We are all often guilty of spending a lot of time sat down at work without getting up and moving around, even on our days off away from the office this can happen! So in order to resolve this, here are eight simple exercises without equipment you can do to alleviate the issues that can arise from this…
Upper Trapezius Stretch
With one hand behind your back, grab the side of your head and pull your ear to your shoulder. You should feel the stretch down the side of your neck.
Hold for 1 minute each side.
Levator Scapulae Stretch
Rotate your head 45 degrees to the left. Place your left hand behind your head and gently pull it at an angle toward your knee.
Hold the movement for 1 minute each side.
Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch
In a kneeling position, with one leg out in front at a 90 degree angle, squeeze the glute of the kneeling leg, pushing into your hip to feel the stretch down the front of your hip and into the front of your quadricep.
Hold for 1 Minute each side.
Pec Stretch
Using a doorway or corner of a wall, bring the arm you want to be stretched first up to a 90 degree angle and place the arm against the doorway and take a step forwards. To take another angle at the stretch, you can move your elbows lower and higher than shoulder level to increase or decrease the stretch as seen in the image.
Hold for 1 minute each side.
Glute Bridge
Lying on the floor. Knees bent. Feet flat on the floor. Brace core so that your lower back presses into the floor. Squeeze glutes to drive hip up towards the celling. Pause at the top of the movement for 2 seconds then return back to the start and repeat.
Perform 3 sets of 10 repetitions.
Hamstring Activation
In a prone lying position, bring your heels to your hips. Once at this point squeeze them in as hard as you can for 10 seconds. You should feel your hamstrings firing up. After 10 seconds, slowly and under complete control lower your legs back to the floor.
Repeat this process a total of 3 times.
Cobra
Lying prone on your front, squeeze your glutes, bring your arms back towards your hips, externally rotation your shoulders with thumbs pointing towards the celling. Squeeze your shoulder blades back, down and together, causing a slight lift of your chest from the floor. Neck should be in line with your body and chin tucked in.
Hold for 30 seconds. Repeat 3 times.
Deadbug
Begin lying on your back with your hands extended above you toward the ceiling. Bring your feet, knees, and hips up to 90 degrees. Exhale hard to bring your ribcage down and flatten your back onto the floor, rotating your pelvis up and squeezing your glutes. Hold this position throughout the movement. Extend one leg, straightening the knee and hip to bring the leg just above the ground, whilst reaching behind your head with the opposite arm.
Perform 3 sets of 12 repetitions.
You can incorporate all or some of these into your daily working lives in order to keep the mucles we want activated, activated and stretch and relax the muscles we want to calm down. These exercises can be done anywhere as no equipment is involved, they are simple body weight exercises and stretches. I would recommend trying to perform 3 rounds of all, twice a day to start and progress from there.
Jack Coxall