I got away with it in my youth – and it became a foul habit. But now that I’m getting older, I’m feeling the results: I’m almost all the time stiff, and my flexibility is not what it was once. It takes a great five to 10 minutes from my workouts before I can shake off my tin man-like stiffness and feel loose, fluid, and man.
While I’ve been successfully experimenting with using a massage gun before bed and after a workout recently, I’ve finally tackled the music: I would like to more prudently consistently incorporate at the least a brief movement routine into my each day life.
How I Choose My Morning Movements
There are many mobility exercises that will be done for all the body’s major joints, but mobility within the ankles, hips, shoulders, and spine will be especially helpful for individuals who spend a lot of the day sitting or who struggle with chronic strain (Hi It’s Me).
Since I appear to prioritize almost every other form of movement over mobility work, I made a decision I needed a brilliant easy, quick routine that will be almost too easy to search out excuses to not do. So I challenged myself to commit to a five-minute movement routine every morning for 2 weeks. I told myself that if I discovered the routine effective, it might encourage me to proceed it without feeling burdened, and even expand it right into a more comprehensive movement routine.
I selected just five movement exercises, doing each for a minute:
How I felt after my five-minute morning exercise routine
As expected, I wasn’t super excited the primary morning. I used to be tempted to simply get to my actual workout as an alternative of laying on the ground doing these seemingly basic exercises. But once I forced myself to begin, it was over before I knew it. And as an alternative of taking the standard 10 minutes to completely warm up during training, I immediately felt quite spry and cozy. I used to be doing HIIT sets on my Bowflex Max Trainer and was in a position to move into high intensity intervals faster and hit higher revs and resistance earlier than usual. The net result was that my training was more efficient, maximizing my training time – a win I didn’t expect.
This served as fuel for the fireplace for the following few days and helped keep it going. I still found that even once I didn’t work out immediately after an exercise routine, I felt more supple and loose throughout the day. For example, once I got up from sitting at my desk, I didn’t feel the standard tension in my hip flexors and calves.
One day during those two weeks, I missed an exercise routine because I needed to take the dog out immediately (apparently she got into something!) after which forgot to do it. It didn’t even occur to me until later that day when I spotted I used to be actually feeling noticeably tight and sore.
Now, to be completely honest, I am unable to say that I feel like adding anything more movement exercises here. Five minutes is all that seems really doable for it to develop into a habit. But I’m glad I’m maintaining with those five minutes – they’re enough to make me feel all day without feeling like I’m an obstacle to beat every morning.
If you discover that you furthermore mght feel stiff but do not feel like doing quite a lot of mobility work, start with just super basic routine as I. Give yourself per week to practice consistently and see if you happen to notice a difference. I actually have a sense you will find that the return is definitely worth the small investment. Your joints might be healthier, your workouts might be more productive, and you will feel higher moving throughout the day.
