Unbeknownst to you, your spine, hips, and shoulders shape your daily movements and significantly contribute to enhancing your flexibility levels. Increased flexibility doesn’t happen overnight, but with regular mobility exercises—either first thing in the morning or as part of your warm-up routine at night—you can make progress.
1. Reverse Lunge
Lunges can help balance out your lower body and improve mobility. But you should be aware of any stress it places on your knees as you deepen into a lunge position – the more forward you go into a lunge position, the greater torque is placed upon your front knee, according to Doug Perkins of North Boulder Physical Therapy who told SELF about this phenomenon.
Reverse lunges can help relieve some of this pressure. Begin with feet shoulder-width apart and arms by your sides; slowly bend your torso over your back leg until a stretch appears in front of your knee.
2. Squats
Many have heard they should focus on flexibility training to maximize their workout, and mobility is absolutely key for maximum effectiveness. But many are confused as to exactly what this involves and when to practice. A general guideline suggests spending ten minutes per muscle five days per week.
Walrod suggests adding dynamic stretching—movement-based stretching—to your workouts to warm up muscles and joints before engaging in strength training sets and to teach full ranges of motion to them. He notes this will warm them up before strength-training sets begin as well.
3. Cat-Cow
Cat-Cow is an effective spinal movement, engaging your erector spinae muscles (the long, flat muscles running along your spine) to maintain healthy spacing between vertebrae. Furthermore, breathing-linked movement may help ease autonomic nervous system anxiety while providing relaxation benefits and increasing core stability.
Reaching a flexible spine is vital to overall body wellness, especially for those who struggle with tight backs and shoulders or have sedentary jobs. Engaging in dynamic movements every day will help reduce pain while protecting against injuries such as backaches or stiff necks.
4. Knee-to-Chest
This exercise provides a fantastic stretch for lower back and hip muscles while simultaneously strengthening core stability. It makes an excellent pre-workout warm-up or stretching routine addition.
Flexibility is essential to performing everyday tasks, like bending over to pick something off the floor or reaching for something high on a shelf. Without sufficient flexibility, tight muscles and joints could cause injuries when they pull against other parts of the body or pull against each other, causing pulls on other muscles or bones.
This mobility drill involves lying on the floor and gently hugging one knee into your chest. It can also be done with both legs if you wish to focus on specific muscle groups.
5. Side Stretch
Stretching can be an effective way to increase mobility. Utilizing both static and dynamic stretches that move through a joint’s or muscle’s full range of motion is integral for flexibility and injury prevention, according to Walrod.
This side stretch targets the intercostal muscles that support your ribs. Position yourself arm’s length away from a wall or sturdy exercise equipment and lift your right hand overhead with this stretch. Stretch until your muscles feel a gentle pull; do not push beyond your limits. If any discomfort arises during stretching, stop and focus on those specific areas where soreness exists.
6. Squat-to-Lunge
Weight-bearing exercises like squats and lunges can greatly increase mobility by stimulating bone density growth, as well as helping to prevent injury during workouts, daily activities, or sports. They also enable a smoother journey during daily tasks or sports games.
Squats target your leg muscles, while lunges focus on your thigh and core. Together they increase hip and ankle flexibility while decreasing stiffness and improving balance, coordination and stability. To perform this exercise, position yourself with feet shoulder-width apart on an exercise mat and squat down until your knees bend to 90-degree angles before pressing back up to the starting position and lunging forward with your left leg.
7. Reverse Lunge-to-Squat
People often struggle with understanding why mobility and flexibility matter. Of course they do—these components of an exercise regimen should play an essential part, yet how much time you dedicate each depends entirely upon your own body and goals.
This mobility exercise resembles a split squat but with one leg moving backward instead of forward. This movement targets your hips, quads and thighs—plus your core and shoulders—in an effective workout. To perform it safely and successfully in lunge position, bend the left knee until almost touching the floor, then drive off the front foot to step it back into the starting position before repeating the process on the other leg.
8. Knee-to-Knee
If you struggle to touch your toes while standing, your mobility likely requires attention. Incorporating stretching exercises into your daily schedule could be just what is needed to help restore flexibility without strain or injury to your bending over capabilities.
Mobility should not be confused with stretching, although both increase your range of motion. “Mobility involves actively moving a joint through its full movement pattern, while flexibility involves passively lengthening muscle through static stretches,” according to McPeak. To increase mobility in your workouts, she suggests adding these 10 mobility exercises as part of your regimen.
9. Side Stretch
Flexibility exercises can help keep your joints moving correctly, lowering injury risks and helping you perform your best in both workouts and daily life activities.
Mobility training’s goal is to stretch until you feel a slight pull, not pain or discomfort, according to trainers. Integrating stretching exercises into your warm-up or as part of a standalone session each day could make a big difference over time—just listen to what your body tells you; stop stretching if any sharp pain arises during stretching activities.
