Included free with the Gaudeia Flow Set. Follow it on your phone, or print it and keep it in the bag.
Before you start
This is exercise equipment, not treatment. If you have an injury, a recent surgery, or a diagnosis affecting your back, hips, knees or pelvic floor, speak to your doctor or physiotherapist before beginning. Nothing here should hurt. Discomfort in a muscle is fine; sharp pain, pinching, or pain in a joint means stop.
Breathe out on the effort. That one habit does more for your deep core than any single exercise in this plan.
How the four weeks run
| Weeks | Session | How often |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | 10 minutes | 4 days a week — alternate Day A and Day B |
| 3–4 | 20 minutes | 4–5 days a week — same two days, second round added |
Four short sessions you actually do beat two long ones you plan and skip. If you miss a day, start again on the next one — do not double up.
Weeks 1–2 · Day A — Hips and Floor (10 minutes)
You need: Pilates ring, exercise ball, one light loop band.
- Breathing reset — 8 breaths. Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat. Hand on your lower ribs. Breathe in wide; breathe out slowly and feel the floor of your pelvis lift gently. This is the pelvic floor engagement every other move uses.
- Ring inner-thigh squeeze — 10 slow. Ring between your knees. Squeeze on the out-breath for 3 seconds, release for 3. Do not hold your breath.
- Bridge with ball — 10. Ball between your knees. Peel your spine off the floor one vertebra at a time, hold 2 seconds, roll back down slowly.
- Loop band clamshell — 10 each side. Band above the knees, lie on your side, knees bent. Open the top knee without letting your hips roll back.
- Knee drop — 6 each side. Knees bent together, let them fall slowly to one side, breathe, come back. Gentle, no force.
Weeks 1–2 · Day B — Back and Shoulders (10 minutes)
You need: figure-8 band, long stretch band, stretch strap, grip socks.
- Seated posture set — 8 breaths. Sit tall, feet flat, crown of the head lifting. Breathe out and let the shoulders drop away from your ears.
- Figure-8 pull-apart — 12. A handle in each hand at chest height. Open your arms wide, squeeze the shoulder blades, return slowly.
- Band overhead opener — 8. Long band held wide overhead. Take it back as far as comfortable, no further, and return.
- Seated row — 12. Long band around the soles of your feet, sit tall, pull the elbows back past your ribs.
- Strap hamstring ladder — hold 30 seconds each leg. On your back, strap around one foot, leg straight up. Each week, move one loop further down the strap.
- Heel raises — 15. Standing, grip socks on. Rise slowly, lower even more slowly. Balance work you will feel on stairs within a fortnight.
Weeks 3–4 · the same two days, doubled
Run Day A or Day B exactly as above, rest one minute, then run it a second time with these changes:
- Move up one band. If the last two repetitions are not harder than the first two, the band is too light.
- Add the ring to the bridge. Second round of Day A, swap the ball for the ring between the knees — the squeeze changes which muscles carry the lift.
- Add the ankle work. Second round of Day B, loop band around the ankles: 10 side steps each direction.
- Hold the stretches longer. 45 seconds instead of 30.
The pelvic floor and posture thread
Three moves in this plan train the pelvic floor and the deep core directly — the breathing reset, the ring inner-thigh squeeze, and the bridge. They are in every session on purpose. The ring is what makes them work: squeezing into resistance recruits the deep muscles far more reliably than squeezing into nothing.
Do them properly and do them often. Ten good repetitions beat thirty rushed ones, and the breath out is the repetition.
How to tell it is working
- Week 2 — sitting tall takes less effort; you catch yourself doing it without deciding to.
- Week 3 — the first hour of the morning feels less stiff.
- Weeks 6–8 — visible strength changes. This is the honest timeline; anything faster is someone selling you something.
Write the date you started on the bag. It is the only progress tracking this plan asks for.
Questions about a movement? Write to ruben.ganzerli@gmail.com and we will answer within one business day.