Hi, I'm Valerie Waters with the A-List Look.
And today, we are doing the Ultimate Warm-Up.
This is basically the warm-up I do with all of my clients before every workout, with a
couple extra things put in that's gonna make you feel better -- especially if you're sitting
at the computer a lot.
Some of my clients are nursing right now, so their shoulder gets tight.
So this is to help all of you who really need to feel like you need to open up your shoulders,
stretch out your low back and just get your body moving.
You can do this warm-up before any of my other A-List workouts -- it's absolutely perfect.
So I'm going to ask you to come to the floor, and we're gonna start in Child's Pose.
So let's get started.
So I'm gonna come down here on my knees, you're gonna sit back on your heels, and you're just
gonna open up your knees.
And I'm gonna take Child's Pose, and when I'm there, it might be a little hard to hear
me.
But I want you to be very active in Child's Pose.
So normally, people kinda just relax -- I'm gonna have you press into your hands and activate
your shoulder.
Now as we go through this sequence, just know, I'm not a Yogi, okay.
My little yoga postures are not gonna be perfect.
But we're gonna flow through that into then the movement prep that I do with all my clients.
So here we go: Put your hands out in front you.
And put your face down.
And again, I'm gonna press into my hands, activating my shoulder -- and this should
feel super good.
Now you're just gonna continue to take a couple breaths here, and if you like, you can take
a moment to just kinda massage your forehead, or, as they say in my yoga class, your third
eye.
And so you just kinda give yourself a little rub, just kinda like that.
Very nice.
And now we're gonna come up -- we're gonna do a nice shoulder stretch.
You're gonna slide one arm under, and then you come up, and I'm gonna do that three times.
And one more time.
That should feel really good.
And now we're gonna do the other side.
Good.
And, again.
One more time.
Okay, and we're gonna come up, and we're gonna go into a Cat/Cow -- I'm just gonna turn so
you can see me a little bit better.
We're gonna inhale and then exhale round.
Inhale -- big arch.
Exhale.
And do this five times -- inhale.
But don't rush your inhale/exhale.
And then inhale, trying to create an arch.
And then exhale, cat.
And one more time.
And then exhale.
Good, that should feel really good.
Okay, now, this one -- you're gonna find this a little bit hard if you're tight in your
shoulders from sitting at the computer a little too much.
Basically, what I want you to do is I want you to put your hand behind your head, and
you're gonna take this elbow over to the other elbow.
So you're gonna reach way under like that.
And then you're gonna open, open, open, open -- and push to open -- it's gonna be hard.
You're opening up that thoracic spine.
And then reach under.
And then open, open, twist, twist, twist twist -- don't rush it.
And again, open, open, open.
Okay, let's get two more.
And one more.
And that should feel really good.
And now, right into the other side -- hand behind your head.
Reach way under, and then way open -- open, open.
And you can probably see, I'm a little tighter on this side.
So I really need this stretch.
Good.
Two more.
Reach, and then open, open, open.
I'm twisting from my upper back, not my lower back.
Awesome, that was so good.
Okay, so from here, I'm just gonna have you move into a Downward Facing Dog.
Again, I'm not the Yogi here, but this feels really nice.
I want you to get here, and I want you to just bend one knee, then the other knee, and
just give your back of your legs a chance to open up, but also your low back.
And then go ahead and drop your heels, push back through your arms.
And now I'm gonna move out into plank, and I'm gonna lower myself all the way to my stomach.
Okay, so I'm gonna come all the way down, and then I'm very gently gonna come up into
a Cobra -- I'm not forcing that low back just yet.
Now I look down, and I'm gonna push straight up, and then walk myself back into Downward
Facing Dog, one more time.
I'm gonna shift back into plank.
I'm gonna lower down, and this time, I'm gonna come all the way through it into an Upward
Facing Dog.
Now, if you can't go -- I don't wanna see all scrunched shoulders, so if you can't come
all the way up, bend your elbows, get your shoulders down.
Now again, I'm gonna look down.
And I'm gonna push straight up into plank.
And then I'm gonna take Downward Facing Dog.
And we're gonna repeat that, one more time, okay.
So, just come down and come up and flow back into Downward Facing Dog.
And you should already feel like that's starting to open up a little bit in the back of your
legs.
Now I'm going to gently step my feet to my hands.
That, and I'm gonna scoot them apart a little.
And now I'm just gonna hang forward like a rag doll.
So I'm gonna drop my head, because that's what I want you
to do.
Good.
And now, stay down, but just kinda -- I'm gonna scoot forward.
And walk your feet apart a little bit.
And now put both hands down, give those hips a little shift.
And now leave one hand down, take the other hand to the sky.
And then you switch.
And switch each side one more time -- this should feel good.
And then over here.
And reach there.
And then just come down to center.
And now I'm just gonna walk my feet back in, and I'm gonna bend my knees, and I'm gonna
roll all the way up and give myself a nice big reach.
That was really good.
So now we're gonna go into the more dynamic part of the movement prep.
And I'm gonna grab a chair -- I want you to do the same.
And this is just simply for balance.
I'm gonna do some Leg Swings, okay.
And Leg Swings are great for warming up the back of your legs.
This is when we start to move a little bit more.
So movement prep is really, exactly like what it sounds: Preparing the body for movement.
And I did ten.
We'll do ten here.
I love Leg Swings -- it's so gentle, and it just feels so good.
Everyone of my clients says this, every single workout -- 9 and 10, that's perfect.
And now we're gonna swing our legs to the side -- just bring it across and up, warming
up your hip.
I love warming up -- it feels so good.
And, ten.
Other side.
And for some of you, this may actually end up feeling like bit of a workout by the time
we get through.
But you'll see it's a perfect way to start any of my A-List Look workouts.
And, ten.
That was really good.
Okay, I'm just gonna move the chair out of the way.
And then I'm gonna come back here for Plie Squat.
So feet wide, toes turned all the way out.
Down, squeeze your butt on the way up.
So this is warming up my knees -- warming up your knees too.
It should feel good.
Just make sure those knees are going out towards the toes.
And you wanna get about ten of these.
And, ten.
That was perfect.
Okay, so now I'm gonna do something -- I call this a Bench Pigeon.
So Pigeon Pose normally takes place on the floor, but is really hard to do.
And I like this as an active one.
So you can use a chair, right.
Or I'm using this step.
You're going to put your hands right next to your butt.
And you put your foot up on your knee.
Okay, so just scoot your butt off the bench or the chair, and then just drop down.
And you'll feel it a little bit in your triceps, because it's a little bit of a triceps dip
here.
But really what I'm stretching is right here on my hip, and I know you're gonna feel it
-- I feel it so much.
So if you sit in a chair a lot during the day, or you're a runner, you are gonna love
this one.
I'm gonna do one more, because it feels so good.
Okay, now I'm just switching.
And remember to keep your tailbone tucked under you -- don't let your butt scoot away.
And I am so tight.
I'm doing a little too much work at the computer.
This feels really, really good.
And six is good.
I'm gonna do one more and make it eight.
Okay, very, very good.
Now, If you needed a few extra of those, by all means, do a couple more.
So now I'm gonna do a Warrior Lunge, but I'm gonna use this band.
I like this flat band that I have -- it's one of my Super Bands.
But any stretchy band.
And all this is gonna do is it's gonna help you stretch your upper body.
If you do not have a band, you can still do this exercise.
So just step back -- I'm gonna kinda go at an angle, so you can see.
So I'm gonna take a big lunge back, put my hands up over here.
And I'm gonna twist over that bent knee, and I'm gonna pull that band a little bit, so
I get a nice stretch here.
I'm gonna step together, and I'm gonna do the same side five times.
Now you could also alternate.
And then you can experiment with how you stretch your arm, a little bit.
Good, one more.
Perfect.
Okay, now I'm gonna step back with the other leg.
Arms come up.
We'll twist over that bent knee.
Now, you don't wanna rush this, because you wanna open up this hip flexor.
Remember, we are warming-up, so don't fly through these.
You take your time.
And if you wobble a little bit, that's okay, sometimes that happens.
This is one of my favorite stretches -- I love it so much.
That is so good.
Okay, so now -- and I just did five of those -- if you feel you need a few more, take a
few more.
Now I'm just gonna take my band, and I'm gonna reach my hands out to the side, and I'm gonna
pull down, and I'm creating a nice long stretch here, and I'm pushing out through my hips.
And I am gonna go back and forth a couple times.
And I can't even tell you how good this feels.
I kinda can't wait for you guys to try it.
It seems so simple, but it just feels so nice.
And then if you want, you can even take your band and now kinda stretch your triceps like
that a little bit.
Good, that's perfect.
So now what I'm gonna do -- this one's a little tougher -- so you're getting your shoulders
ready to work.
And I'm seeing that a lot people are so tight in their shoulders, so I wanna work on a little
shoulder mobility.
I'm gonna take -- nice and wide on this band, keeping my arms super straight, I'm gonna
go all the way over and all the way back.
If you have to bend your elbows or do something weird to get it over, you did not grab the
band wide enough.
So, nice wide -- if you need to put tension on it, do it.
It should come all the way over, all the back.
All the way over, all the way back.
Good.
So again, if you need to go wider, go wider, because I want you to keep those arms straight,
because we're opening up those shoulders.
Very nice.
Good.
Okay, so, we are done with that.
And now we're gonna do -- this is called a Standing "L".
And again, I'm just finding shoulders need so much work right now.
So real nice "L" right there, kinda like you're making a stop sign. and then you drop it down,
bring it back.
And what I don't want you to see is, I don't want it to drop forward -- I want you to hold
it back, kinda like in line with you head.
And then I'm gonna press us up over my head and bring it down.
And you should feel a stretch on this.
Now, if you've got loose shoulders, you're not even gonna feel this.
And if that's the case, you can -- it's okay to skip it.
But most of you, especially you working on the computer, you should feel a nice stretch.
Yeah, actually, it feels a little bit like work.
Okay, that is very nice.
And now just kinda stretch like that -- loosen it up.
And loosen it up.
And then give me an open and a close and an open and a close -- kinda like hugging yourself,
you know.
And we'll do one -- lace your hands behind you, drop them over your head.
Roll up slow, so you don't get dizzy.
And you have just completed your Ultimate Warm-up.
And then just remember: This warm-up is great for before any of my workouts.
But it also is just great to do if you've been sitting too much, and you just need to
loosen up your whole body.
So sometimes I do this even on days that I don't actually do a full workout.
I use it to just put my body through some motions, stretch out my low back, open up
my upper back and my shoulders, and it feels great.
So I want you to give it a try, let me know how you like it.
And check back with me soon, because I'll have something new.
And just remember: You are one workout away from a good mood.