do a proper push up. On your the jump up, bring your legs to to your chest to get some extra core work in. Yes, they’ll be hard, but totally worth it.
Challenge yourself: before dropping into the push-up portion of the burpee, do one to three deep air squats to get a good burn in your legs and glutes.
We look forward to seeing your best self at your wedding. If you need some extra motivation, drop us a line. We know all the good workout playlists to keep your energy up.
