Hi I'm Valerie Waters with the A-List Look.
And today I have for you Your Best Warm-Up.
That is exactly what you are gonna be saying about this warm-up.
You're gonna love it.
So if you're anything like me, you've been maybe spending a little too much time in front
of your computer or you've been doing your A-List workouts really hard, and you're a
little sore.
So this is going to make you feel better.
So I'm gonna start with a foam roller.
I'm just gonna put it down here on the ground.
And we are gonna start with rolling out our glutes, okay?
So you're just gonna sit on your foam roller, you put one foot up on your knee like that,
and then you're just gonna roll over into that hip and glute area, and then just roll.
And what this will do is it's gonna loosen up those hips.
And you're gonna find a spot, and it doesn't take long, you just kinda go "oh, there it
its" where you might just need to give it a little more love.
Hang out there in that little spot -- you're spot might be different than my spot.
And you'll know when you get there.
And if it's not too bad then you can give just kinda maybe some bigger rolls like that.
It feels so good.
I love my foam roller.
But I was finding that a lot of my clients -- I was telling them to foam roll before
our workout or after our workout and they just weren't getting it done.
So I realized that I needed to put the medicine in the chocolate, this being the medicine.
The chocolate being the fun stuff, like the squats and the Valslide reverse lunges and
things like that.
So, I started doing more of these type of warm-ups to makes sure that my clients were
getting it done.
And that's what I from you.
So now all I've done is switched legs here, and I'ver over on the other glute.
Now for me, this one's a little tighter, so I've got some little spots and I'm gonna go
kinda -- just roll it out.
You find what you need.
Maybe you need a little more.
Maybe you need to lean into a little bit more.
You kind of -- the best thing with the foam roller is it's so adaptable to everybody,
and you just kinda find what you need.
Okay, I'm gonna go a couple more.
My glutes are tight from all those Bombshell Booty Workouts.
Okay, so now what I want you to do is I want you to sit on your roller and you're gonna
roll back.
So we're gonna get our low back, okay, so just come on down.
And now, if you have long hair, you kinda wanna pick your hair up because otherwise
sometimes it gets under the roller.
So I'm gonna give my low back a little stretch, and I'm gonna lay back over it like that.
So I'm just gonna open up here.
And this will feel really good.
I'm opening up a little bit of my hip flexor, but I'm getting a nice arch in my low back,
which sometimes disappears when we sit at our computer too much.
Okay, and then I'm gonna come up and I'm just gonna roll out that upper back.
And go ahead and open up those elbows.
Open up that chest, you know?
We spend way too much time hunched foreword, so open it up and then roll back like that.
And then a couple big rolls.
And then, again, you know, experiment bringing your arms in, and rolling, and then open up,
and fall back over it like that.
And I'm gonna push back and I'm gonna do one more like kinda down here on my low back -- a
couple little rolls -- and then I'm gonna lay down one more time.
And, again, I'm just sort of releasing into it.
And this feels really, really good.
And then you come back up.
And now what I'm gonna do: Just dropping my butt down and I'm gonna flip over.
So now I'm gonna do the quads.
And this is very painful for me.
So just get on there.
And, again, you kinda find what you need most.
What you need might be different than what I need.
So right now I want some nice, long sweeps.
And you just kinda walk it out.
And then you look for those little knots.
So I kinda -- I'm gonna give a little more pressure on my left side right now.
I'm gonna keep this tight because there is a little knot for me right there.
Now maybe your knot is a little more on a little lower.
So you can come up here and you can go like that.
But you look for you spot and then you hang out there and give it some love.
And now I'm gonna kinda switch and I'm gonna put a little more pressure on my right side.
And now I'm gonna do those long sweeps again.
There you go.
And I know, like, sometimes like this does feel good once you get down here, and I know
we're always in like a hurry and wanna get to the workout.
This is gonna make your workout better, and it's gonna make you feel better, and it's
gonna make your muscle tissue better.
So you're gonna have a better tone, and it's really gonna take care of you.
And once you make it a part of your workout, you're gonna come to love it.
But in the beginning, you might just have to sort of reframe, like, oh, that's like
boring or whatever.
It's like, I have clients that -- they do this at the beginning and it's just kinda
their chance to get a little bit in their workout zone, detach from the day, you know,
get ready to workout.
So you get a little separation and you get to kinda just be a little zen, right?
So few times I say, like, you know, let's get down on the floor and roll around, right?
Okay, that feels really good.
That was my quads.
So, now I'm gonna move this out of the way and we're gonna start to move a little bit.
You're gonna take a superband -- love my superband.
So, superband is a flat band.
If you don't have one yet, just use another stretchy band.
You wanna have a little bit of tension.
And you're gonna kinda go short on the band.
And then you're gonna do a nice big lunge back like that.
And then you're gonna twist over that bent knee like that.
And I'm opening up my hip flexor right here, and I'm also stretching my lats.
So I'm pulling down on the band, and then I'm gonna go to the other side.
Okay, so we're gonna do a total of 5 on each side.
So that was 1.
That's 2.
You don't wanna rush it.
You wanna like really feel that stretch.
That feels so good.
This is my new favorite stretch, for sure -- 3 and 3.
That's good.
Okay, let's get one more each side.
Here we go -- 5 and 5.
That was so good.
Okay, so we're going from that into a Forearm Lunge.
So what you're gonna do is you're gonna step into the lunge and you're gonna try and get
that forearm down on the ground inside your foot.
And I'll show you.
So you step out and you take that forearm and you're trying to work it down towards
the floor.
Now, my hips are pretty tight so, you can see, I'm having a hard time reaching the floor.
You might be further up, you might be further down.
The goal is to keep working towards the floor.
I just push back.
And if you have more room, you can actually just keep moving forward.
Taking my forearm down, and I'm using this other hand for support.
So you can see, I get a little lower on the other side.
This hip's a little bit better, not great but better.
And then we're gonna do 4 on each side.
And there you go.
So you can see, as you start to warm-up, you should feel like you get lower into the stretch,
and that is the idea.
So don't judge yourself where you are on those first few.
And you're gonna get better over time too.
And come on down -- 3.
And push back.
One more.
There, see, I'm getting lower now.
See that?
So good.
Hopefully you are too.
Last time, other side.
And push back.
That was so good.
Now, we're gonna do a little stretch for the inner thigh.
I'm gonna step to the side.
So, I'm gonna reach way out like that.
You wanna try and keep that foot down, and you're sitting over at the bent leg.
Now the tendency is to wanna pull that toe up.
Just try and keep it down, and you just go as low as you are able to go, and then over
to other side.
And then up and over.
And if you need to put your hands down for support that's okay.
Good.
That's it.
And last one.
And we'll go one more each side.
Okay, well done.
Alright, so we're gonna finish with a quad stretch.
So for that, you're gonna need either a step or a bench.
If you're at home, you can actually use your sofa.
Ideally something a little bit hight than this.
What you do is you wanna get that foot up on top of the step.
And if you don't have anything, go up against your wall and scoot in and get that foot up
on the wall.
Now it helps to have something to hold onto as you work yourself into it, right?
Because you're quads may be a little tight if you've been working hard.
And you're hip flexors might be tight.
So you wanna stay nice and tall, you wanna squeeze that glute, and you wanna push push
into the hip a little bit.
So try not to collapse like that -- you're not gonna feel it so much -- you wanna be
up.
If you're doing this against the wall -- whew, you might see stars.
This is already a lot, but up against the wall is even harder.
And we just hang out here.
It's like do-do-do.
Breathe.
This is a really good one because we're all tight here.
Well, I think we are, anyway.
Maybe it's just me and all of my clients?
The computer really shortens up your hip flexors, and the more you spend time sitting the tighter
and tighter you're gonna get.
Okay, so now I'm putting that foot up there.
I know what you're thinking: That's not so graceful.
Wait until you try getting into this stretch.
You'll understand.
Okay, so nice and tall.
Fire up that glute.
Push that hip forward.
And then just breathe.
You will thank me later, even if it doesn't feel really fun right now.
Later, you'll be going "Oh my god, that was the best warm-up ever."
Okay, and now, again, I'm using my little foam roller just to help me come out of it.
Great job.
You have just done Your Best Warm-Up, and I'm sure that's exactly what you are thinking.
Now what I want you to do: You should be feeling amazing, so you have the option of doing one
of my other A-List workouts or just going into whatever you had planned for the day.
But hopefully now you feel really, really good and warmed-up.
And I hope you join me here again.
I'm Valerie Waters.
And just remember: You are one workout away from a good mood.