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Hi I'm Rania, professional belly dancer and certified fitness instructor.
There's no doubt that belly dance training really strengthens and sculpts the body.
So I thought why not take it a step further and combine belly dance exercises with traditional
strength training and yoga for a completely well-rounded concentrated workout regimen
that takes only 10 minutes out of your work day.
There's a different workout for each day of the work week.
Each 10 minute workout offers its own unique benefit for the body.
So let's get started with day number one.
Let's start our abdominal workout by squeezing or tightening our abdominal muscles and then
relaxing them.
So squeeze, relax, squeeze, relax, squeeze, relax, tighten, release, tighten, release.
This will help build definition also.
Squeeze, release, squeeze, release, squeeze, release, and squeeze, release.
Now we're going to do the same movement, but this time we're going to squeeze so hard
that our pelvis tucks underneath us almost as if we're about to sit down.
Notice a slight bend in the knee when this occurs, so squeeze and sit, relax, squeeze
and sit, relax, squeeze, relax, and squeeze, relax.
Now double time, and squeeze, and squeeze, and squeeze, and squeeze.
It's good to learn to use our abdominal muscles and not just tighten them.
Keep going, double time.
Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, excellent.
Now let's learn to isolate the top of the abdominal muscles from the bottom by squeezing
just the top and then just the bottom.
This will take a lot of imagination on your part.
You have to learn to control your abdominal muscles with your mind.
Now think about smoothing them out into a nice wave.
It may take weeks to develop this movement, but just thinking about it will help gain
control of your abdominal muscles.
Good, let's move on.
Onto the floor for some crunches.
Put your hands behind your neck and lift your chest to the ceiling.
Crunch, relax, crunch, relax.
Try not to bend your neck.
The movement should come from really feeling a squeeze in your abdominal muscles.
Keep going.
Notice I'm performing this movement a little bit slower because I want you to really squeeze
with your abdominals and sustain the movement with your abdominal muscles as opposed to
just lifting your body up and down by using your shoulders.
Really feel a squeeze the whole time and create resistance for yourself on the way down.
It's better to perform less movements with a better quality of movement.
Really isolate that muscle up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down.
Good job.
Concentrate on your form, feel a good squeeze.
Now it's up, two, and down, two, up, two, down, two, up, two, down, two, up, two, down,
two, up, squeeze, down, relax, keep going.
Think about adding that extra squeeze when you go up.
Now up, two, three, down, up, two, three, down.
Now bend one knee, bring the other leg over, and over to the side, upside down, elbow to
opposite knee, upside down, relax, up, twist, down, relax, up, twist, down, relax, up, twist,
down, relax, up, twist, down, relax.
Concentrate on your form and squeeze with your abdominal muscles.
Other side, bring the other knee over, elbow to opposite knee, up, twist, down, relax,
up, twist, down, relax, up, twist, down, relax, and up, twist, down, relax.
Now let's bring our knees to our chest for a brief stretch.
Hold for a few seconds, breathe, and relax.
Now let's lift our legs to a 90-degree angle to the floor.
We're going to keep the upper part of our back and our arms on the ground while we squeeze
our lower abdominals to lift our pelvis off the floor, keeping those legs straight, pointing
those toes to the ceiling.
Up, down, make sure your head and shoulders don't come off the ground, really use your
arms to press your upper body against the ground and isolate the movement to your lower
abdominals, and squeeze, and squeeze, and squeeze.
Now pay attention to the change, squeeze up, and out, and back, and up, and down, and out,
and back, and up, down, out, back, up.
Keep your lower body against the floor until it's time to squeeze.
If you feel any pressure in your lower back, don't do this movement.
Really keep your abdominals squeezed and a curve in your lower back.
Up, down, out, back, up, down, out, back, up, down, out, back, up, down, make sure there's
no arching in your back, nice round back, and hold.
Hold as long as you can.
If you can't hold, just bring your feet to the ground and take a break for a minute.
Now scissor to the legs, really squeeze your abdominals, keep a round back, no arching
of the back, squeeze, and scissor, crossing right over left, left over right, you can do
it, hang in there, really squeeze, excellent, you're doing a great job.
Knee to the chest, other side, knee to the chest, knee to the chest, if it helps to use
your arms to pull your knee to the chest, go ahead, if you still have the support in
your abdominals, just extend your legs out and alternate, knee to chest, knee to chest,
other leg is straightened, point your toes if you like, this is really working the lower
abdominals.
This move was taught to me during modern dance training to help develop support in the lower
abdominals and lower back.
If you can, add a crunch, bringing the elbow to the opposite knee, always keep your back
rounded into the floor, you should never feel any space between your spine and the floor.
Keep going, just a few more, double time if you can, we're in the final stretch, good
job, and let's get a full body stretch, stretching our arms and legs all the way out.
And now bring your knees to your chest and hold, stretching out the lower back, don't
forget to breathe, and this concludes our abdominal workout, you did an excellent job.
Let's get ready to work our arms, chest and back, let's start by rolling our shoulders
back, stretching our shoulders as we warm them up, change direction, roll them forward,
now we're going to do snake arms, lift your arm in a curved fashion to the ceiling, elbow
to the ceiling, and then elbow to the floor, alternate your arms so that as one elbow goes
to the ceiling, the other goes to the floor, and be sure to keep attention in your arms
so that you're creating resistance for yourself, that resistance also gives the movement its
snake like feel, really think about one elbow going to the ceiling as one elbow comes to
the floor, you're working every muscle from your shoulders down to your wrists, now let's
alternate our shoulders forward and back, so as one shoulder comes forward, the other's
going back, keep your arms at your sides as though you're holding yourself between two
walls so we can isolate the movement to our shoulders, keep your shoulders nice and loose,
moving forward and back as fast as you can, this is called a shoulder shimmy, you should
feel a burn in your shoulders, but keep going anyway, now it's chest out and back, really
stick your chest out and really push it back so that when you go back, your shoulder blades
actually separate, forward and back, forward and back, really push it, really stretch,
really isolate that rib cage and back, warming up and stretching the chest and shoulder blades
at the same time, hands out in front, pull back and pull, these are called upright rows,
pull and squeeze your shoulder blades together as you pull back, squeeze, create resistance
for yourself, if you have some light hand weights, you may want to use them during this
workout and back and forward and back and forward, really squeeze as you go back, squeeze
and forward, hands above the head, now we're going to pull down, lateral pull down, squeeze
and up, pull down and up, pull down and up, down and up, create resistance, now push forward
and back, press forward and back, this is working the chest, forward and back, really
press and back and press and back, create resistance, now biceps to the side and squeeze
and out and squeeze, release and four, release and five, release, now triceps, rotate your
elbows to the ceiling and squeeze to extend the arms and squeeze and bend, straighten
and bend, really feel the move in your triceps, create resistance for yourself and squeeze,
now pull down, lat pull downs, two and down, three and down, four and down, five and down,
press, push and back and two and back and three and back and four and back, now biceps,
one release, two release, three release and squeeze release, triceps, one, two, three
and four, pull downs again and two and up and squeeze and up and squeeze and up and
squeeze and up, press forward and back and forward and back and three and back and four
and back.
Press release and two release and three release and four release, triceps, one and release,
two release and three and four.
Let's take it down to the floor for some push ups, if you're not ready to extend your legs
completely behind you, start on your knees, down and up, two and up, three and up, keep
some support in your abdominals so your back is straight, now try them with your legs extended
behind you, if you can't keep going the way we were going with your knees on the floor
and down and up, down and up, down and up and down and up.
If you really want to challenge yourself, try pointing your fingertips towards each
other, this works that extra hard to reach area underneath the arms, down and up and
two and up, we're going to work on our back now, lie flat on the ground, hands behind
your head and lift your head up and up and down and up and down, these are called prone
hyperextensions.
Here's a variation, keep your head to the floor and we're going to lift one arm and
the opposite leg, lift, release, other side, lift, release, other side, lift, release,
other side, lift, release.
Lift your head towards the ground, back up to a standing position, bend your knees, put
your hands on your knees and lean one shoulder in to stretch that side of the back and hold,
other side, lean the other shoulder in, put your hands behind your knees and arch your
back for a cat stretch, now contract your back, head up, arch, cat stretch again, head
down, stretch your back and contract, head up, good, back up to center, grab one elbow
and pull it behind you, this is stretching out our tricep muscle and other side, grab
that elbow and pull it back.
And great job, you've just completed a really difficult arms, chest and back workout.
Let's start our leg workout with some plies, knees far out apart past your shoulders, bend
and up, plie and up, arms down and up and down and up, keep your lower leg at a 90 degree
angle to the floor, try not to extend your knees beyond your feet, keep your weight back
a little to keep the movement in your quadriceps, hamstrings and gluteal muscles and avoid putting
too much weight on the knees.
Now down and hold and up, down and hold and up, down and hold and up, down and hold, feel
a burn in your gluteal muscles and your hamstrings, back up, legs together, put your weight on
one leg, point the other toe for balance, we're gonna do some one legged lunges, lunge
and up and lunge and up, down and up and down and up, keep going, remember one leg
is doing most of the work and the other leg is just there for balance.
Now we're gonna move the other leg to the side, down and side, down and side, down and
side and down and side, now to the back, down and back, down and back, down and back and
down and back, other side now, find your balance on the other leg, point the other toe, starting
with the one legged lunges, down and up, down and up, and down and up, and down and up.
Now, down and side, down to the side, down to the side, and down and side, and down and
side, down and side, now down and back, down and back, down and back, down and back, and
down and back, nice slow controlled movements, since most of us don't have a ballet bar
in our home, we're gonna use the nearest chair, grab the chair for support and bring
your outside leg forward and back, keep a rotation in your thigh so that your inner
thigh is controlling the movement of your leg forward, forward and back, forward and
back, forward and back, sweep your foot along the floor and back, now it's knee up and back
and up and front, up, back, up, front, up, back, up, front, working the inner and outer
thigh, and back, up, front, up, back, up, front, up, back, up, front, up, and other
side, grab the chair for support, bring your leg forward and back, think about the inner
thigh bringing the leg forward, sweep your foot along the floor, forward and back, forward
and back, nice controlled movement, don't swing like a pendulum, up, front, up, back,
up, front, up, back, up, front, up, back, keep going.
We're all done with our chair, let's take it to the floor now, on your hands and knees,
keep support in your abdominal so your back is straight and lift the leg behind you, up
and down, and up and down, keep a nice straight back, working your hamstring and gluteal muscles,
up and down, up and down, keep going.
Other side now, up and down, up and down, up and down, remember to keep support in your
abdominal so your back is straight, keep the movement in your gluteals and hamstrings.
Other side now, up, out, back and down, up, out, back and down, up, out, back, down, up,
out, back and down, keep going.
And other side now, up, out, back, down, up, out, back, down, up, out, back, down, and
up, out, back, down.
Now straight up and down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down, keep a controlled movement,
swing your leg, really think about using those muscles to lift your leg.
Other side, nice controlled movement, legs in a V, slowly walk your upper body forward
for a gentle stretch, inhale, and stretch a little further as you exhale, relax into
your stretch, no bouncing.
And slowly walk it back up to center, over to one side, nice gentle stretch.
Other side, weight is over your foot, legs together, flex your feet, gently bring your
weight forward to stretch your calves and hamstrings, feet together, bent knees, bring
your body forward, inner thighs stretch, and we're done, see you in the next workout.
Let's start defining our waistline with some rib slides.
Move your rib cage to the right and left, side to side, feel a stretch in your oblique
muscles or your sides as you do this, really think about isolating the rib cage and keeping
the shoulders out of the equation, double time.
Now let's move the rib cage up and down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down.
We're using our upper abdominal muscles to help lift the rib cage up, you should feel
a squeeze between your shoulder blades as you lift your rib cage up.
Now side, up, side, down, side, up, side, down, side, up, side, down, make a box, side,
up, side, down.
Other direction, side, up, side, down, side, up, side, down, side, up, side, down.
Now smooth it out into a circle.
Now we're going to learn the lower half of a move that's called a camel or full body
undulation.
With your lower abdominal squeeze and pull your hips back, bending the knees slightly
and push forward by squeezing your gluteal muscles and straightening the knees, back
and forward, back and forward, pull back, push forward, pull back, push forward, notice
I'm not moving the upper body at all, really isolating the hips here.
Think about making a nice smooth move, back and forward.
Really smooth it out now, back, forward, back, forward, back, forward, back, forward, just
the hips.
Now we're going to add a chest lift and drop.
So it's up, down, back, front, chest up and down, hips back and front, chest up, down,
hips back, front, up, down and back, front, up, down, back, front.
Now smooth it out, up and down and back and front, nice smooth body undulation, up, down,
back, front, up, down, back, front.
Now let's add a variation, the chest is going to go out and up and back and the hips will
go back and forward, chest out, up, back, down, hips back and front, chest out, up,
back, down, hips back and front, chest out, up, back, down, hips back and front, chest
out, up, back, down, hips back and front.
Keep going, try to smooth it out now, chest out, up, back, down, hips back and front.
Now we're going double time, really making a smooth undulating movement.
This is called a full camel.
Now let's move on to our hips.
Start with one hip and lift it up, out, down and in, other side, up, out, down, in, up,
out, down, in, up, out, down, in, up, out, down and center, up, out, down and center.
Lean out as you go out, lift up as you go up.
Now smooth it out a little bit, up, out, down and center, think about making circles with
your hips.
We're still going up, out, down, center and alternating but we're smoothing it into a
nice circular shape.
This is really sculpting our waistline.
Keep going.
Now doubles on each side, one and two, other side, one and two, really think about that
circular shape.
Other side, one and two and circle, circle, other side, circle, circle, one and two, other
side, one and two, really feel it in your waist.
Now we're going to do the same movement but opposite.
Instead of starting the movement by lifting the hip up, we're going to start by dropping
the hip down, so it's down, out, up, in, down, out, up, in, down, out, up, in, down, out,
up, in.
See how we're drawing our circle with our hips?
Starting from the down and working our way up.
Down, out, up, in, down, out, up, in, now smooth it out.
So we're reaching the hip out and lifting it up to make that circle.
So we're drawing a figure eight vertically with our hips.
You can add the corresponding arm movement if you like.
You should really be feeling this in your waist right now.
Now we're going to do the same move horizontally.
So the hips go out, side, back, center, out, side, back, center, front, side, back, center,
front, side, back, center.
Same figure eight but on the horizontal plane.
Front, side, back, center, front, side, back, center, front, side, back, center, front,
side, back, center.
Keep going.
Excellent.
So if you had a pencil sticking down from each hip, you'd be drawing the shape of a
figure eight on the floor beneath you.
Now double time.
Front side, back, front side, back, front side, back, front side, back.
So one side, other side, other side, other side.
Really lean your hip out.
Really think about creating the shape of that figure eight on the floor.
Now hip up and down, up and down, up and down.
Point the toe of the hip that you're lifting.
That'll give you more height on your hip.
Lift and drop and lift, drop and lift.
Drop the hip just by bending the knee.
Keep that toe pointed.
Lift and drop, lift and drop, lift, drop, lift, lift, lift, lift, lift, lift, lift, lift,
lift and drop.
Double time now.
Accent on the drop and drop and drop and drop and drop and drop and drop and drop and
drop.
Good.
Other side.
Half time.
Lift and drop, lift and drop, lift and drop and lift and drop.
Remember, keep the toe pointed on the hip that we're lifting and dropping and execute
the hip movement by bending and straightening the knee.
Double time, accent on the down, down and down and down and down and down and down and
down and down.
Good.
Just bending that knee to make that hip go up and down.
Now slide your hips to the side, side, center, side, center, side, center, side, center.
Both feet are flat on the ground, feet shoulder width apart.
Just leaning those hips outside and side, side and side.
Feel the stretch in your hips, side and side.
Now double time, side, side, side, side, side, side, side, side.
Work those hips.
Excellent.
Keep going.
Now let's stretch the hip out.
Bend the knee and bring that same arm over to one side, stretching the entire side of
the body.
And other side.
Bend the other knee and bring that arm over.
Feel the stretch all the way from your arm down through your hip and the side of your
leg.
Good.
Relax.
And you've completed the waist builder's workout.
See you soon.
Let's start our flexibility training workout with some plies.
Feet shoulder width apart and down and up, down and up, down and up, and down and up.
Try to keep the weight back so the movement occurs in the hamstrings, gluteals and quadriceps
with no strain on the knees.
If you find your knees moving forward, widen your stance a little bit.
And down and up, and down and up.
Don't forget to breathe.
Now it's down, heels up, heels down.
Focus on keeping your balance.
This will develop good stabilizer muscles.
Feet together.
Slide your rib cage.
Side, up, other side, and down.
Side, up, side, down.
Make a box.
Side, up, side, down, side, up, side, and down.
This is stretching and strengthening the oblique muscles, the muscles in the mid-back and the
upper abdominals.
Side, up, side, down.
Now smooth it out into a circle.
You're still going side, up, side, down.
Try to make it look smooth and round.
Change direction, drawing a circle to the other side now.
Clasp your hands behind your back and arch your back, head up, and stretch.
Lean forward.
Let your arms fall forward, stretching out your shoulder blades.
Good, back up.
This is called the Cleopatra stretch.
Bring one arm and the same leg as far to one side as possible, and gently stretch your
entire side.
Other side, one arm and the same leg all the way over.
One more time each side.
Don't forget to breathe and relax into your stretch, and other side.
Let's take it to the floor.
This is a modified Cobra stretch.
Lie on your stomach and support your upper body on your elbows.
Now up into a yoga move called a downward dog.
Straighten your back legs, keep your heels on the ground and bring your chest towards
the ground, lengthening the spine.
Back into our modified Cobra.
Lift your weight on your elbows, and back up into our downward dog.
Palms on the ground, heels on the ground, chest towards the floor, lengthening the spine.
Modified Cobra, weight up on your elbows, feel the stretch.
Back up to our downward dog, chest to the floor, nice straight legs, heels on the ground.
Walk it forward.
Try to stretch your inner thighs by doing the split stretch.
Only go as far as you feel you are able to.
Breathe, and every time you exhale, think about relaxing the muscle a little bit further.
Hold it at the position you are most comfortable with.
Walk it back to center.
Lying flat on our back, bring one knee to the chest.
Now extend the leg, keep a slight bend in the knee.
Now flex the foot, you can grab your toes to stretch the foot even further.
Other side, knee to chest.
Straighten the leg, keep a slight bend in the knee.
Stretch it as far as you can close to the body.
Flex the foot.
Now bring one knee across the body, keep the opposite shoulder on the ground for a lower
back stretch.
Relax into your stretch.
And other side, knee across the body, opposite shoulder on the ground, stretching the lower
back.
Bend one knee and bring the lower leg behind you for a quadriceps stretch.
Knees back as far as you can go comfortably.
Onto the other leg.
Bend the knee, bring the lower leg behind you, and ease yourself back.
Stretching is great for not only preventing injury, but preventing soreness after a workout.
On both knees, sitting on your heels, palms on the ground, gently bring your head to the
floor, nice curve in the back, stretching the back and shoulders.
Relax and relax.
Now arch your back into a cat stretch.
Contract into a cow stretch, head up.
Arch into a cat stretch again.
And contract into a cow stretch.
One more time, arch into the cat stretch as if you're bringing your belly button up to
the ceiling.
Really feel the stretch throughout your back.
Head up into the cow stretch, contract the back.
And back up to a standing position, feet shoulder width apart, look to one side, stretching
the neck, other side, other side again.
One more time, other side, and gently pull your head over to one side, other side, nice
gentle stretch in the neck, and we're all done.
We did a great job with our flexibility workout.
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