10-Minute Gentle Stretch | SilverSneakers

Adding time to stretch at least two to three times a week has so many benefits. It can help increase our range of motion. It can help with our flexibility and can even improve our posture and our balance, which can also help prevent falls. And improving our flexibility can help with everyday activities like reaching for something on a tall shelf or turning your head to check traffic while driving. For our workout today we will start with the lower body and work our way up and we will be doing these stretches in a seated position in a supportive chair. So find a comfortable seat. You can be further back on the chair which gives more support under your legs or you can be more forward. Find what works best for you. Again we're starting with lower body. Lift your toes up off of the floor. Press your heels down. Lower your toes and now lift your heels. Let's alternate between those movements toes and heels. As we begin warming up in the lower body let's take time to check in with our posture. So spine is long. Shoulders are back and down so you feel proud and lifted through the chest. Your neck is long. A little bit of engagement through the belly and start to notice the warmth building in the front and the back of your lower legs. Let's do a few more. Alternating toes and heels. One more time and lower your heels down to the floor. Alternating heel lift right and left. A great progression for this movement is a knee lift. So let's give that a try. Knee lift right and left. You can guide that movement with your hand. One or both and start to feel some more warmth in the upper part of the legs and into the hips. Keep that posture tall. Let's add on. Next time we come to the right side. Lift your right leg. Lift. You can hold with one hand or both. Extend. Press your heel away. Bend your knee and lower down. Left side. Lift. Extend and lower. Let's do that a few more times as we continue to warm up. Keep that posture tall. Check in with your breath as well. Easy inhales through the nose if you can and nice long exhales. Great job. Keep on going. I think we'll do one more time on each side. So one more time on the right. Really extend and now one more time on the left. Last time here. Take your feet closer together. Toe heel till your feet connect and then open your knees out to the side. Rolling to the outside of your shoes. Lift up tall through the chest and then close those knees back together. Try again. Open and close. Good. A few more times. Let's do two more. Take your right heel forward. We'll stretch a little bit more through the back of the leg. So your toes are energized pulling towards you. Seated tall. If you want to add a little bit more intensity, you can keep your hands pressing down on your left leg and just hinge forward slightly. So you might feel this more in the back of your leg and you might start to feel this in your lower back. So be mindful of movement. If it doesn't feel right, decrease range of motion and sit up taller. Enjoy one more breath here. Lift tall and step your right foot back. Let's give the left foot a try. And remember each side is going to feel different. So what feels good on the right you may need to modify on the left. So maybe you stay here. Shoulders stacked over your hips or hinge forward. Think of that straight long spine from your tailbone out to the top of your head. Shoulders back and down. One more breath here and lift tall. Let's add one more movement to our lower body. Lift your toes. Take them out to the side. Lift your heels. Lift your toes and take a few more steps as far as you can to a wide stance. Really stretching along those inner thighs. Knees gently peeling back. Again, chest is lifted. Pause here and breathe. Let's bring those feet closer together. Lift the toes. Come back to center. We'll try that one more time. Lifting the toes. Lifting your heels. Can you take a few more steps this time? Maybe come to a little bit of a wider stance. Hold here. Breathe. And carefully walk your toes and heels till your feet are about hip distance apart. Let's start now with a modified cat-cow pose as we start to warm through our midsection. So a great modification is to take your shoulders forward. I like to reach towards the front of my knees and take your shoulders back. So you'll feel this more in the upper part of the back. So shoulders forward, shoulders back. Variation if you would like. Cat pose. So then lift up through your chest. Hinge forward slightly. Elbows come back. Your hands come towards your hip creases and you feel that slight arch in the lower back. So find the variation that works best for you today. Keeping the movement in the upper part of the back or moving into that cat-cow. And breathe. Enjoy this stretch as we warm up through the middle part of the body. One more time in each direction and come to a neutral spine. Again you have options. So turn and look to the right side. Relax your shoulders and now look forward. Look left. So keeping with the next stretch only is a great modification for our next stretch. Look forward. Take your right arm out to the side. Turn and look toward your right arm. You can keep a neck stretch or you can start to gently twist back. Reaching your arm back. Turning your eye gaze. Feeling the stretch across the arm and across the chest. Think about your shoulder blades getting closer together and be sure to keep a slight bend to your right arm. And unwind. Slowly turn and look to the left. So let's try the other side. Add the arm reach if you want. You can keep a neck stretch only. You can reach your arm back. Keep your shoulders relaxed. Unclench your teeth. One more breath here and slowly unwind. Reach your arms forward to shoulder height and reach your arms slightly behind you. Again find your range of motion. Lift forward to shoulder height. Reach back. Good. Let's do two more times. Lift and lower. Once more. This time when you reach back maybe hold on to the back of the chair or clasp your hands together and squeeze the shoulder blades back. Keep your breath steady. Even. Relaxed. One more breath here. Release your arms. Forward raise to shoulder height or if it feels okay lift a little higher and lower your arms down by your sides. Try again. Lift. Arms come a little higher. Maybe still. Maybe a little bit more. And exhale and lower down. Let's try that two more times. Can you reach a little bit higher? Inhale and exhale. One more time. Reach up as high as you can. This time we're going to lower our arms down by our sides and our hands come on to the top of the thigh. Right ear towards right shoulder. Again allow your shoulders to feel heavy and come back to center. Left ear towards left shoulder and center. Lower your chin down towards your chest and lift your eye gaze. Let your arms drop down by your side and let's end with some easy shoulder rolls. Wonderful job today. I hope you feel stretched, relaxed. Have a wonderful day.