14 Standing Stretches That Will Loosen Up Your Entire Body

Stretching can often be just what it’s worthwhile to help your tight, achy body feel higher. Thing is, it’s not all the time feasible to lie down on a mat and bust out a complete routine. With standing stretches, though, you possibly can reap all the advantages of gently moving your body in a convenient, do-it-anywhere format.

Having a go-to list of moves you possibly can perform in your feet can allow you to easily fit stretching into your day, especially when you’re in a setting where you don’t have space to put down on the ground—or when you would feel self-conscious doing so (say, in a shared office or in a crowded public place), Kelcie Wittman, PT, DPT, spokesperson for the American Physical Therapy Association, tells SELF.

And there’s good reason to achieve this: There are tons of advantages of stretching that just may encourage you so as to add it to your routine. For one, it could actually allow you to maintain or improve your flexibility, especially in areas which are tight and stiff either due to your workouts or from being locked into certain positions for long periods of time—like sitting hunched and leaning forward at a desk all day, says Wittman. This positioning can tighten up your quads, hip flexors, neck, and shoulders.

Moreover, stretching may improve blood flow to your muscles and help your joints higher move through their full range of motion, Wittman says. And when you do it after a workout, it could actually help loosen your drained muscles and put them in “slightly higher shape to perform activity again” the following time you exercise, she adds. Perhaps most significant, though, is the proven fact that regular stretching can allow you to feel less achy and stiff and improve your ability to perform each day tasks comfortably and with ease.

Okay, so making time for any form of stretching is essential. Nevertheless it turns on the market’s even a selected profit to staying in your feet to achieve this. Some standing stretches can assist loosen up certain areas—just like the calves and Achilles—which are difficult to focus on while lying down, Kellen Scantlebury, DPT, CSCS, founding father of Fit Club NY, tells SELF.

When it comes to how often to stretch, there’s no blanket guidance. It really will depend on a complete bunch of things, including your activity level, goals, how much time you will have, personal health history (including current and past injuries and medical concerns), in addition to how much you enjoy stretching, says Wittman. She advises folks to do it at a frequency that works for them—you possibly can even do it each day, if that feels good in your body and your schedule.

It may possibly even be helpful to have multiple types of this movement in your routine, including each static stretches (those where you get right into a position and hold—for instance, a forward fold and lunging calf stretch) in addition to dynamic stretches (exercises where you progress fluidly through the total range of motion of a joint, like standing toe-touch kicks and standing trunk rotation). Each can have a spot in your routine, though they don’t fill the identical need. Dynamic stretches prep your body for the movement that’s coming in a workout, while static stretches help calm you after exercise, which may kickstart your recovery, as SELF reported previously.

We’ve compiled a listing of some really amazing standing stretching below to pencil into your routine. Try a few of these dynamic options before your next exercise session, or a static move or two to assist your body cool down afterward. You may also do these stretches outside of a workout—simply sprinkle them into your day every time works best! While the moves below will hit every area of your body, certainly not do you will have to do all of them to reap the advantages of stretching. Start by specializing in ones that concentrate on areas that feel especially tight to you.

Able to loosen up with some awesome, do-anywhere moves? Listed here are 14 standing stretches price adding to your routine.

Standing stretches to try