These simple standing stretches can become your new favorite morning ritual.
Perfect Your Standing Posture
Get up!
If sitting is so deleterious, standing up is the first and most important thing we can do.
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Stand tall, and check your posture.
Notice, is your head in line with your shoulder?
Is your spine lifted up out of your pelvis?
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This is the standing starting position for all of the exercises to follow.
While standing and finding your posture is great, remember that standing without moving is not enough.
If there are stairs, walking up and down the stairs is even better!
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Try getting up for at least 5 minutes every hour.
From your tall standing posture, rise up onto the balls of your feet.
In other words, as you lower your heels to the ground, imagine you are actually getting taller.
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This will affect not only your ankles and feet but also the postural muscles along your spine.
5 to 8 of these will leave you feeling grounded in your legs and overall taller and more upright.
I think we can all agree he got that right!
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Sitting all day in front of a computer leaves the spine often unsupported and slumped forward.
No wonder it’s hard to stand up!
While standing, take a moment to take stock of your posture.
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Your roll down starts from your head.
Nod your head, then imagine rolling through your spine, one vertebra at a time.
Roll down as far as comfortable and stop if you experience any back pain or discomfort.
As you roll down, imagine drawing your abdominals in and up to support the front of your spine.
To reverse, plant your feet firmly into the ground and start to roll up your spine.
As you return to standing, imagine stacking one vertebra on top of the one below it.
3 to 5 of these are plenty.
Dynamic Leg Stretches
Keep these stretches dynamic by keeping the movement continuous.
Kiss the stretch, then move out of the stretch.
Shift weight to one leg by bending the knee.
Keep the other leg straight, and this is the leg that should feel the stretch.
Repeat on the other side.
For deeper stretch under a door-way is optimal.
Stand side facing a table or doorframe.
Cross right leg in front of left leg at the ankles.
Place the left hand on a table or hold onto the door jam.
Side bend to the left.
As you do so, the right arm can reach up and overhead.
If inside of a door jam, hold the jam as you focus on stretching into the right hip.
Release by lowering the arms, bending the knees and flexing the spine.
Repeat this yummy move as often as you like.
Squats
Narrow stand with legs hip width or slightly wider, the feet are parallel.
Lower into a squat by bending at the hips, knees, and ankles.
The spine remains straight as the torso tilts over the thighs.
Wide fire up the legs wider than the hips and slightly turn out the legs.
With a wider stance, you’re able to lower further down.
Try 10 repetitions, then on the final repetition, hold the position and count to 10 slowly.
you’ve got the option to also pulse in the squat position.
These small pulses will generate a lot of heat quickly.
Try lifting your heels as you pulse, and wow, quads on fire!
Lunges
Ten repetitions of each lunge in succession will definitely create strength and muscular balance quickly.
Back leg focus
Stagger your legs in a split stance, one forward and one behind.
Keep your torso upright and your spine is straight through the movement.
Bend both knees and lower into a lunge.
Front leg focus
Stand tall with weight even on both legs.
Take a step forward with one leg and bend that knee to lower into a lunge.
Bend both knees and lower into a side-stepping lunge.
Stand up to return to the starting position and reverse sides.
If your bathroom is questionable, then by all means, the desktop is your better bet!).
10 repetitions for each trip to the bathroom should do the trick!
Bend and straighten the arms.
My top advice for beginners?
Take it easy and do not judge.
Do not forget to breathe and allow the breath to motivate the stretch, not the other way around.
