10 of the Best Stretches to Improve Your Flexibility

10 of the Best Stretches to Improve Your Flexibility
Workouts, recipes, motivation, tips, and advice all right to your inbox! Subscribe to Tone-and-Tighten.com using the red bar up at the top of the page. As a physical therapist, I see a lot of different people for a lot of different reasons. Whether it’s back pain, neck pain, hip pain, shoulder pain, etc – 0ne of my primary interventions that I recommend for people on a daily basis is stretching. Improving your flexibility can decrease tension in tight muscles, improve mobility in your joints, and ultimately decrease pain in tense/tight body areas. Today I wanted to share with you 10 of my most-recommended stretches to help improve your flexibility. Let’s try them out… Neck 1. Ear-To-Shoulder Stretch Great for the upper trapezius; my go-to for stiff necks and desk jobs! Drop your left ear over towards your left shoulder. With your left hand reach up to the right side of your neck and apply a gentle over-pressure until you feel a stretch in the right side of your neck. Hold 20 seconds and repeat three times. 2. “Smell Your Armpit” stretch Similar to the Ear-To-Shoulder stretch; only now we’re going to sneak it around to the back of your neck. Tilt your head so your nose is pointing directly at your armpit. Reach your left hand up to the back of your head and apply a gentle pressure to stretch the back of your neck. Hold 20 seconds and repeat three times. Shoulder 3. Cross-body stretch My go-to for a tight rotator cuff. Cross right arm across the front of your body. Use your left hand to grab your right elbow. Pull your elbow to the left until a comfortable stretch is felt in the back of your right shoulder. Hold 20 seconds and repeat three times. 4. Doorway Stretch My got-to for “desk job” postures where your spine and shoulder round forward from too much time in a poor posture. Place your forearms on either side of a door frame. Step into the door frame until a comfortable stretch is felt through the front of your chest and shoulders. Hold 20 seconds and repeat three times. Lower Back 5. Cat – Camel Great to improve overall spine mobility. Get down on all fours with your hands directly below your shoulders and your knees directly below your hips. Arch your back as high as you can up towards the ceiling and tuck your chin into your chest (cat). Now sag your chest/abdomen down towards the floor while looking up directly in front of you (camel). Hold 20 seconds and repeat three times. 6. Lumbar Rotation Stretch Lay on your back with your knees bent. Drop both knees down to the left until a comfortable stretch is felt in the right hip/lower back. Repeat to the other side. Hold 20 seconds and repeat three times. Hips 7. Piriformis Stretch One of my favorites for back pain and tight hips. Lay on your back with your knees bent. Cross your left leg over your right. Grab the back of your right thigh with both hands and pull it up towards your chest until a stretch is felt in the back of your left hip/butt area. Hold 20 seconds and repeat three times. 8. Hip Flexor Stretch Kneel your right knee with your left leg out in front of you as shown. Shift your body forward by lunging onto you left leg until a stretch is felt in the front of your right hip. Hold 20 seconds and repeat three times. Legs 9. Hamstring Stretch There are many ways to stretch your hamstrings; this one is my personal favorite as it keeps your back in a very safe and neutral position. Lay don on your back. Grab a belt/towel/sheet and loop it around your left foot. Keep your left leg straight and use the belt/towel/sheet to pull your leg into the air as shown until a comfortable stretch is felt in the back of your leg. Hold 20 seconds and repeat three times. 10. Calf Stretch The most-useful for maintaining flexibility in your ankle/Achilles tendon. Stand with your left foot back behind you as shown. Keep your left leg straight and lunge forward onto your right leg until a stretch is felt in your left calf (it helps to push on a wall or otherwise support yourself as shown). Hold 20 seconds and repeat three times. I recommend my patients perform these exercises multiple times throughout the day if we’re rehabilitating an injury. If you’re not in pain and just looking to increase your flexibility my recommendation would be perform these exercises once a day. You might even break it up over a couple of days – exercises #1-#5 one day and exercises #6-#10 on the next day. Photo credits – www.hep2go.com My favorite website to generate home exercise programs for my patients! Check them out! Questions or comments for Jared? I would love to hear from you! Leave me a comment below or email me at ToneandTightenFitness@gmail.com Make it happen, Jared 000 Original article and pictures take http://tone-and-tighten.com/2015/10/10-of-the-best-stretches-to-improve-your-flexibility.html site