Exercise, or in general moving around is important to keep us fit and healthy. If we lead a sedentary life, the most normal thing is that we feel that we are "rusty" or "atrophied" that we are less agile and that we lose not only strength but also flexibility.
The ideal is to walk a little daily and incorporate certain exercises that help us to keep our body ready. Today We are going to talk specifically about what exercises help us improve our flexibility to avoid feeling that feeling of stiffness or being rusty.
Why work on flexibility?
We must get out of the mind that either you are flexible or not and you can do little about it. By incorporating small changes into your daily routine we can increase our flexibility since the elasticity of muscles and joints is something that is worked on. Obviously respecting the limits that our body sets for us to progress little by little.
Gain flexibility reduces the chances of injury in our day to day, helps to avoid or reduce certain muscle pain such as back pain.
As we age, our movements are increasingly reduced, but if we work on our flexibility we will achieve that this is minimized and have a body that works well for much longer.
Where to start?
Work the flexibility of the body It requires perseverance, creating healthy habits and doing some daily exercises concrete that favor the increase of this characteristic.
The ideal is to work even 10 minutes a day.
We must be aware and recognize where our body is. It is not the same to start working on flexibility from scratch than to already have some flexibility.
Flexibility is gained little by little as our body gets used to it and it sets wider limits for the movements that it considers risky. So do not despair, each time you will go further.
Avoid sedentary lifestyle
No matter what you do, walk down the street, clean the house, walk around the house while talking on the phone, but avoid sitting for a long time. This can sometimes become a bit of a chore if you work in an office or your job requires sitting. In those cases, get up when possible to drink some water, or just get up, stretch your body or shake it to relax it. And, when you are no longer working, get moving: walk, exercise, etc ... whatever it means to get home and sit on the couch.
A few minutes of yoga to mobilize the body
Although there are isolated exercises that we can perform to gain flexibility. The ideal is to incorporate these exercises into a training routine. A good option would be set aside a few minutes a day, in the morning or at night, to say hello to the sun for example. The greetings to the sun are a very complete exercise, where we mobilize our entire body and that helps us feel more agile, rested and gain flexibility.
This practice is healthy for the whole family and can help you spend a little time doing an activity together, so there is no excuse to start. In this way We will help create good habits in the other members of the family as well.
Incorporating between 6 and 12 greetings to the sun each day will help us feel energized in the morning or relax the body at night, allowing us a good rest. As we have already mentioned in other articles, there are several points that must be taken care of if we want to achieve advances in our physique:
- Caring for food
- Get a proper workout
- Have a good rest
Breathing goes hand in hand with elasticityThis is why practices such as yoga become a great ally to work on flexibility. We will be able to stimulate our parasympathetic nervous system by relaxing the muscles and tissues and achieving a wider movement or stretch.
We recommend you consult this article to see how to perform sun salutations, in addition to knowing some basic things to start with the practice of yoga: Yoga for beginners: exercises to start this very beneficial practice
Always stretch after doing other types of exercises
Just stretching is not enough to work on flexibility, but it helps to complement the work. It is also a fundamental step that we must always carry out after training, in the same way that it is essential to warm up.
Specific exercises to increase flexibility
Once we have gotten used to moving a little every day, it is time to incorporate two to three days of specific training to work on flexibility. It is important not to focus only on one area of the body. Normally, when we talk about flexibility, it comes to our minds to touch with our hands on the ground, but exercising this physical characteristic goes much further.
We propose a routine of several exercises:
1.Back twist
Sitting on the floor we stretch the right leg and bend the left, passing it over the right and resting the sole of the foot on the ground. We turn the torso to the left putting the arm on that side straight behind us, resting the palm on the floor. The right arm is passed over the bent leg to apply pressure with the elbow and be more effective in twisting.
We repeat the exercise with the other side. We hold the posture for a few seconds on each side.
2 hamstring stretch
Sitting on the floor we stretch one leg and bend the other, sticking the foot to the groin. Now we throw the body forward and go down as far as the body allows us. We wait between 3 and 6 seconds and we return to the first position, we take two breaths and we go back down while we expire. We repeat this movement between 3 and 6 times trying to get a little lower each time.
We will repeat with the other side.
The first main objective with this exercises is to get, after training for a while, to touch our feet with our hands, from there to go as far as our body allows us.
3.Stretching of the abductors
Sitting on the floor we spread our legs and lower our torso as far as we can without bending our knees. We return to the starting position after a few seconds and go back down with the exhale, we repeat about 5 times trying to get a little lower with each exhalation. Always respecting the limits of our body.
4.Iliac psoas stretch
We kneel on the floor. We throw one leg bent forward, resting the foot on the ground and keeping the ankle in a vertical line with the knee. We put the other leg bent back, resting the knee on the ground and the tip of the foot also resting on the ground. Contract your abdomen to keep your back from arching. You can also stretch your arms up and back a little.
Hold the pose for several seconds and switch legs.
5.Stretching of the spine, chest, neck and shoulders
We lie down on the ground, bend our knees supporting the soles of our feet on the ground, leaving the ankles vertical to the knees. We stretch our arms along the body and close to the ground. We raise the pelvis and torso keeping the shoulders close to the ground. This is what is known as bridge posture.
We hold the posture for a few seconds, rest and repeat between 5 and 10 times.
6.Back stretch
It is what is known in yoga as the child's pose. We get on our knees, sit on our heels and bring our body forward, stretching our arms as far as possible. Keep your shoulders down. We hold the posture for a few seconds, feeling the entire back stretch.
If you usually have back pain, it is a very beneficial exercise, so you can repeat it a couple of times throughout the training routine.
7 quadriceps stretch
We stand up. We stretch one arm to the side and with the other we take the leg, flexing it on the same side. We pull gently, noticing the stretch. Try to bring your heel to your glute.
Repeat with the other foot after 5 seconds.
8.Triceps stretch
We stand up, with our legs spread at the height of the shoulders. Raise one arm and stretch it out as far as you can as if you wanted to touch the ceiling, bend your elbow and put your open hand behind your neck. Help yourself by holding with the other arm at the elbow. Hold the pose for a couple of seconds, release the elbow grip, and stretch your arm toward the sky again before lowering it.
Repeat with the other arm.
9.Neck stretch
We raise an arm and we pass it over the head until resting the palm on our ear. We incline our head to the side of the arm and help ourselves with the arm to gently exert a little pressure. We wait a few seconds and follow the movement of the head to the starting position.
We repeat with the other side.
10. Lateral stretch
We are still standing. We can put our feet together or leave them a little open to have greater stability if it is the first time we do this exercise. Raise your right arm as if you wanted to touch the ceiling and bring it straight to the left side, leaning your torso and without arching your back or lumbar.
Hold the pose for several seconds and repeat on the other side.
11.To finish ...
We stand with our backs straight, our feet shoulder-width apart, our arms stretched out along our body, and we look straight ahead. It is the mountain posture. Take three breaths.
And now relax the body, leave the arms "dead" and shake the body to remove any tension that may have remained. Move shoulders, arms, head, torso, hips, legs, and feet.