Quote · The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett
Women’s Fitness Expert: What You NEED To Know About Dieting & Exercise | Dr. Stephanie Estima
Where this was said
Why Deceleration Is Essential For Mobility
At 1:15:54 · chapter starts 1:07:24
Dr. Estima introduces the X-plank — a side plank with the top leg raised and held for 30 seconds — as a simultaneous test and treatment for hip stability. If you can't hold it, that's the thing you train. Steven attempts it on camera with visible difficulty, eventually managing a modified knee version, illustrating that many people's glute medius and hip stabilisers are undertrained. The floor sit-to-stand test (crossing feet, standing without hands) is then used to assess ankle mobility, quad strength, and hip extension capacity — with Dr. Estima noting that cultures where floor sitting is habitual have near-zero fall rates. The chapter closes with a rapid rundown of bodyweight fundamentals: push-ups, squats, glute bridges, and loaded lunges with household items like pet food bags.
The female pelvic floor hammock is already under more mechanical stress than a man's — it has three openings instead of one. Add pregnancy, relaxin, the weight of a baby, and childbirth, and the result is a structure that needs careful, progressive rehabilitation rather than a race back to heavy lifting.
Pilates builds muscle endurance and is excellent for pelvic floor health and posture — but it doesn't load bones or build muscle mass at the level needed to prevent osteoporosis and age-related decline. Women who do only Pilates are likely to look slim in their 40s and face serious structural deficits in their 60s.
