Part of the reason your back hurts may be that you're not moving daily. This workout can help.
Image Credit: Morit Summers/LIVESTRONG.com Creative This 31-day body-weight workout challenge will inspire you to move more, no matter your starting point. Get all the details on the challenge here. Ever wake up the morning after doing a new or particularly tough workout feeling like you might not be able to get out of bed? That’s the perfect time for a mobility session: a slow, gentle workout that takes your joints through their full range of motion while stretching your muscles.
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Morit Summers, CPT, creator of Brooklyn-based training studio Form Fitness and host of our "New Year, Do You" Challenge, created this mobility workout to give your body that chance to recover in between strength-training workouts and to help you move better every day.
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"A major reason people have more aches and pains [as they get older] is because they stop moving their bodies and over time they lose some ability to move," she says. "Doing mobility regularly can help keep our bodies moving the way they are intended to move."
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If you're doing the challenge, follow the weekly rep scheme below. If you're doing this workout on your own, increase or decrease the reps and sets based on your fitness level.
In between sets and exercises, rest for 20 to 40 seconds. You won’t feel fully rested (like you were before your workout) but you should feel ready to tackle the next set.
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Reps and Sets Per Exercise Sets
90/90 Hip Switch Cat-Cow T-Spine Rotation World’s Greatest Stretch Week 1 2 5/side 5 5/side 5/side Week 2 3 5/side 5 5/side 5/side Week 3 3 5/side 5 5/side 5/side Week 4 4 5/side 5 5/side 5/side 4 Body-Weight Moves for Better Mobility The “New Year, Do You” Challenge is accessible to all fitness levels. That’s why we’re providing a main move and at least one modification or variation. In the videos below, you’ll see one trainer — either Summers or her Form Fitness co-founder Francine Delgado-Lugo — demonstrating the base exercise along with a modification or variation from the other trainer. Choose the version of the exercise that works best for you.
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1. 90/90 Hip Switch (shown on left)
Activity
Mobility Workout
Body Part
Abs and Legs
Sit on the ground with one knee bent in front of you at 90 degrees and one knee bent behind you at 90 degrees (shown on the left). Lift both knees up and turn to face the leg behind you, keeping your heels planted on the ground. Keep switching back and forth.
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Modifications and Variations To make the 90/90 stretch move more challenging, add a hip thrust on each side (shown on the right). After rotating your knees to one side, draw yourself up onto your knees and squeeze your glutes at the top before lowering back down and rotating your knees to the other side.
Cat-Cow (shown on right)
ActivityMobility Workout Region Core
Begin on your hands and knees, as Summers demonstrates on the right. Exhale as you round your back, pull your bellybutton toward your spine and tuck your chin toward your chest. Starting at your tailbone, release one segment of your spine at a time, relaxing through your lower back, mid-back, upper back and neck as you lift your chin upward. Reverse the motion. Be aware of what segments feel stuck. Breathe into these spaces and remember to move slowly. That’s 1 rep. Continue to move between cat and cow pose, letting your body move with your breath.
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Modifications and Variations If it's more comfortable, you can perform this move while seated (shown on the left). Sit up tall, place your hands on your knees and move between rounding and arching your back with your breath.
Alternating T-Spine Rotation (shown on right)
ActivityMobility Workout Region Core
Following Summers (right), start on all fours with your knees under your hips and your hands under your shoulders. Place your left hand behind your left ear, elbow pointing down to the ground. Rotate upward through your mid-back so you’re looking up at the ceiling (or as far as you can comfortably go), elbow pointing up. Twist back to the starting position, hand still behind your head. Do all your reps on one side before switching.
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Modifications and Variations If it's more comfortable, you can perform the T-spine rotation stretch lying on your side (shown on the left). Bend your knees to 90 degrees and extend your arms in front of your chest. Open your top arm and reach behind you (or as far as you can go), then return to the start.
World’s Greatest Stretch (shown on right)
ActivityMobility Workout Region Full Body
From a high plank, step your right foot to the outside of your right hand so you’re in a low lunge (as Summers shows on the right). Release your right hand and bring your right elbow to the inside of your right foot. Then, twist open to your right side, reaching your right arm toward the ceiling and opening your chest. Return to a high plank, then switch sides.
Show Instructions
Modifications and Variations To make the world's greatest stretch a bit more accessible, perform the move from your knees (shown in front) and only go as deep into the stretch as your flexibility and mobility allow. You should feel a gentle stretch and not a painful pulling.
Follow Along With the Challenge Use the calendar below to help you stay on track with the “New Year, Do You” Challenge. Do the workout listed, then check off each day as you complete it. (Get a printer-friendly version here.) Image Credit: LIVESTRONG.com Creative Back to the “New Year, Do You” Challenge Image Credit: LIVESTRONG.com Creative
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Part of the reason your back hurts may be that you're not moving daily. This workout can help.
Image Credit: Morit Summers/LIVESTRONG.com Creative
This 31-day body-weight workout challenge will inspire you to move more, no matter your starting point. Get all the details on the challenge here.
Image Credit: Morit Summers/LIVESTRONG.com Creative
This 31-day body-weight workout challenge will inspire you to move more, no matter your starting point. Get all the details on the challenge here.
Sets 90/90 Hip Switch Cat-Cow T-Spine Rotation World’s Greatest Stretch Week 1 2 5/side 5 5/side 5/side Week 2 3 5/side 5 5/side 5/side Week 3 3 5/side 5 5/side 5/side Week 4 4 5/side 5 5/side 5/side
Activity
Mobility Workout
Body Part
Abs and Legs
Sit on the ground with one knee bent in front of you at 90 degrees and one knee bent behind you at 90 degrees (shown on the left). Lift both knees up and turn to face the leg behind you, keeping your heels planted on the ground. Keep switching back and forth.
Show Instructions
Activity
Mobility Workout
Body Part
Abs and Legs
To make the 90/90 stretch move more challenging, add a hip thrust on each side (shown on the right). After rotating your knees to one side, draw yourself up onto your knees and squeeze your glutes at the top before lowering back down and rotating your knees to the other side.
Activity
Mobility Workout
Region
Core
Begin on your hands and knees, as Summers demonstrates on the right. Exhale as you round your back, pull your bellybutton toward your spine and tuck your chin toward your chest. Starting at your tailbone, release one segment of your spine at a time, relaxing through your lower back, mid-back, upper back and neck as you lift your chin upward. Reverse the motion. Be aware of what segments feel stuck. Breathe into these spaces and remember to move slowly. That’s 1 rep. Continue to move between cat and cow pose, letting your body move with your breath.
Show Instructions
Activity
Mobility Workout
Region
Core
If it’s more comfortable, you can perform this move while seated (shown on the left). Sit up tall, place your hands on your knees and move between rounding and arching your back with your breath.
Following Summers (right), start on all fours with your knees under your hips and your hands under your shoulders. Place your left hand behind your left ear, elbow pointing down to the ground. Rotate upward through your mid-back so you’re looking up at the ceiling (or as far as you can comfortably go), elbow pointing up. Twist back to the starting position, hand still behind your head. Do all your reps on one side before switching.
Show Instructions
If it’s more comfortable, you can perform the T-spine rotation stretch lying on your side (shown on the left). Bend your knees to 90 degrees and extend your arms in front of your chest. Open your top arm and reach behind you (or as far as you can go), then return to the start.
Activity
Mobility Workout
Region
Full Body
From a high plank, step your right foot to the outside of your right hand so you’re in a low lunge (as Summers shows on the right). Release your right hand and bring your right elbow to the inside of your right foot. Then, twist open to your right side, reaching your right arm toward the ceiling and opening your chest. Return to a high plank, then switch sides.
Show Instructions
Activity
Mobility Workout
Region
Full Body
To make the world’s greatest stretch a bit more accessible, perform the move from your knees (shown in front) and only go as deep into the stretch as your flexibility and mobility allow. You should feel a gentle stretch and not a painful pulling.
Image Credit: LIVESTRONG.com Creative
Image Credit: LIVESTRONG.com Creative
Back to the “New Year, Do You” Challenge
