10 Minute Standing Stretch Routine // Stretching Exercises for Seniors & Beginners

Hello, welcome, and thank you for joining me for this 10-minute standing stretch routine. This is a perfect routine if you're not comfortable getting on the floor, and it's gonna help us work on our stability, flexibility, and mobility. You will need a chair to serve as a base of support and to help us with some of the stretches. All right, we're gonna get right into it. I'm gonna stand to the side so you can see that hands are gonna be lightly on the back of your chair. Taking about a half a step back, we're gonna start with that spine coming into a cat-cow. So we're gonna bend the knees, chin comes up, and shift those hips behind you. And then the opposite, we round the back, tuck the chin, gazing up at the navel. And nice and slow, we're just gonna articulate here in between those two movements. Chin up, hips back, dropping the chin, tucking the hips and rounding the back. That should feel really nice if you have any tension or back pain. So at your own pace, I just want you to go through this movement a few more times, doing what feels good to you. Let's do one more wherever you're at. Round up, and then I want you to come, still hinge forward, but into a neutral spine. Taking even a further step back, push back with your arms, shift the hips back, dropping the chest into a standing downward dog. So I want you to feel a stretch in the backs of the legs here. This is gonna feel different for everybody. And if you're not comfortable dropping your chest too far, then you keep it a little bit more upright. Let's shift those hips to the back. Let's come up about halfway. Give me a big inhale. And exhale, come down again. Shift those hips and drop the chest. Feeling a beautiful stretch. And while we're here, let's pedal the heels. So we're just gonna, nice and slow, alternate picking up the heels, coming up onto the back, the front of the toe there. You can add in the hips, shifting the weight a little bit, just to get some blood flowing. That should feel good. A few more like this. And then press both heels back down to the floor. Again, coming up a few more inches, straight spine, one hand on your chair, and one arm is going to twist up. And then I want you to bend the opposite knee. So my right arm is up, my left knee is bent. Really opening up the chest here. Stick the hip out to the side. Getting the stretch into that IT band. And let's come back to center. Let's do the other side. I'm gonna bend my right knee and lift up, twisting left arm up and over. Deep breath in, and exhale. Lower the arm down, straighten both legs, dropping the chest one more inch. Now we bend the knees, maybe let go of the chair, hands come on top of the thighs, and let's round it up. Tuck the tummy, roll it up nice and slow. Finishing with the shoulders. Okay, right arm comes out to the side. And then let's cross it in front. Dropping the shoulder, feeling a nice tug in there, stretching out the shoulder, get some of the tricep as well. And let's circle our wrist while we are here. And reverse. Release the arm, right arm comes out to the side, and then open up the shoulder here. So stretch the arm out to the back. And then we reach up, bending down, reaching those fingers down the back, we can assist with our other hand coming into a tricep stretch. So trying to get that elbow to the ceiling, don't force anything. We're all different as far as our shoulder mobility, but I want you to feel a stretch in that tricep. Big inhale, and exhale. Let's release both of the arms down, right arm's gonna come back behind us. So elbow is close to the side of your body, and you can kind of help holding that other hand. So again, feeling that shoulder stretch, dropping it down, and let's take the left ear towards the left shoulder. So we're feeling that all the way down the side of the neck. Breathe in, lift the head, and release the arm. Same thing, other side. Comes out, and crosses in front. Pulling it nice and close, either above or below the elbow joint, so there's no pressure on the joint. And then give me some wrist circles here. Reverse. One more hug, inhale, and exhale. And arm comes out to the side. Again, gently pulling it back, feeling the stretch in the front of the shoulder. And we reach it up. Reaching down and back for that tricep stretch. A little hug in, and again, give me a nice view, allowing that muscle to relax. Releasing both arms down and around, left arm comes back behind us, dropping that elbow to the side. Relax the shoulders down and back, and take the right ear towards the right shoulder. Breathe in, breathe out. Lift the chin, and relax the hands. Taking a big step back with one leg. Straightening the back knee, slight bend in the front knee, feeling the stretch in the calf muscle. And then I want you to tuck the pelvis, so we're up tight, up front, and then feeling that stretch in the head flexor here. Heel may come to the floor, it may not. Again, tuck. And then from here, holding onto our chair, I want you to straighten both knees, and then we're gonna hinge at the hips so you feel a beautiful stretch all the way up the back of the front leg. Inhale. Exhale, breathe into it. You're just going as far as you feel a tug in the back of that leg. Should not be painful, a little bit uncomfortable to work on that flexibility. And we lift ourselves back up. Coming into that stretch one more time, hinge forward, tuck the hips, straighten the back leg. Straighten the front knee, hinging forward again. This time, we're gonna lift the front toe and bend the back knee for a deeper hamstring stretch. Breathe in. And breathe out. Come on up, let's do the same thing other side. So big step back, pressing the back heel into the floor, bending the front knee, and the pelvic tuck. And be nice and tall. And then we straighten the front knee, and hinge forward, feeling that hamstring stretch in the other leg. Inhale. Exhale. Let's push ourselves up. And again, little bend in the front, extend the back, tuck the hips. Grow taller through that spine. Straighten both knees, hinge forward, lifting that front toe, and then bend the back knee. Deep breaths. Let's drop that toe, bring both feet together, and come back up. Into my favorite stretch, the figure four. So we're gonna cross at the ankle, or if you're able to, above the knee, and sit those hips back behind you. Really opening up that hip. You can shift your hips side to side if that feels good to you. And come on back up. If it's more comfortable, you could also do this seated in your chair. Shift those hips back. And again, maybe a little wiggle. Foot comes down, we come up. Cross one leg behind the other, arms come up, and then we have a big side bend. Maybe pulling on that top arm just a bit. One beautiful stretch all through that side body. Grow taller. Release. Step behind other side. Grab onto that left wrist. Grow tall, and stretch side. Don't stick your butt back. Again, think about a little pelvic tilt. Beautiful work. And finally, a big roll down and roll up. So like we started with our cat-cow chin comes up, chest comes forward. Roll it down around the back. Maybe drop the hands, relax the neck. If this feels good to you, a little ragdoll position. Give a slight bend in your knees. Maybe a little sway side to side. Releasing any tension in that lower back and in the shoulders. The movement, make sure your knees are bent, and we roll it up. Nice and slow. Finishing with our shoulders, and as always, big deep breath in, and exhale out. Thank you so much for joining me. Please let me know how you loved this standing stretch in the comments below. I love hearing from my viewers. We'll see you next time.