BWW Exclusive: Improve Your Strength and Stability with a Workout from Mark Fisher Fitness Trainer Harold Gibbons!

Your fitness doesn't have to hit PAUSE while sheltering in place, so we're teaming up with Mark Fisher Fitness and Harold Gibbons to offer you a bodyweight workout to get your fitness fix. Today we have a four exercise series to focus on strength and stability through the core, shoulders, and hips!

Take 3-4 minutes for a quick warm-up to get prepared: Modified Child's Pose for 60 seconds helps us set our intentions for the workout and reset our nervous system - it's like the calm before the storm. Then, we use the Seated Hip Switch and the Half-Kneeling Shoulder Circle to get our ball-and-socket joints moving as fluidly as possible. We'll also use a Glute Bridge for the booty and a Deadbug for the abz! Then, it's on to our fierce foursome:

Push-Up to Shoulder Tap

This push-up variation challenges the stability of our shoulders and core because we have to resist rotation as our hand leaves the ground. Rather than focusing on speed, I always do this with a pause and full exhale to ensure that I'm using my breath to create as much desirable stiffness and muscular tension possible.

One Arm Row

The one arm row directly builds upon the Push-Up to Shoulder Tap because we're using our obliques - along with a vast supporting cast -to stabilize our ribcage over our pelvis and above the work being down by our arm and shoulder muscles. Find your hinge position, and then row while resisting letting your ribcage rotate as your arm and shoulder blade move. (Remember, if you don't have weights or bands at home, you can always use a backpack or tote bag filled with textbooks, canned goods, or other heavy household items!

Half-Kneeling Shovel

The Half-Kneeling Shovel is a fantastic way to connect to your core as you stabilize the hips and move your shoulders. I like to exhale as I lift to my shoulder to help keep the ribs down, and I find that tucking in my shirt makes it a lot easier to feel when I start to lean back - if you feel your shirt pulling, you've gone too far!

Single Leg Deadlift

The single leg deadlift is one of my favorite exercises for teaching us how to sit into "stance" on one hip and balance being supple and stiff at the same time. As you reach your hips back, most of us allow our hips to rotate out into this arabesque-y position, so the goal is to avoid turning out and letting those hips open. Draw a line from your belly button to your big toe!

Our goal is to move with each exercise with as much stability as possible - each exercise will invite you to engage your core in new ways as you work to resist side bending or twisting through the hips, core, and shoulders. These moves can provide a robust strength challenge when your technique is locked into place, so be sure to focus on quality of movement first, and then add quantity of reps after - you'll be surprised at how hard these moves can make you work!

For more online fitness shenanigans from the crew at @mffclubhouse, visit markfisherfitness.com/online.