Exercises You Can Do From Home
Keeping active is always a good thing.
We encourage our clients to add stretching and exercising at home to their routines. We have provided a variety of easy exercises to help you stretch your body, tone your muscles, and strengthen your core. Visit our website often as we plan to keep this page updated with more easy workout options.
Abductor Stretch
Equipment: Band
Primary Muscles: Hip Flexors
Directions:
- Lay on your back and place a strap or band over the foot.
- Pull the leg up for a hamstring stretch.
- Once you have the leg straight then pull the leg out to the side, without allowing your opposite hip to come off the mat. Repeat a couple of times to each side.
Tips and Additional Facts:
- The higher the leg, the deeper the stretch.
Abductor Stretch - Standing
Equipment: None
Primary Muscles: Hip Flexors
Directions:
- Place your foot on a chair, bench, step etc. with instep of the foot facing down and toes facing in same direction as you. Try to keep the torso tall and slide the foot away from the body to deepen the stretch.
Tips and Additional Facts:
- Slightly turn out the foot you are standing on for better stability.
- For more of a challenge, lean or bend in the direction of the raised leg.
Hip Flexor Stretch
Equipment: None
Primary Muscles: Hip Flexors
Directions:
- Stand with your back to a sturdy object that can support your leg weight (chair, sink, couch or bed). Please use support for this stretch, I use my door frame to hold onto while placing my foot on the sink.
- Place the top of your foot on the object selected behind you. Make sure the leg you are standing on is bent at a 90 degree angle or less if needed. Don’t allow the knee from the balancing leg to go beyond the toes.
- Lean your chest back and deepen the stretch by lifting the arm of the leg you are standing on.
Tips and Additional Facts:
- For more of a challenge, lean back more and rotate away from the raised foot/leg.
Bicep Stretch
Equipment: None
Primary Muscles: Biceps
Directions:
Place your thumb on the wall parallel to the shoulder, then turn away from your arm to stretch biceps.
Tips and Additional Facts:
- Try to get the arm as straight as you can.
Palm on Wall
Equipment: None
Primary Muscles: Biceps
Directions:
- Place your palm flat against the wall with the fingers facing down towards the floor, make sure the arm is shoulder height.
- Spread the fingers and keep the arm as straight as possible.
Tips and Additional Facts:
- This stretch is really uncomfortable when you first start but stay persistent and the tightness will release.
Glute Band Stretch
Equipment: Band
Primary Muscles: Glutes
Directions:
- Place a belt or strap over the foot
- Then pull it up for a hamstring stretch, allow your leg to go across your body until you feel a good stretch up the side of the leg into the buttocks. The hip can stay flat or come up, if it bothers your back keep the hip flat.
Tips and Additional Facts:
- The height of the leg determines the intensity of this stretch.
Glute Stretch
Equipment: None
Primary Muscles: Glutes
Directions:
- Stand in front of stairs, a bench, or etc. and place your foot on the highest range you feel comfortable with.
- Then lean in keeping your chest tall. Make sure to keep your hips square.
Tips and Additional Facts:
- Fold forward after taking a few deep breaths.
Glute Stretch Standing
Equipment: None
Primary Muscles: Glutes
Directions:
- Find something strong enough to support your leg weight that stands hip height or lower depending on your flexibility.
- Place the leg up across the object with the ankle facing down. Try to get the ankle and knee parallel, then stand up tall and lean forward with a flat back until you feel the stretch deepen.
Tips and Additional Facts:
- This stretch can be uncomfortable if you are tight so look for a lower object to decrease the stretch, but eventually you should try to open this muscle up. It plays a vital role in lower back health.
- From a seated position you can place your ankle over your knee, then sit up tall and lean forward (ankle over knee stretch)
Neck Stretch with Arm Pull
Equipment: None
Primary Muscles: Neck
Directions:
- From a seated or standing position grab your wrist in one hand, then turn your head towards the direction of the wrist you are pulling.
Tips and Additional Facts:
- This stretch can also be done using a chair, grab the chair and lean away pulling the head down.
Neck Pull With Palm on Wall
Equipment: None
Primary Muscles: Neck
Directions:
- Place your palm flat against the wall with your fingers pointed down towards the floor, your arm should be straight.
- Then turn to look away from the palm to deepen the stretch.
- Gently pull the neck down and away from the wall to increase the intensity of the neck stretch.
Tips and Additional Facts:
- To deepen the stretch lean into the wall and spread your fingers.