As Conan realized first hand, Nina Dobrev is serious about her yoga! Today we coupled her favorite yoga routine with some complementary stretches in a 15 minute workout.
Get down and comfortable on a nice and flat carpet or a mat. We’re going to start with some stretches so make sure your back is flat on the ground.
1. Glute stretch
We’re going to start by pulling our right leg in, giving our glutes a nice stretch. Be sure to inhale and exhale slowly. After 15-20 seconds switch legs and bring the other leg to your chest. This is a simple stretch, just pull your knee toward your chest and breathe deeply. Even if you lack flexibility you will feel that good stretch within your quads and glutes. Give the other leg another 15-20 seconds.
2. Hamstring stretch
We continue by working on the hamstrings, so keep your leg straight and pull it toward your chest. Inhale and exhale, then change to the other leg after 15-20 seconds. Hold the leg behind the thigh, instead of behind the knee.
3. Knee hug and roll
In the next segment we’re going to bring both of our knees towards our chest and wrap our arms around legs. From this position we roll on the spine very gentle to each side and at the same time inhale and exhale, keeping nice and calm. Do this yoga exercise for about 20 seconds.
4. Single leg rise and stretch
Now, bring your right leg up and hold on behind your thigh while your head and shoulders are off the mat. Slowly inhale and then exhale. Let your leg down and bring your arms over your head so your entire body lies in a straight line. Repeat with the other leg. Do 5 reps per leg.
5. Bicycle holds
Continuing on, we bring the right elbow to the left knee and hold it there for 5 seconds, concentrating on using the oblique muscles. Switch over to the other side and hold it for 5 seconds. If you don’t feel you obliques really well, just twist a little bit more. Do 5 reps for each side.
6. Bicycle
You’ve just done slow bicycles and we’ll continue with it again with one difference – we’re going to up the tempo slightly. We are still doing it nice and slow, just holding on for 3 seconds instead of 5, like we did with the bicycle holds. Keep your legs off the ground the whole time. Repeat 10 times for each side.
7. Rolling front crunch
We stay on the abs again, by putting our legs and arms in the air. Come down without touching the mat and bring the knees to your chest and squeeze. Extend the legs and arms up to the ceiling (starting position) and repeat this yoga move 10 times.
8. Rolling side twist
Squeeze the legs in toward the chest, bring your arms out the sides and twist your lower body gently to the left and then right. Come back to the center and give your legs a squeeze, then start over. Do 10 slow reps.
We’re going to stay in a similar position but when you come out from your squeeze you’re going to extend your legs up and twist to each side. Slightly bend your knees while twisting. As you come back to the top bring those knees to the chest, squeeze and then start over. Do 10 reps.
9. Single leg boat pose
Next, bend your knees and bring your feet slightly closer to your buttocks. Extend the left leg (the thighs must stay parallel), get up and grab it behind the thigh. Open up the chest, squeeze your abs and hold it there for 3 seconds and release it down. Get to the other leg and do 10 reps for each.
10. V-hold
Stand just on your butt, legs and back up from the mat. Stretching your legs in front of you, open your arms up to the sides and keep your back straight. Hold this position for a minute. Try holding the thighs if this is too hard for you. Slowly inhale and then exhale.
Hope you enjoyed that as much as we did! We leave you with another ‘immersive’ Nina & Conan move:
Melissa Bell
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