Essential stretches you should be doing daily.
For adults, seniors, fitness fanatics, and desk-job employees, stretching is a must. Stretching daily can help people of all ages and fitness abilities. Letting the body tighten up can result in hindered performance, lack of mobility in the joints, posture issues, and pain in the back, neck, knees, and hips. Save yourself a little pain with these three stretches to do daily!
Lying Spinal Side Twist
This stretch is great for the side muscles of the body, lower back, and abductors of the top leg. Start lying on your back. Pull your right knee into your chest before dropping down across to the left side of your mat. Rotate your torso so that you are looking the other way. Your knee doesn’t’ have to touch the floor for this stretch to be effective. Hold for 30 seconds before repeating on the left side.
Cat-Cow
A lot of mobility issues come from the thoracic area of our spine, which makes improving flexibility in this area important. To perform this dynamic movement, start by getting on all fours. As you inhale, let your belly drop towards the ground as you lift your chest high and let the shoulder blades slide down the back. As you exhale, draw your belly button in towards your spine to round your back and look between the knees. Move with your breath, repeating for 10 counts.
Couch Stretch
This is a simple but effective stretch that will help to loosen your quads and hips. Get into a lunge position on the floor in front of a sofa or wall. Bend the right leg behind you, bringing the shin against the wall or sofa. Keep the shin vertical. The left leg remains in a lunge position with your foot flat on the ground. Stay in this pose for two minutes, experimenting with how far you can ease into the stretch and then switch legs.
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