Stephanie Ridgway in Workout Gear Shares Foam Roll Workout
Stephanie Ridgway is a physical therapist. She's also developed a large following on Instagram. Ridgway shares a lot of her favorite workouts and fitness secrets. This week, she shared a video of herself using a foam roller for workouts. In it, Ridgway has the roller under her glutes and is seen extending her legs and touching them to the floor. She captioned the post, "If you're constantly injuring your back or feel like it's always tight and stiff, it may be helpful to work on building trunk strength, control, and mobility. This is just one exercise that can help! This works on lumbar mobility, hip strength, and core strength. It's a lot tougher than it looks!" How does she stay so fit? Read on to see 5 ways Stephanie Ridgway stays in shape and the photos that prove they work.
She Works Her Hips
Ridgway makes sure to workout her whole body. In this video, she shared her go-to hip workouts. Ridgway is seen doing step-overs. She captioned the post, "Hip Strength and Mobility are both important for preventing and treating knee pain, hip pain, and back pain. This exercise works on both and it works both hips at the same time in different ways. Try doing 2-3 sets of 5-8 reps on each side to start. You can hold on to something if you need to and you can try placing the foam roller below your knee if you find it difficult at knee height."
She Works Her Core
Ridgway makes sure to work her core. In this video she posted on Instagram, she is seen doing hover hip extensions, side planks with a rotation, and lunge lifts with a chop. She captioned the post, "A strong core is important for everyone, and especially for runners. The core is the center of the body and if it's not strong, other things start to break down. A strong core helps to prevent back pain and injuries, hip pain and injuries, and even knee and ankle pain and injuries. Core work should be included in runner's strength training workouts at least 3 times per week."
She Works To Improve Her Workouts
Ridgway always wants to get better when it comes to her fitness. In this video she posted on Instagram, she shares her tips for improving squats. In it, she is seen doing reverse step-ups and hip 90s/90s. Ridgway captioned the post, "Trouble getting deeper in a squat can be due to poor ankle mobility, poor hip mobility, or weakness in your core, hips, or quads. These exercises focus on improving mobility of your hips and ankles so that you will be able to get into a lower squat with less difficulty."
She Loosens Her Muscles
Ridgway makes sure to keep her muscles loose. In this Instagram video, she is seen doing hamstring exercises. "If you feel like you have tight hamstrings and stretching doesn't help, you may need to try a different approach! I have 2 different approaches you can try. The first one is to try some nerve glides. The hamstring tightness you're feeling could actually be sciatic nerve pain or tightness. The second thing you can try is to do some hamstring strengthening. Sometimes a tight muscle is actually a weak muscle. If you start working on strengthening the muscle, you may get some relief!"
She Avoids Carpal Tunnel
Ridgway makes sure to avoid carpal tunnel syndrome. In this Instagram video, she is seen doing finger stretches and exercises. She captioned the post, "Treatment involves improving hand and finger strength, improving grip strength, and improving forearm and wrist strength and mobility. These are a few of the exercises I like to use to improve hand and finger mobility and reduce carpal tunnel symptoms."
