Total Body Stretch Routine
One of the most annoying things to experience is tightness in the muscles. Most people experience tightness at some point in their lives, usually in the neck, back, hips, and hamstrings. If left unaddressed, tightness can lead to chronic pain in these areas or even worse: injury from a pulled muscle. So it’s super important to take care of the flexibility of our muscles with practices like stretching.
Whether you're an athlete, a casual gym-goer, or someone who simply wants to stay active, incorporating stretching into your workout routine can significantly improve your overall well-being.
Relax your muscles and improve your flexibility with this daily total body stretch routine 🧘♀️
Level: All Levels
Goal: Improve flexibility & mobility
Equipment: None (exercise mat or yoga mat optional)
Benefits of Stretching
1. Improves Flexibility and Range of Motion
As we age, our muscles naturally become tighter, which can limit our range of motion and increase our risk of injury. Regular stretching and staying active can help maintain flexibility and make everyday movements easier.
2. Performance Boost
Performing dynamic stretching before your workouts helps prepare the muscles for movement, which can improve your performance in the gym. It can also reduce the risk of pulling a muscle during high-intensity exercises like plyometrics and heavy lifting.
3. Promotes Better Posture
Muscle tightness and imbalances can often lead to poor posture and body alignment. Stretching specific muscle groups like the chest, shoulders, and lower back can help realign your body and improve overall posture. This, in turn, can help reduce chronic pain and risk of injury.
4. Relieves Stress and Promotes Relaxation
Stretching is great for the mind as well as the body! Taking deep breaths and practicing mindfulness while stretching can help reduce stress levels, promote relaxation, and even improve sleep quality.
Best Practices for Stretching
Warm Up First: Stretching cold muscles can increase your risk of injury. Always start with light movement, such as walking on a treadmill or doing some priming exercises before doing deep static stretching.
Hold Each Stretch for 10-60 Seconds: Avoid bouncing, which can cause pulled or strained muscles. Instead, hold your stretches in a comfortable position and breathe deeply for 10-60 seconds.
Incorporate Both Dynamic and Static Stretching: Use dynamic stretches like leg swings or arm circles as part of your warmup before a workout and static stretches like hamstring or quad stretches afterward as a cooldown.
Stretch Regularly: Consistency is key! Aim to stretch at least 3-5 times per week to see long-term benefits.
Daily Total Body Stretch Routine
Use the following 10 stretches as part of your daily stretch practice:
1 Cat Cows
8-10 repetitions
Cat cows are one of my favorite exercises for warming up the core. This exercise is going to take you through full spinal flexion and extension, and you'll feel your abdominals firing up and stretching as well as your back muscles like your erector, spini, your lats, and your traps. You don't need any equipment for this exercise, but you may want to put a yoga mat or exercise mat on the floor to cushion your knees.
To start this exercise, begin on the floor in a tabletop position on all fours with your hands underneath your shoulders and your knees underneath your hips, and you've got a nice flat back.
Take a deep breath, and as you exhale, curl your spine up towards the ceiling as you tuck your tailbone under and tuck your chin to your chest to come into a Cat stretch.
As you inhale, return back to a flat back position, and then continue to lift your hips and lift your eyes as you drop your belly button down towards the mat to come into the Cow stretch.
Continue to breathe and flow between these two stretches. Do eight or so repetitions moving at the pace of your breath, and when you finished return back to a tabletop position and rest.
You should feel the engagement in your abdominals and a stretch all through your back as you perform the cow pose, you should feel a stretch in your abdominals along the front of your torso, and some engagement in your erector spinae, your lats, as well as your traps. It's important to only go as far into this movement as your flexibility allows.
2 Child’s Pose
30-60 seconds
Child's pose is an exercise for stretching your lower back quadriceps, glutes, and the tibialis anterior muscle in the front of your shins. You may also feel a stretch in your lats muscles in your mid back if you reach your arms forward. You don't need any equipment to perform this exercise, but you may want to put an exercise mat or a yoga mat on the floor to cushion your joints.
Begin in a tabletop position on your hands and knees.
Point your toes back and push your hips back towards your heels as you reach your arms straight forward, allowing your hips to sink towards the floor as far as your flexibility allows. Let your forehead rest on the floor if that's comfortable for you. Feel the stretch in your lower back, glutes, quadriceps, and the front of your shins.
Reach forward a bit more if you'd like to activate a deeper stretch in your lats muscles in your mid back and under your armpits.
Hold this position for the number of seconds recommended in your training program before coming back up into a tabletop position to rest.
3 Kneeling Quad Stretch
30-60 seconds both sides
The floor kneeling quad stretch is an exercise for stretching out your quadriceps muscles and hip flexors. Doing this exercise will help to promote flexibility and mobility in your hips and legs. You don't need any equipment to perform this exercise, but you may want to put a yoga mat or an exercise mat on the floor to cushion your knee.
Begin kneeling on the floor with a tall posture and take one of your legs forward, placing your foot flat on the floor and bending your knee. Straighten up your posture so your chest is forward and your shoulders are down away from your ears.
Keep your back knee on the ground and now push your hips forward until you feel a stretch in the quadriceps and hip flexors of your back leg. Hold this position as you continue to breathe at a natural pace between 10 and 60 seconds or however long your training program recommends.
Push your hips back and switch out your legs to come into the stretch on the other side, bringing your other foot to the floor with your knee bent and pushing your hips forward. Maintaining a tall posture hold between 10 and 60 seconds before resting.
4 Figure Four Hamstring Stretch
30-60 seconds both sides
The seated figure four stretch is an exercise to stretch out your hamstrings, hip adductors, and hip abductors muscles. You don't need any equipment to perform this exercise, but you may want to put a yoga mat or an exercise mat on the floor to cushion your joints.
Begin seated on the floor and stretch out one leg as you bring the sole of the foot of the opposite leg to the inner thigh of your straight leg with your knee bent.
Sit tall to begin and pull your toes back to get a stretch in your calves as well as your hamstrings.
If you want to go deeper into the stretch, you can continue to hinge at the hips, reaching towards your ankle, but try to keep your back straight here and in alignment hold for the number of seconds recommended in your training program before switching to the other side.
5 Seated Glutes Stretch
30-60 seconds both sides
The floor glute max stretch is an exercise to stretch out your glutes muscles in your hips and butt. You don't need any equipment to perform this exercise, but you may want to put a yoga mat or an exercise mat on the floor to cushion your joints.
Begin lying face up on the floor with your knees bent.
Straighten out your right side leg and then grab your left side knee with your right hand and pull it across your body towards the floor, keeping your shoulders on the floor. This should feel like a big twist in your torso. Pull your knee towards the floor until you feel the stretch in your hips and glutes. Hold this position for between 10 and 60 seconds, breathing at a natural pace.
Return your knee to the starting position and take it to the other side, straightening out your left knee and bending your right knee and pulling it across your body towards the floor, keeping your shoulders on the floor. Continue pulling towards the floor and up towards your shoulders until you feel that stretch in your glutes and hips. Hold this for 10 to 60 seconds or however long your training plan recommends.
Use your hand to push your knee up towards the center and return to the starting position to rest.
If you're having trouble feeling that stretch in your glutes, try changing the angle of your knee, pulling it up towards your shoulders more or down towards your feet, or pulling it across your body towards the floor until you feel that stretch in your hips. This one takes a little while for a lot of people to master, so give it some time and practice. And of course, message me if you have any questions.
6 Butterfly Stretch
30-60 seconds
The butterfly stretch is an exercise for stretching out your hip adductor muscles. Those are the muscles in your inner thighs. These muscles are important for stabilizing when you're doing exercises like squats and deadlifts.
Start on the floor and come into a seated position. Bend both of your knees and bring the soles of your feet together in the center. Hold onto your ankles with your hands and sit nice and tall.
You can lean forward or lean back as you need to until you feel that stretch in your inner thighs. Hold the stretch as you continue to breathe and see if you can sink a little bit deeper into the stretch. Hold for between 30 and 60 seconds.
Bring your knees back up and rest.
It's okay if your knees don't come down as far towards the floor as you see in this video. Just hold where your flexibility allows. The more often you practice this stretch, the more your hips will be able to open, and your knees will be able to come down further towards the floor.
7 Floor Seated Side Stretch
30-60 seconds both sides
The floor seated side stretch is an exercise for stretching out your lats or latissimus dorsi muscles (lats) in your sides and mid back, as well as your oblique muscles in your core. You don't need any equipment to perform this exercise, but you may want to put a yoga mat or an exercise mat on the floor to cushion your hips.
Begin seated on the floor with a tall posture and your ankles crossed, shoulders back, and chest pushed forward.
Take your left side hand to the floor as you reach your right hand up and over towards the left as far as you need to feel that stretch along the side of your torso and hips. Hold this stretch and continue to breathe at a natural pace for between 10 and 60 seconds or however long your training program recommends.
Bring your right hand back down.
Take a deep breath and then switch over to the other side, taking your left arm up and over, reaching towards the right side wall, keeping your chest forward, and reaching over until you feel that stretch in the lats and obliques on the other side. Hold and continue to breathe at a natural pace for between 10 and 60 seconds before coming back to the center and relaxing.
8 Down Dog Calf Stretch
8-12 reps alternating sides
The down dog calf stretch is an exercise for stretching out your calves muscles while also developing shoulder and core stability. You don't need any equipment to perform this exercise, but you may want to put a yoga mat or an exercise mat on the floor to cushion your joints.
Begin in a tabletop position on the floor with your hands underneath your shoulders and your knees underneath your hips.
Walk your hands forward and then push yourself back into the balls of your feet as you drive your heels down towards the floor, coming into a downward dog or pike position.
Bend your left knee as you straighten out your right knee and drive your right heel down towards the floor to get a stretch in your right calf, and then switch over to the other side, bending your right knee and driving your left heel down towards the floor with your left knee straight.
Continue switching side to side at a slow and controlled pace to dynamically stretch your calves on both legs.
When finished with your set, bend your knees and come back down to a tabletop position to rest.
As you do this exercise, continue to press actively away through the floor with your hands and avoid sinking into your shoulders. Also, keep your eyes looking between your fingers and avoid allowing the head to drop or look too far forward.
9 Standing Chest Stretch
30-60 seconds
The standing chest stretch is an exercise for stretching out the pecs muscles in your chest as well as the deltoids and biceps. You don't need any equipment to perform this exercise.
Begin standing with a tall posture with your feet underneath your hips, your shoulders back and down away from your ears and over your hips, and your chest forward.
Lift your arms to reach in front of you, and then open up your arms with your palms facing the ceiling and drive your thumbs back behind you until you feel that stretch in your chest or pec muscles, as well as along the front of your shoulders and biceps and your upper arms. Hold this position as you continue to breathe at a natural pace for between 10 and 60 seconds, or as long as your training program recommends. As you stand here and stretch, make sure to keep a soft bend in your knees and avoid locking out your knees.
When you finish your stretch, lower your hands back down to your sides to rest.
10 Shoulder Stretch
30-60 seconds both sides
The standing shoulder stretch is an exercise for stretching the deltoid muscles in the shoulders. You don't need any equipment to perform this exercise.
Begin standing with a tall posture with your feet underneath your hips, your chest forward, and your shoulders down away from your ears.
Keep your right elbow straight as you bring it across your body at the level of your shoulder, and grab underneath with your left side arm as you pull your right arm close to your left shoulder. Pull until you feel a stretch in your right shoulder in the deltoid muscle. Hold this as you continue to breathe at a natural pace for 10 to 60 seconds or however long your program recommends.
Gently release your arm down and take the stretch over to the other side, keeping your left elbow straight. Reach your left arm across your body and reach underneath with your right arm to pull your left arm closer to your right shoulder. Pull your arm in until you feel that stretch in your left side deltoid or shoulder muscle. Hold this position for 10 to 60 seconds or however long your training program recommends before releasing your arm down to rest.
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