Pilates “swimming” is also a good one- no need for equipment. works your core and entire backside of the body. When you lie on your stomach, imagine you’re pulling your navel away from an ice cube. Helps protect your lower back.
I do love watching the kids run at the all-comers meet. They start with the 60-yard dash for ages 10 and under, and there are two-year olds who “run” it with mom or dad running backward in front of them! They do it in groups of 8 (one/lane) by age, so you see the kids get faster and smoother. Then they go to 100-yard dash for ages 11 and up, again by age, and you start to see real talent and speed. There are beautiful young women in track spikes who just glide down the track! The predict-mile is next, and I do love watching the faster runners move out ahead of me, and then they’re gone, and I don’t see them again until I get lapped.
MOfWC, I will defer to Michael’s expert opinion, but I recall seeing a few recent articles that said the “supermans” were at best useless. Here is one:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/445395-3-exercises-that-could-be-hurting-your-back/
I think people injure themselves due to poor form more so than the exercise is inherently bad. You really need to think about protecting your lower back with any of those exercises and distribute the lift through your entire back - not just your lumbar spine, which a lot of people do and then complain their back hurts. No kidding! This is not something my trainer just decided to have me do one day - swimming is generally considered an intermediate mat exercise so we worked up to it.
I’m not a big fan of Superman’s for several reasons. 1) I think they are of limited utility because of the very short range of motion. 2) There are much more effective exercises for strengthening your lumbar region and glutes. 3) I have always felt that they place stress on your lumbar region because the very nature of the exercise is based on an position that increases lordosis (exaggerated lumbar curvature). For an exercise that can be done on the floor, I have always favored supine hip bridges instead to hit the same muscle groups (glutes, hamstrings, lower errector spinae) because the range of motion is much greater, it’s easy to add progressive load using a step bench and other props and if done correctly, you first brace your core to maintain a neutral pelvis thereby taking the stress off your lumbar spine. And keep in mind that the lumbar spine is a “stability” joint. Mobility should come from the hips and thoracic spine. So you want to strengthen the lumbar region for stability, not cause it to be hyper mobile as the result of compensations for a lack of mobility elsewhere. A lot of lower back pain is the result of people not understanding this.
That being said, the arm component of the Superman is in fact a good exercise for rehabbing and strengthening your scapular support muscles. I usually have clients do the arm movement in a Y or T position because there is greater range of motion in those positions than arms straight ahead. I start with clients on the floor and then move them to a bench or stability ball and then start using dumbbells. As my 34 year old stone mason client tells me, he was astounded at how tough this movement was with a set of 2 lb dumbbells. Most people aren’t aware of the need to strengthen the small scapular muscles to assist in maintaining proper mobility and postural stability in the scapular region.
I think too with the Pilates exercises they are not done in isolation - it’s a system of exercises. It’s not like one day is upper body and the other day lower - you are working the entire body, each time. We do bridges, too. It’s all about being in the correct position.
Thanks, all. I was just looking for something easy that I could plop on the floor and do during a commercial or something. I’ve been lax about core/glute stuff. I do my straps for pullups and pushups after my treadmill runs, but little else.
Definitely bridges. And since you will be doing them while watching TV, instead of using props, when they get easy, switch to one legged bridges :D. And Bird Dog exercises - and when they get too easy, add in the use of a theraband for resistance.
I did all that in PT, yoga, Pilates etc. I’ve just gotten lazy! Thanks!
Slacker. 
Well, I don’t want to be OCD or obsessive, by any means! 
Too late!
I do one-legged bridges in pilates (on a reformer, moving back and forth with one leg on the foot-bar and one leg pointed at the ceiling) and also in DaVinci Board (with both legs in the resistance bands). THEY ARE OF THE DEVIL. Just saying.
Speaking of things “of the devil,” T-pushups is my favorite form of torture. They are the reason I keep 9-lb dumbbells. Can’t do them with my 15 pounders. I know, SLACKER!! 
What do you say, pot meet kettle?
Get out your tissues, guys – especially the dog lovers here. The video embedded in this story had me in tears, and I’m not a dog person. This exemplifies the power of exercise and the love of pets. http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/03/10/469785736/he-rescued-a-dog-then-the-dog-rescued-him
I love that!
That’s such a great story - I’ve seen it on multiple groups I’m a member of and it’s so true. Initially I lost about 70 pounds - and then my dog died. No more walks. Lots of donuts. And the weight started to come back. Animals really do a lot for our physical well being!
It’s been a tough week for me in other areas of my life, but I am staying the path on my running and yoga. It’s been good for me to do something normal and healthy.
Sorry to hear about the tough week FallGirl - hope things turn around for you. Keeping your routine is sometimes the best road to keeping your sanity in tough times. <3