Bendy Bautie Workouts - Hypermobile Workout of the Week
- Shauna Jane
- Dec 21, 2025
- 4 min read
I'm a certified personal trainer, registered yoga teacher, and Pilates instructor-in-training who is also hypermobile. I've recorded my personal workouts for years so I can review my form, and recently decided to start sharing some of them with you.
About the session
This session is designed to strengthen the posterior and lateral body, which means I'm focusing on the muscles that pull my limbs backward (extensors, posterior body) and away from my body (abduction/lateral body).
Some of the muscles include the gluteals, rhomboids, latissimus dorsi, triceps, and deep spinal muscles like the multifidus.
This is an intermediate session, which means you must have the ability to connect with your deep core and use it to stabilize your pelvis in various positions and pelvic tilts.
This is a circuit style workout. I did the warmup once and then went through each of 2 circuits twice, but I encourage you to make this work for your body, your schedule, and your preferences. If you prefer a flow session, you can do them in order instead.
I'm not giving a specific number of repetitions since everyone's body and tolerance is different. Some general rules of thumb you can follow:
start with 4-6 repetitions to see how your body responds
can progress up to 15 repetitions if the body allows (over weeks, not over the course of a single session)
larger muscles can tolerate greater weight and repetition (ie gluteals versus triceps)
muscle shaking, cramping, and locking are signs of going too far, improper alignment, and/or something contraindicated for your body - stop immediately.
Equipment used:
yoga blocks (optional - used for support)
furniture sliders (some substitutes - socks, piece of glossy paper, paper plate - get creative!)
lightweight yellow Theraband
20lb resistance band with handles (a yellow or green theraband would work)
small thigh loop band, medium weight (optional)
other considerations: compression gloves or wrist support gloves, pelvic stability belt
Let's get into it.
Warmup x 1
Move 1/4
Inhale hips toward feet, pelvis in neutral
Exhale forward, core engaged, tuck pelvis (pubic bone toward ribs)
Move 2/4
Inhale pelvis to neutral
Exhale scoop & compress abdominals, tuck pelvis
Move 3/4
Inhale forward into low lunge, tuck pelvis, keep upper body upright
Exhale back into glute & hamstring, neutral pelvis, hinge upper body forward
Move 4/4
Exhale as you extend your leg and open your hip, keep pelvis in neutral or slightly tucked
Inhale leg and hip back to tabletop, keep pelvis in neutral or slightly tucked
Try to keep hips level like there's a piece of glass on your back holding you horizontal
I'm not doing a great job at holding my lower abdominals to prevent my lumbar spine from arching as I move my leg; I need to hold my pubic bone closer to my ribs and reduce the range of motion with my leg so it's a slower, smaller, and more concentrated movement.
Circuit 1 x 2
Move 1/4
Exhale with core compressed as you kick up and out, keep pelvis in neutral or slightly tucked
Inhale leg and hip back to tabletop, keep pelvis in neutral or slightly tucked
Try to keep hips level like there's a piece of glass on your back holding you horizontal
I'm doing a better job of holding my abdominals here, so you'll see less lumbar arching. Ideally my pelvis would be moving a little less as I kick out; that should happen as I continue to improve lateral hip stability.
Move 2/4
Exhale as you extend your leg and open your hip, keep pelvis in neutral or slightly tucked
Inhale leg and hip back to tabletop, keep pelvis in neutral or slightly tucked
Try to keep hips level like there's a piece of glass on your back holding you horizontal
I have the same lumbar issue here as I did with the version that didn't include the band (from the warmup).
Move 3/4
Exhale as you lift your hips trying to keep the spine relatively immobile
Inhale lower
Focus on pulling your pubic bone through to keep your glutes engaged and pressure off your lumbar spine
Rather than "thrusting" the hips which is usually just painful flexion and extension of the lumbar spine, movement and lift should be activated from the glutes by pushing into and away from the floor, knees into the band.
Move 4/4
Exhale as you slide your leg away from and behind you
Inhale as you slide the foot to starting
Try to hold pelvis in neutral (where I'm holding my waist) with only the hip going into extension (leg socket) - this means a small, concentrated range of motion
I'm holding a slight bend in my knees to promote active engagement of my glutes and lower body since locking the knees will 'turn off' your glutes and hamstrings
Circuit 2 x 2
Move 1/4
Exhale as you switch sides
Inhale into the stretch of the hamstrings, weight in your opposite glute
Pelvis should stay in neutral the entire time with weight in the back of the lower body - keeping the front body hinged forward helps
You can keep a micro-bend in your knee to prevent hyper-extension and/or eliminate the leaning to reduce pressure/knee stability required
Move 2/4
Exhale as you extend elbow, keep the arm close to your body to encourage the triceps rather than the lats taking over
Inhale bend the elbow
Pelvis should stay in neutral the entire time, I'm bending my knees to help me hold an active position
Move 3/4
Exhale the arm backward using your mid-back muscles
Inhale release
Pelvis should stay in neutral the entire time, I'm bending my knees to help me hold an active position
Can keep more of a micro-bend in your elbow to prevent hyper-extension
Move 4/4
Exhale to bend your elbows and row using your small mid-back muscles
Inhale release the row
Pelvis should stay in neutral the entire time, keep your front body slightly hinged so your weight can settle into your lower back body
Full Session Summary
I hope this is helpful and/or gives you some ideas or inspiration for your own bendy bautie workouts!
Head over to the free Bendy Friendies community if you have any questions or would like input on how to modify any of these moves. There's a new thread for each of these workout posts!
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