BWW Exclusive: Strengthen Your Frontal Plane 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 in the frontal plane!

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:

Alternating Lateral Lunge

This lateral lunge is a fantastic way to practice the landing from last week's Skater Jump, and build strength in our landing leg while creating "length" in our extended leg. As one foot lands on the ground, I love reaching my opposite arm as far forward as possible which helps us control how our hips shift backwards and over our foot.

Wide Grip Row

At MFF we typically start with a Close Grip Row because it's a bit easier for beginners to control, and as you get stronger this Wide Grip Row variation can be a great way to challenge how well you can control the movement of your arms and shoulder blades. Focus on a 45-60° angle between the arm and the ribcage to engage more of the muscles of your shoulder and upper back, rather than the lats involved in the Close Grip Row. (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!

Alternating Side to Side Push-Up

This push-up variation challenges the stability of our shoulders as well as how well we control our plank with additional movement. Our natural tendency is to twist through the shoulders or hips as we shift ourselves sideways, so focus on minimizing any rotation through your spine as you drive yourself up and across with your arms!

Side Plank

Probably the single best exercise for teaching your obliques how to resist side-bending, the side plank comes in a variety of flavors so you can find the perfect match for your abilities. From the knees might be easier to control, but I find it helps me better "feel" what's going on in my core. Since this is an isometric exercise, we're going to count our reps as the number of exhales we're taking, rather than moving up and down. Once you set yourself up, focus on the most complete exhale possible.

Our goal is to move with each exercise with as much stability as possible - each exercise will expose inconsistencies in our plank, so we're working our hardest to resist side bending or twisting through our spine. These moves can provide a robust strength challenge when your technique is locked in to 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.