BodyAware session – Day 2

Following up from my first BodyAware session with Rob, I was very eager to continue the programme. I wanted to meet the health goals that we had set up for me and knew that I would need some discipline to continue – coming from someone who does very little to no exercise!

My session for today was core conditioning and posture correction, and Rob said we would do lunch afterward. For the core correction session, we needed to work on my core – the abdominal muscles and obliques – (and I can hear you asking what are obliques…). We started by identifying my weak areas to decide where the most strengthening work would be needed – well all over really!  Whoosh – now I feel much better – the back pain that was killing me has been reduced

The first exercise we did was the plank. I got into the ‘push up’ position on my forearms and held that position for 30 seconds to 1 minute at a time. I also did some rotational exercise with a resistance band. The bands were anchored under my feet and then I did some baseball swings (getting into a twisting motion). This exercise was essential at isolating and working my obliques. Next we did the reverse crunches. Lying on my back, I had to move my legs toward my chest repeatedly to work my lower abs.

We then moved to the posture correction session. This was especially important for me because I have developed a bit of poor posture from sitting at a computer all day! Rob explained to me that I needed to release the shoulder tension I had built up and stretch my chest in order to regain correct posture.

To do so, we started with an assisted stretch, where he aided me with resistance bands to pull in and out to work abs and obliques. He also taught me a self stretch so that I could continue on my own. This one was very simple. I stood in a doorway, hands in the doorframe and with my feet pivoted, and then I swayed my body back and forth. Simple yet so beneficial! The thing is I would do this sometimes just because I am tall enough, never realizing that there were such great health benefits to it!

We ended the session with lunch at Cariblue restaurant. He enquired again about my eating habits and made suggestions on quantities and choices for my lunch. He also gave me some points for improvement for the future. I’m already looking forward to my next session! So now that I know about my obliques, I shall spend the next week fine tuning them…