Can’t touch your toes? Back feels as stiff as a plank? Chest tight from all that desk time? It’s time to work on your flexibility. Here are nine stretches to do regularly and eight general tips to improve flexibility.
Flexibility is hard to come by and it’s something you have to consistently work at, but there are plenty of benefits.
Here’s what being more flexible can do for you:
Incorporate these stretches and exercises into your weekly routine to lengthen your muscles and limber up those joints.
Downward dog is a classic yoga pose that has a lot of benefits. As well as improving circulation and decreasing stress, it can lengthen your muscles and increase flexibility, mainly in your legs.
A classic lunge can stretch out the legs, and a twist works to open up your chest and stretch your spine — combining them is a super stretch.
Get into a lunge position with your left leg forward. Place your right hand on the ground and stretch your left hand up to the sky, opening up your chest.
Stay here for a few breaths before switching to the other side.
Most of us walk around with a tight neck and shoulders without even realizing it, especially if we stare at a computer screen all day.
The classic forward fold is the stretch where many of us realize just how inflexible we are.
If you spend your days sitting at a desk or a lot of time in the car, you’ll most likely have tight hips. Open them up with a butterfly stretch.
Another stretch for the desk workers or anyone who finds themselves hunching over and inward often.
One of the more relaxing yoga poses out there, try child’s pose to stretch your legs, back, and arms.
Stretch out your hip flexors and relieve lower back pain with pigeon pose.
For those who feel like they roll out of bed with a solid plank of wood for a back, try cat cow.
Now you know the stretches to do, here are some general tips for improving your flexibility.
Even if you include flexibility training as part of your workout routine, you may still spend the rest of the day sitting in only a few positions.
If you work at a desk, set reminders to go off every hour or so to remind you to get up and stretch, go for a brisk walk, or — at the very least — change your seating position.
The same goes for when you’re not at work. Mix up how you sit at home. Try sitting on the floor every now and again to work on your hip flexibility and incorporating more movement into your everyday routine to stop muscles from seizing up.
Foam rolling is often recommended for recovery, but it can also increase your range of motion and flexibility.
A 2015 study asked participants to foam roll their hamstrings three times a week for four weeks. At the end of the experiment, those who foam rolled had greater improvements in hamstring flexibility than those who didn’t.
As well as hamstrings, you can use a foam roller on major muscles including:
Foam roll each muscle for about one minute. You can start by foam rolling two or three times a week, and increase how often you do it from there.
Incorporate stretching into your weekly routine. You could end every workout with 10 minutes of stretching, book into a yoga class every Sunday morning, or spend a few minutes stretching before getting into bed each night.
Whatever you decide, aim to make stretching a habit. Flexibility, unfortunately, is something that’s easily lost when you don’t work at it.
Dynamic stretches are stretches where you move constantly through a movement, instead of holding a stretch. For example, you might swing your leg back and forward to stretch out your leg muscles.
Dynamic stretches are a great way to warm up for a run or for a gym workout, allowing you to stretch your muscles while they’re cold.
Dynamic stretches include:
Static stretches are the opposite of dynamic stretches. They’re stretches you hold for a set period of time without moving. You’ll usually hold these for at least 30 seconds.
For example, you might sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you, reach forward toward your toes, and stay here for 60 seconds.
Static stretches have been shown to increase flexibility, but make sure you do them when your muscles are warmed up. You could perform static stretches after a workout or go for a brisk walk or do some yoga flows before holding any stretches.
Ignore your high school coach’s saying “no pain, no gain.” When it comes to stretching, you want to pay attention to when it hurts.
Stretching may not be comfortable exactly, but you shouldn’t be in pain as this puts you at risk of injury.
If you are in pain, ease off, lessen the stretch, and take the strain off of your muscles.
Perform stretches until you can feel a bit of tension in your muscles, but not pain.
Flexibility isn’t all about stretches. Strength training can help improve range of motion, too.
Incorporate these strength training exercises into your weekly routine:
Keep forgetting to stretch? Sign up for a weekly yoga class. Practicing yoga regularly will help you stretch out tight muscles, work on your strength, and improve your flexibility — all at the same time.
You may even learn some new favorite stretches you can do outside of the class.
If you don’t want to book into an IRL class, try follow-along YouTube videos from the comfort of your home.
Vanessa is a freelance writer living in London. When not at her laptop, she loves to run, travel and scuba dive wherever she can.
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