12/28/2021
The Lizard Push Up is one of my favorite mobility exercises. Here's a great little sequence warming up to the full movement. Take it slow and easy, don't push yourself too hard and always listen to your body 🕉
1. Take a short lunge with the back knee down. Push your tailbone down and keep your hips tilted to slightly round the lower back. Push your hips forward to find the stretch in the bottom quad. Then straighten the front leg and find a nice easy stretch for the front hamstring. Keep it light for starters, this is just the warm up. Move between these positions until you are ready to go to the next progression.
2. Intensify the 1/2 split hamstring stretch by lifting your toes to the ceiling, possibly even grabbing onto them if you can reach. Intensify the lunge by teaching to the ceiling and extending the chest upward while still keeping the lower back round.
3. Really hit the quads and hip flexors in your lunge by reaching back to grab the back leg and pull your heel in toward your butt. Play around with pointing and flexing the back foot as well as different hip tilt. Keep working that 1/2 split hamstring stretch farther down as well by pushing your bellybutton down toward your thighs.
4. Move your hands to the inside of your front leg and pull the hips forward to a low lunge. The goal here is to feel the stretch in the inside of the front leg as you push that hip (my left hip in the video) towards the floor. Pushing the inside elbow to the ground may help you find this stretch. Be sure to keep the front foot far enough forward to really get this stretch.
5. From that low lunge position, intensify the stretch by lifting your back knee off the ground and keep pushing that hip down to the floor. Then straighten out the front leg again for a standing 1/2 split hamstring stretch. Then add to both of these by adding the inside arm. Reach as far as you can forward during the lunge, and reach back to touch your back knee in the 1/2 split.
6. Finally, the full lizard push up! Putting both hands down inside the front foot. Move from the front leg extension half split down to a low lunge with your arms in a chaturanga position. Repeat for at least 10 reps and enjoy!
