Moving forward, each Wednesday I will be featuring a yoga flow or a series of short exercises targeting a specific body part. Most exercises won’t require a gym but rather a can-do approach. So for those of you who hate the gym, can’t make it, or are having a hard time starting—remember that a journey of 1,000 miles starts with a single step.

Start small.
Use these exercises as a jumping off point. Moving forward, link a few of them together. Even incorporate weights, increase time or sets. You can customize these flows and exercises to your unique needs, so have some fun!

For our first week we are focusing on two core exercises designed to build core strength and sculpt your waistline, aka your obliques.

Click here or on the video below to view one round of this week’s exercises (note, the video does not have any sound. Enjoy my silly faces in plank and my husband’s foot).

Total time: 4:30 minutes of work with no more than 45 seconds of rest between sets
Each set is 1:30, consisting of 30 seconds of Exercise 1, right into Exercise 2 for 1 minute with no rest/recovery

Exercise 1: Obliques, 30 seconds
Start sitting up with knees bent, toes on the ground. Lean back slightly, then lift your legs so you are using your core for stability.
If you are just starting out, hold this modified boat position.
To whittle the waist, bring the hands just slightly below the heart, palms touching. You can make this more challenging with a medicine ball (as seen in the video) or yoga block. With control, twist from the midline. Make sure you are getting full rotation by tapping the medicine ball gently on the ground for 30 seconds.

Exercise 2: Plank, 1 minute
From hands and knees, straighten your legs behind you and stack your elbows directly beneath your shoulders. Softly clasp the hands or place the palms on the ground, forearms parallel. Avoid sagging the hips, or lifting your bum. Press back softly through your heels and apply gentle pressure to your forearms by lifting and holding yourself up.
If you are still building strength, you may hold this pose by dropping your knees to the ground intermittently, or for the entire duration of the 1 minute.

REPEAT 3x

Enjoy and Happy #WorkoutWednesday! Let me know how this one goes for you and let’s fire up those abdominals!