January is finally over and you have been working hard at those new years resolutions but you find yourself aching non-stop! Well then these exercises are for you!
We all know the importance of cardiovascular exercise and strength training but another equally important of our physical activity is mobility and flexibility. This isn’t to say that everyone should be capable of the splits, but, we may find that certain areas of the body, whether its joints or whole areas of the body such as the upper back or lower back are more achey than normal- and this is more than likely due to stiffness either in the joints or muscles.
These exercises will help loosen up stiff joints and ease some of that discomfort.
The exercises
World’s greatest stretch
Start by stepping one foot as far forward as possible to get into a long lunge with the back leg as straight as you can keep it. Take the opposite arm to the forward leg and place the hand on the floor on the inside of your foot. With the other hand, open up the chest and reach up toward the ceiling. Then replace the hand, step the foot back, bring the other foot forward and repeat on the other side.
Hip rotation (90/90s)
Sit on the floor with the legs apart, knees bent and feet flat on the floor.
Hip inward rotation- take your right knee and lower it inwards towards the floor as far as you can while still maintaining your torso position. Then lift it back to where you started and perform on the left.
Hip inward and outward rotation- take your right knee and lower it inwards towards the floor while at the same time lowering your left knee outwards towards the floor. You should then be sat upright with your legs both at 90 degrees as close to the floor as possible.
This mobility exercise gets better the more you do it so trust the process.
Cat/cows
Get into a table top position (hands and knees), from here you are going to inhale and sink the belly downwards, lifting the head (cow pose).
Then, exhale and curve your spine upwards, drop your chin down and stretch through the spine as far as you can pulling your bellybutton in towards your spine.
Mid back mobility
Lie on the floor or matt with your knees bent and feet together flat on the floor. Take your arms straight out to the sides and inhale. As you exhale, drop both knees over to the right side and try to look over to the left side. Allow yourself to relax in this position. Then inhale and bring the knees back to the centre and repeat on the other side.
Upper Back Stretch
Find a flat surface that you can comfortably rest your elbows on. Place your arms out in front of you placing the hands together palm to palm and rest the elbows on the edge of the surface with your arms outstretched.. You are then going to lower the torso, maintaining a straight back, past the surface so the head goes through the arms. Keep breathing and hold this position for 5 seconds, then slowly release and repeat.
Shoulder mobility stretch
Take a towel or a sweatshirt (nothing that could be stretched beyond repair) and hold either end out in front of you. Raise the arms above the head and reach back as far as possible without rotating the shoulders at the joint (not so far its painful). Squeeze back in the position for 5 seconds, then relax and repeat.
Perform each movement for 30 seconds to 1 minute and then repeat as many times as you like. This is something that may take a few days of practice to really feel the benefits but hopefully it should help ease some discomfort.
