Christina Nicci

10/18/2026

Do your wrists hurt when you do push-ups, planks, or put weight through your hands?

When you lean on your hands, your wrists move into extension (bending backward) while supporting part of your body weight.

For some people, limited wrist mobility can contribute to discomfort. For others, the challenge is tolerating pressure in that position.

That’s why improving mobility alone isn’t always enough.

Here are three exercises to work on:

1. Wrist CARs: Help you actively move and control your wrists through different directions.

2. Weighted Wrist Extensions: Strengthen the muscles that help control and support your wrists during movement.

3. Progressive Weight-Bearing Rocks: Gradually introduce pressure through your hands to build tolerance for movements like push-ups and planks.

Start with a manageable amount of pressure and gradually progress as your wrists become more comfortable.

Remember, having the range of motion is one thing. Being able to support weight through that range is another.

Persistent wrist pain should be assessed to identify what’s causing it.

10/17/2026

If glute bridges keep turning into a lower-back exercise, the Cook Hip Lift is a great way to clean up your hip extension.

A common compensation during bridging is getting extra movement by arching through the lumbar spine instead of creating the motion primarily from the hip.

The Cook Hip Lift makes that harder.

By pulling one knee toward your chest, you help keep the pelvis more controlled and reduce the tendency to overextend through the lower back.

That means the working side has to create more of the movement through the hip.

Focus on:
• Keeping the knee pulled in
• Driving through the working foot
• Lifting only as high as you can without arching your back
• Squeezing the glute at the top

Standard Cook Hip Lift
3 sets of 10 reps per side
Hold each rep for 2–3 seconds

Wall-Supported Version
3 sets of 10 reps per side
Hold for 5–10 seconds

The wall gives you more stability and can make it easier to control the pelvis and actually feel the working glute.

This isn’t about getting your hips as high as possible.

It’s about creating better hip extension without borrowing the movement from your lower back.

10/15/2026

10/14/2026

The hip CAR is an excellent exercise to help the hips move more freely.

There are many different ways to perform them.

Which way is your favorite?👇🏼

10/13/2026

If you sit for long periods of time, your hips spend a lot of the day in flexion.

One place to start is by giving your hips some time in the opposite direction: extension.

This banded hip extension drill helps you access that position while actively using the glute, one of your major hip extensors, instead of only stretching the front of the hip.

Keep the movement controlled, add a slight pelvic tuck at the top, and hold for 2 seconds.

Try 5 reps per side.

And remember: if your hip flexors continually feel tight, stretching isn’t always the entire answer. Strengthening them matters too.

10/12/2026

If you keep stretching your hip flexors but they still feel tight, stretching may not be the only thing you need.

This movement works on two areas that often get overlooked:

• Using your glute to actively move the hip into extension without compensating through your lower back
• Strengthening the hip flexors as you bring the leg forward and hold the position with control

Try 5 reps on each side while your coffee brews.

The goal isn’t just more flexibility. It’s being able to actively control the range you already have.

10/11/2026

If your hamstrings cramp or take over during glute bridges, check your setup first.

Bring your heels a little closer. More knee flexion shortens the hamstrings and can reduce how much they contribute to hip extension.

Then check your pelvis. If you’re arching through your lower back as you lift, use a slight posterior pelvic tilt and focus on extending through the hips.

Still feeling mostly hamstrings?

Try the prone drill shown here.

With the knee bent, gently press toward knee extension into the strap while squeezing the glute and performing a small hip extension.

A 2026 study found that this reciprocal-inhibition setup increased glute max activity, reduced biceps femoris activity, and improved the glute-to-hamstring activation ratio.

The goal isn’t to eliminate your hamstrings. They’re hip extensors too.

The goal is to adjust the setup so your glutes have a better opportunity to contribute.

Try 2 sets of 6–8 reps per side, then go back to your bridge and compare.

10/08/2026

Are you guilty of one of these walking patterns? We walk more than any other exercise out there throughout the day. That’s why you’re walking pattern can affect you greatly.

Check to see if you’ve got any of these issues.

10/07/2026

Lately I’ve been seeing a lot of videos saying this is what a woman looks like at… and then a specific age.

I feel like this can either make some women feel really good about themselves, but it can also make other women feel really bad about themselves. Because it ultimately does something that we shouldn’t be doing in the first place, and that’s adding a comparison factor.

We already have so much that is thrown in our faces on social media about comparison. Do we really need to keep adding the age thing?

It’s one thing if you’re bringing up age because it’s relevant to the video that you’re talking about. I’ve done this before when I’ve talked about hormones, I’ve talked about the face cream that I used in my 20s and I still use at this age.

But to simply say that you’re a certain age and this is what that age looks like, that’s not going to be true for everyone.

I’d love to see more posts about less comparison and more about supporting each other and lifting each other up.

Let me know your thoughts!👇🏼

10/05/2026

The world’s greatest stretch is probably something that you’ve seen a lot! The problem is that there are a ton of people that can’t even get into this position.

It requires a lot of flexion at the hip and then the other hip needs a lot of extension. That can be hard on a lot of people if your body is not ready to accept that movement yet.

Here’s a great variation that you can do as you work your way up to better mobility.

Check out the Body Axis™ app, available now on the App Store and Google Play.

You can download it by clicking the link in my bio.

Inside the app, you’ll find variations and modifications for almost all of the exercises I share, so you can choose the option that works best for your current mobility, strength, and movement level.