Starting your day with a healthy routine is the best step forward ensuring a long and healthy life.
According to Jennifer Warthann, certified personal trainer:
“Just a few minutes of stretching increases blood flow through your entire body — including your brain. It wakes you up and helps you feel less sluggish.”
“Stretching first thing in the morning helps your circulatory system actually deliver nutrients to muscle tissue, which in turn helps your body perform your daily activities with more ease.
For example, by the time you show up to your after-work exercise class, you won’t have to worry about pulling any muscles or straining yourself — all thanks to an a.m. stretch routine.
Plus, if you’re part of the 80 per cent of Americans who report feeling stress on the job, some morning stretches can help to relieve or lessen those feelings, as well as target the emotional tension that might be taking up residence physically in your back, neck, or legs as a result.
Making time to lengthen and strengthen your muscles through stretching is also great for your posture, something that often gets overlooked during all those hours curled over a computer.”
Stretching offers tremendous benefits for our health, as it enhances our flexibility and range of motion, develops body posture, reduces back pain and reduces the tension in the muscles, relaxes and calms the body, and rejuvenates the entire body.
The following is morning routine involving eight stretches that will help you enjoy all these benefits:
Standing Forward Bend
Stand with your feet spread hip- distance apart and the knees somewhat bent. Hinge forward at the hips, for the upper body to hover over the legs, and take the elbows. Hold for four breaths, and then gently come up by pulling in the abs and round the vertebrae up one at a time. Repeat this movement twice.
Standing Hamstring Stretch
With your left heel set on a chair lower than the hip, flex your foot, and flex forward toward it for a deeper stretch. Hold for 30 seconds.
Elevated Pigeon Stretch
Bring the left leg with the knee bent on the bed. Square the hips while the front knee is set outside of the front shoulder. Lean forward at the hips, with the spine straight, and place the hands on the bed. Hold for five deep breaths. Repeat the same exercise on the other side.
Door Stretch
Put the arms on the door jam, step the foot through the frame, with the upper arms parallel to the ground, and the forearms aligned up and by the doorway. After that, bend the front knee to feel the stretch in the shoulders and hold it for 30 seconds. Repeat with your other leg.
Standing Side Stretch
Hold your hands, stretch the pointer fingers, and hold it over the head. As you move forward, take a breath, and breathe out while bending to the right. Breathe in gradually five times, go back to the centre, and repeat the same movement on the other side.
Cat & Cow
Begin with the knees and hands touching the ground; the palms are placed directly under your shoulders and your knees right under your hips. Breath in, engage the abs and stretch the back up like a cat stretching.
Next, return to the beginning, round the upper part of the spine upwards while holding it with t the help of the abs. Maintain the neck as a long extension of the rest of the spine, and don’t let your head to fall back. Go back to the starting position, and make five repetitions.
Straight Leg Calf Stretch
Stand straight, facing the wall with your arms straight in front of you, place the hands flat against the wall.
While keeping the right leg forward and foot flat on the ground, stretch the left leg behind you with the heel flat on the floor. Next, lean into the wall, and hold this position for 30 seconds. Change to the other side, and repeat twice with both legs.
Clasped Hand Chest Stretch
Clasp your hands behind the back, raise the arms behind while leaning forward at the waist. Hang the head free and raise the arms above. Attempt to hold the palms together. Hold this position for 30 seconds and repeate it three times.
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Source: theheartysoul.com
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