stretching
Showing posts with label stretching. Show all posts
T Spine Mobility
Lunge with Thoracic Rotation:
Hold 30 seconds both ways, get your chest as open as you can.
Seated Upper Trap Stretch:
Holding onto the bench grab your head and slowly tip it to the side stretching out your upper trap and neck. Hold 30 seconds both sides
Standing Lunge with Thoracic Rotation:
A bit different from the first one, lunge, and rotate to the side of your front leg. So if you lunge with the right leg, rotate to the right side. 30 seconds hold both side.
Upper Trap/Pec stretch:
Reach hands behind the back, clasp your hands and rotate your chest open and shoulders down. 30 second hold
Upper Trap Stretch:
Bring your hand behind your back and rotate your head to the other side. Hold 30 seconds
Stretches for those who sit!
For majority of the population, we spend our lives seated in front of a computer screen. This is not only bad for our our health and wellness but it's also really bad for our posture. It causes our shoulders to round, our necks to jut forward, pain in the low back, neck, and wrists. So what can we do? You can't quit your day job, but you can do this sequence of stretches throughout your day. Set an alarm so you have to get up and move around from seated every 30 minutes and try to perform these stretches 3-4x a day (do em more if you want!)
Pec Stretch: Place hand against the wall and open up chest and rotate away from the wall. Hold for 30 seconds per side
Overhead Lat Stretch: Bring hand overhead and press down behind head. Hold 30 seconds per side
Cross Body Stretch: A great stretch for the shoulder, pull the arm across the body and pull it in, hold 30 seconds per side
Chest Stretch: bring hands behind back and interlace the fingers, extend away from the body. Hold for 30 seconds
Lat Stretch Against Wall: Place arm on wall and press into wall hold for 30 seconds
Upper Trap Stretch: Bring one arm behind back and grab head with other hand, apply a bit of pressure, hold for 30 seconds per side.
Wrist Flexor and Extensor stretches: This one is great if you've been typing a lot. Hold pressure on your wrist flexing and another extending. 30 seconds per side.
Squat Form Stretches
If you're having a hard time getting deeper into your squat and reaching 90 degrees try to work on some of these movements and stretches. These will help loosen up tight hips, hamstrings, and adductors.
1. Supported deep squat
Hang onto the pole and sink into your hips, hold onto the pole lightly and try to relax into it. Hold it for a few minutes.
2. Unsupported deep squat
Use your arms to press your elbows into the knees, sink your hips low, keep the chest up and back flat. Go in and out of this position, try to hold for as long as you can. 3 sets
3. Hip openers
Knees are bent, push up onto your knees, and push your hips forward, sink back down. Repeat 10x and then switch which leg is in front.
4. Adductor stretch
Knee bent sink into the one hip keeping the other leg straight. Hold for 30s each side repeat 3 sets
5. Hip Flexor Stretch
One knee bent, push into that side, you should feel the stretch in the front of the hip hold 30s 3 sets
6. Frog stretch
Feet turned out, hips nice and wide sink back into your glutes hold 30s 3 sets
Everyday Stretches
Our vacation was so good to rest the body, but the flights have a tendency to wreck havoc on my body. Sitting for 6 hours straight is not in my repertoire and frankly it seems insane to me that some of my clients sit for 8+ hours a day. My hips felt like garbage after sitting for that long, everything needed a good stretch. You don't have to set aside hours for yoga a week to get the benefits of stretching, here are a few simple stretches you can do anywhere anytime to help with that stiffness.
1. Overhead stretch
Targets: Lats, triceps
Bring the hand overhead and reach back and touch as far down as you can on your back, place other hand gently on the elbow and relax. Hold 30s per side
2. 1/2 splits
Targets: Adductors
Bring one leg out to the side, ensure head and chest stay upright, sink into that leg, should feel it on the inside of your leg. 30s hold per side
3. Chest stretch
Targets: Pecs, anterior delts
Bring hands together, and push back until you feel it in the front of your chest hold 30s
4. Side body stretch
Targets: Left side of the body, It band, hip, oblique
Cross one leg in front of the other and then push into that hip, bringing the same arm up and leaning over. So if the left leg is crossed in front, the left arm will come up and over, stretching the left side of the body. 30s per side
5. Low lunge, with chest opener
Targets: Hip flexors, pec muscles
Ensure you are not bending into the back, but squeezing the bum to shift your hips foreward, should feel this in the front of the hip. Bring hands behind back and stretch back. 30s per side
6. Standing calf stretch
Target: Calves
Bring feet in a staggered stance, push into front leg while keeping foot flat on the ground. Feel in the back calve. 30s per
7. Half kneeling hamstring stretch
Targets: Hamstrings
Ensure your torso is upright and not rounding over, ensure the knee does not hyper extend. 30s per side
8. Deep squat
Targets: Hip flexors, glutes
Feet slightly out turned, feet wider than shoulder distance, sink as low as you can into your hips while maintaining your torso upright. Hold 30s. Really good for hip mobility.
9. Reclining stretch
Targets: Quads, front body stretch
Knees should be wider than hips when you start, ensure your legs are on the outside of your knees (look to photo, my legs are not stacked under my knees but are slightly outside) recline back into this position, you may not go very far back and that's fine. If any knee pain stop, otherwise hold 30s
Stretches for Tight Hips & Hamstrings
Hamstring Stretch:
Cross one foot in front of the other, hinge forward until you feel a pull in the back of your leg. Ensure you're keeping a flat back like pictured though, doesn't do you any good to round the back to get into a deeper stretch.
30s per side
Glute med/Piriformis Stretch:
Find something at about hip height (or lower just bend the back knee then) place leg onto plateform bent with your foot in front of your hip. If you need to get a deeper stretch bring torso over the knee
30s per side
Supported Hamstring Stretch:
Find a platform again about hip height or lower, straighten the leg out toes flexed towards face, hinge with a flat back as far as you can go forward.
30s per leg
Hip flexor stretch:
Foot flat on same platform, foot flat in the back as well, squeeze glute pushing hips forward slightly, should feel it in the front of your hip.
30s per side
Supported Quad stretch (hip flexor as well):
Using platform, place toes of one foot on top. Ensure hips are level, knee bent, not rounding the low back to stretch that quad.
30s per side
Stretch It Out
Stretching is an important part of any cool down routine post exercise; and while it's important many of us (myself at times included) forget to do it! This is a great way to bring your heart rate back to normal, lengthen muscles after they've been used & it just feels great. I put together a quick stretching routine that can be done in about 10 minutes absolutely anywhere and is great for after a run.
1. Chest and Upper Trap stretch. Bring hands behind back clasp hands together if available, stretch arms down and back. Should feel this in the front of your chest and upper shoulders, hold for 20-30second can repeat 1-2x
2. Tricep Stretch. Bring one arm up and place behind head, can use other arm to press down, hold 20-30s for 1-2x
3. Quadricep Stretch. Can use a support as pictured if needed, or not to challenge balance. Clasp onto foot and pull your foot towards your bum, should feel it in the front of your leg. Hold 20-30s for 1-2x
4.Standing Hamstring stretch. In a split position, straighten out front leg and bring your torso over this leg, if you can place your hands on the ground do so. Feel free to use your thigh or shin to support yourself here, should feel it in the back of your front leg. Hold 20-30s 1-2x
5. Forward Fold, back and hamstring stretch. Feet should be wider than shoulder width, hinge from hips to reach as far forward as you can without pain, but you should feel the stretch in the hamstrings and low back. Some may be unable to reach the ground while others may be able to place hands flat on ground. Hold for 20-30s 1-2x
6. Side Body stretch. Feet shoulder distance apart, place one hand on hip and bend to that side while bringing the other arm up and over to the opposite side. Should feel this all the way through that extended side. Hold 20-30s 1-2x
7. Groin and Hamstring stretch. Bring leg up as high as it will go, keep straight but do not lock the knee out. Should feel this in the inside of the leg, you may feel it in the back of the leg as well. Hold 20-30s 1-2x
8. Warrior Pose, hip flexor and chest opener. Feet far from one another in a split position, come down into a lunge by bending into the front leg, try to keep the back leg straight. You should feel this in the front of the back leg. Bring arms up and over head with a slight backbend. Hold 20-30s 1-2x
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)