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Recovery can look different to everyone. For some, it is daily stretches and weekly yoga sessions, or fueling and refueling their bodies with essential nutrients. For others, it is getting eight hours of sleep each night. Great athletes incorporate recovery strategies into each and every day. This is what separates them from good athletes—prioritizing recovery.

Stretching helps alleviate muscle soreness, increase blood flow to muscles for repair, and increase range of motion and flexibility. Going to a daily yoga class may not be realistic and that’s OK!

Here are five stretches any athlete can use to recover.

RELATED: How Yoga Keeps Giancarlo Stanton Swinging for the Fences

Runner’s Lunge

• Step forward with your right foot into a lunge position and drop your back knee down toward the ground.
• Ensure your hips are square in front of you and you are driving the weight through your front heel.
• Raise your opposite arm and reach up and back for a deeper stretch.
• Hold for 15 seconds, release, then try to sit a bit deeper for 15-20 seconds longer.
• Repeat on opposite side.
• Extended stretch: Move the front foot out to the side slightly and drop the knee out, coming to the outside edge of your front foot.
• Work your hands or forearms down to the ground and hold for 15-20 seconds.

Pigeon

• Set up in a high plank position and raise your hips up toward the ceiling (Downward Dog).
• Extend your right leg up and swipe through so it lays perpendicular to the opposite leg underneath your core region.
• Try to relax your upper body by extending your arms out in front of you or resting your forehead on your forearms.
• Hold for 30-60 seconds. Repeat on opposite side.

Adductor Extension

• From a kneeling position, sit tall with your hips forward.
• Extend your right leg out to the side and place the sole of your foot on the ground.
• Bring your hands down to the floor in front of you and slowly sit your hips back on your opposite heel while extending your arms in front.
• Press gently back, keeping the sole of your foot on the ground.
• Hold for 15 seconds, release then sit deeper for 15-20 seconds longer.
• Repeat on opposite side.

Frog

• From a kneeling position, spread your knees wide and point your feet out.
• Slowly bring yourself down to the floor, either forearms down or arms all the way extended.
• Breathe deeply through this position and keep your knees spread wide.
• Hold for 60 seconds.

Child’s Pose to Cobra

• Start in a position similar to the Frog stretch but keep your feet directly underneath you (and not outward).
• Extend your arms forward as you press your hips back, then slowly shift the weight forward into your palms.
• Pressing your palms and hips through the ground, bring your chest up tall and roll your shoulders back.
• Breathe through this sequence, pausing for one breath at each position.
• Repeat five times.

One of the most important cues to keep in mind while performing these stretches is to breathe—long deep inhales followed by long deep exhales. Instead of counting the seconds, count your breaths, aiming for 5 to 10 deep breaths in each position.

These stretches can be done on any recovery day and/or at the end of a training session. Not only will they help promote recovery, they will also help bring your body back to a resting state after an intense workout.

RELATED: The New York Knicks Have Fully Embraced Post-Practice Yoga

Most people think flexibility is just about stretching muscles. There really is more to it than that. Let me explain. When joints are stable and appropriately aligned, it optimizes flexibility. It is more effective because the joints are in the correct position for muscles to stretch and move properly. When joints are not, a compensated process occurs because of the joint’s incorrect position that causes functional imbalances in the muscles.

When the glut is weak and not stabilizing, the hip tilts forward, causing the quads to tighten and lose flexibility. This compensates flexibility and changes the muscles’ ability to stretch because the quads have to do the glutes’ job to stabilize. When you restore stability by strengthening the glute to stabilize the hip properly, the quads will restore their ability to stretch more effectively and maximally.

Therefore, the position of the joint and how you stretch and breathe maximizes flexibility. Understand and incorporate these three things to create instant flexibility and produce dramatic results in your range of motion!

Reciprocal Inhibition

Describes the neurologic process of muscles on one side of a joint relaxing to accommodate contraction on that joint’s other side. Reciprocal Inhibition is a feedback reflex. It works by first contracting the muscle that opposes the stretching muscle before you stretch in the movement—for example, your glutes and quads, quads and hamstrings. The contraction of the opposing muscle initiates a relaxation signal for the muscle to be stretched. Furthermore, the muscle contracting stabilizes the joint providing a more effective proper stretch of the muscle.

For example, when you lunge, contract the glute first to initiate the relaxation signal then stretch the quads.

Autogenic Inhibition

Autogenic Inhibition simply is holding the muscle’s tension barrier during a stretch for 7-10 seconds to relax the muscle further into a stretch. Your muscles know to the finest coordinate the length and speed in which they can stretch. By using autogenic Inhibition, you will be able to stretch further and further instantly, if you do it a few times during your stretch.

For example, when you stretch your muscle and the stretch stops due to tension, if you hold the tension for about 7-10 seconds, the muscles will relax and increase the stretch.

Breathing

Inhalation facilitates the contraction of muscles, and exhalation facilitates the relaxation of muscles. When you inhale, it stabilizes muscles, and when you exhale, it relaxes them. So, inhaling and exhaling using reciprocal Inhibition and autogenic Inhibition enhances muscular flexibility. The inhale supports the contraction, and the exhale helps the stretch. As you cycle your breathing through the stretching pattern, it increases more and more by adjusting, adapting, and changing the range.

For example, inhale as you stretch to the tension point in the stretch. Hold for 7 seconds, then exhale into the stretch further.

To stretch correctly, you want to incorporate all three things into your stretching routine.

Wait for the adjustments. Let the adjustments adapt. The adaptation will change and develop more range.

When you finish the stretch and motion, you will have an optimized pathway to move more freely through your range of motion. Flexibility is a process, not just stretching.

Isolated Stretching

Just stretching and stretching produces limited flexibility. Just stretching a muscle alone is not the best thing either. When you stretch muscles without initiating the proper signals, it pulls the muscle fibers apart. Stretching:

• Makes muscles lax,
• Desensitizes muscles’ ability to absorb and produce force and be explosive.
• Loses resiliency- the ability to restore their shape after being stretched.
• It creates inhibition of motor units firing to contract a muscle, meaning that they cannot contract as forcefully and fast, which is why it affects speed and power.
• Prolonged, increases the length of a muscle but decreases the tone.

As an athlete, muscles need to be able to stiffen, be springy, and explosive. Static stretching removes this ability. You want muscles to be resilient and springy, having the ability to stretch and recoil fast with power.

Static stretching doesn’t hurt you, but it decreases muscle force and contractility. However, it would be wise to understand why and when to stretch. Stretching with resistance is your best bet because even through you are stretching muscles, they still maintain resiliency, firmness, and stiffness with the ability to contract explosively, all at the same time. The added resistance makes the muscles absorb force at the same time, whereas static stretching does not.

Static stretching doesn’t have any detrimental effects, but when you go to load your body or use any kind of strength training or force production, this is where the problem starts to exist and underlie because your muscles don’t respond effectively.

Static stretching muscles reduce muscular stiffness in the lower body, decreasing runners’ running economy. (Running economy is the energy demand for a pace of running determined by measuring oxygen consumption.) The decrease in muscular stiffness due to stretching reduces the springiness and force production. When your muscles perform eccentric contractions and have stiffness and springiness, less oxygen and ATP are used. Less heat is produced because of using elastic energy. Static stretching does not enhance an athlete’s performance but diminishes it. The article also stated that flexible storage was more favorable for athletes with stiffer muscles and tendons.

The Best Times to Stretch

Believe it or not, the worst time to stretch is before competition and training. Stretching diminishes nerve potentiation and force production by making the muscle more relaxed due to increasing the muscle’s length. It relaxes the firmness of the muscle to be less springy and explosive. The trade-off is; muscles lose contractility and gain flexibility. Something you don’t want for your muscles, especially as an athlete, because contractility is your ability to be explosive.

• A few studies say that regular heavy stretching with resistance for 10 minutes three days a week increases strength, speed, and power and enhances flexibility and mobility.
• Others say that dynamic stretching through ranges of motion, where muscles contract and stretch, improve flexibility and promote muscular stiffness.

Static stretching does have a time, place, and purpose. If you want to static stretch, do it on non-training and non-competition days.

Avoid performing before training or competition because it will decrease the explosiveness in your movements.

Slow focused stretching with weights or resistance maintains and enhances muscular stiffness, springiness, and neural potentiation, as well as flexibility.

To understand more about the process of stretching, stiffness, springiness, and proprioceptors my book, The Balanced Body and Instant Strength explains them all more fully.

Read More

• The Role of Flexibility and How It Affects Your Game
• The Importance of Stretching Throughout Your Day

Where there is a struggle, there is a learning opportunity. Hence the reason I like to use the Windmill as an assessment tool. I can use it as an introductory screen to identify mobility restrictions with my clients. Specifically, it screens for overhead ability, shoulder flexion and rotation, thoracic rotation, and hip hinging ability. These are some movement categories fundamental to the weight room. When learned, they will transfer to athletic performance.

I think it’s fair to attribute the growth of this movement to the Kettlebell master, Pavel Tsatsoline. Perhaps this wasn’t his intended use, but regardless a credit to him for his teachings.

What is the Purpose of the Windmill?

The exercise is specific to total body coordination. It is a multiplanar movement, meaning the body works through multiple planes of motion, including the frontal and transverse planes. It works the muscles of the core, obliques, and trunk.

Although typically done with a kettlebell or dumbell, the Windmill requires significant mobility, so better to start with your body weight and progress to external loading.

“The Windmill should be simultaneous hip hinging and spine rotation”

-Pavel Tsatsoline

How to Perform the Windmill?

1. Start with a staggered stance (back foot in line with the heels). Feet should be shoulder-to-hip width apart, depending on your body proportions. You may point to toes slightly outward to aid the movement.
2. Extend the opposite arm (to the forward leg) overhead. It doesn’t matter which side you start with, but you’d do well to pay attention to the “weaker” side. Turn your head to keep your eyes locked on the overhead hand.
3. Slightly bend the front knee. Hinge your hips backward as you slowly lean the bottom arm towards the floor. You should be actively rotating your torso in the process.
4. Reach the bottom arm to the front heel, or as far as your mobility allows. The bottom arm should be in line with the top hand. Your eyes should continue to engage the overhead arm.
5. Reverse the movement back to the starting position. Keep your hips hinged and gradually rotate the torso and overhead shoulder back to standing. Repeat 3-5 times.

Tip: Don’t perform this movement to failure. Focus on how it feels and the overall technique. Because it’s part of a screening process, we want to mitigate any fatigue and strictly focus on the mechanics.

As the coach, I’ll always allow my client to struggle a bit. That is to avoid complicated cueing to see how they negotiate their body positioning. It may take a couple of reps before they feel comfortable. Afterward, I can deliver my cues to help them improve. From there, I can sufficiently measure their mobility restrictions.

Practical Application

The Windmill is practical as a warm-up, tertiary exercise, or cool-down. For our sake, we’ll focus on the beginning of the workout. You will be fresh and alert, devoid of accumulated fatigue. The Windmill operates as a teaching tool. Meaning you will practice it at the beginning. You won’t load it heavy or take it to failure like other strength exercises. That comes later. Think of it like movement preparation. Specifically to engrain motor patterns that you’ll use in the subsequent workout. Once you master the movement and overcome any specific mobility limitations, you can consider loading it with weight.

To reiterate, I will have my clients perform this exercise at the beginning of the workout for movement preparation or at the end as a total body accessory pattern. I’ll employ 1-4 sets and 4-8 reps per side. Once mastered, you can adjust the intensity, sets, repetitions, and frequency to bolster your progress. Then you can eventually progress to the Turkish Get-Up.

Pelvic Tilt and Lumber Extension

This video is an example of the common reverse hyperextension mistake. The athlete is tilting their pelvis and extending their low back to mimic hip extension. This is such a common compensation for a few reasons. First, the athlete thinks that the higher their legs go the better the exercise. This is true to a certain extent, but it’s not necessarily how high your legs go, but how much your hips extend. This leads to the second reason, which is that most athletes lack hip extension and have to tilt their pelvis and arch their back to get their legs up even to where they should be. When athletes try to create motion where mobility is lacking they will do everything they can to at least make it look right. When hip extension is lacking it will almost always be compensated for with this pelvic tilt and low back extension. Thirdly, the glutes are extremely powerful and the athlete raises their legs with too much speed to be able to decelerate, so the momentum brings them into that compromised position. For whatever reason, it is important to correct this in order to get the most out of the reverse hyperextension.

To correct this error, have the athlete stand up, squeeze their glutes and tuck their pelvis. Emphasize that the motion should only occur at the hips and it is not important how high their legs get. Have the athlete then slowly go through the reps taking 2 seconds to fully extend the hips and then control the descent back down. Once the athlete has the technique they can begin to perform with a more powerful contraction at the glutes, but control is key when you are correcting a compensation.

1. Hip Extension Variations

Why?

· Elicits minimal eccentric stress and muscle soreness, even at high rep ranges

· Vitally important to maintain glute strength and function, especially for female athletes in sports such as soccer, volleyball, and basketball.

Examples

1. Barbell Hip Extension

2. Single Leg Hip Extension

3. Band Resisted Hip Extension

2. Sled Work

Why?

-Limited eccentric stress, can work multiple planes of motion

– Develop strength and power with low volume

Examples

1. TRX Sled Pull

2. Crossover Sled Pull

3. Sled Push

3. Loaded Carries

Why?

· promotes full body strength, work capacity, and core stabilization with minimal soreness

Examples

1. Farmers Carry

2. Suitcase Carry

3. KB Rack walk

4. Banded Glute Med Work

Why?

· Can train frequently with minimal fatigue/soreness

· Vital to maintain glute function to reduce risk of knee and hamstring injury

Examples:

1. Lateral Band Walks

2. Clamshells

3. Side Plank Leg Raise Holds

5. Isometric core work

Why?

· Causes less soreness than core exercises such as rollouts, body saws, etc.

Examples:

1. Tall Kneeling Pallof Press

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfQ_mJF0-fw2. Plank Row

3. Stability ball plank

Sample in-season strength session:

A1: Hex Bar Deadlift: 3×6

A2: Plank Row: 3×8 each side

B1: Push Up: 3x 8-10 reps

B2: Crossover Sled Drive: 2x 20 yds

B3: Farmers Carry: 2x 50 yds

C1: TRX Row: 3×8-10

C2: Tall Kneeling Pallof Press: 2 sets of 10 second holds each side

C3: Lateral Band Walks: 2×10 yds each leg

Start incorporating some of the exercises listed above to help your athletes maintain strength gains, stay healthy, and perform at their peak throughout the year.

Despite its standard practice and popularity, there’s so much debate and confusion about stretching. Type in “stretching” in your search bar, and you’ll get about five articles harking its benefits and five saying it’s overrated and you shouldn’t do them at all. As with everything in the fitness industry, the real answer is probably somewhere in the middle. Hopefully, this article can help clear the air and give you some direction on how to stretch to improve health and performance properly.

Static vs. Dynamic Stretching

There are two significant types of stretching: static and dynamic. Static stretching is the classic stretching we are all most familiar with. Bend over and touch your toes, sit on the ground and spread your legs as far as possible, pull your arm across your chest, and child’s pose are all common examples of static stretches. These stretches are commonly held from roughly ten seconds to a couple of minutes.

Dynamic stretches are movements that probably don’t feel like stretches. These stretches are not held but rather a quick-expression and rebound of range of motion. Common examples are a full range of motion squats, lunges, arm circles, twists, throws, and even jumps.

An easy way to tell the difference is that static stretches are held in place, and dynamic ones involve movement. They can both be performed in a variety of directions and positions.

So, is one better than the other? Again, it depends on the situation and goal. However, dynamic stretching is superior when warm-ups and when preparing to perform.

Benefits of Dynamic Stretching

Both dynamic and static stretching have some things in common. They both temporarily increase the range of motion and warm the muscles and joints getting stretched. That’s where the parallels mainly stop. Where dynamic stretches shine is in performance increases. Dynamic stretches are proven to increase: power, strength, speed, and proprioception (coordination). Part of the reason is that dynamic stretching closely mimics sport-specific motions and resistances. It also elicits what is called the stretch-shortening cycle. This refers to the stretch and quick reflexive rebound motion muscles go through. Imagine pulling a rubber band and letting it go. That’s the stretch-shortening cycle, which is what dynamic stretching is.

Static stretching doesn’t have many benefits, and it can have some adverse effects. When held long enough and with enough intensity, Static stretching can reduce power, speed, strength, proprioception, and thus, performance. Using the rubber band analogy again, if you hold a rubber band stretched for a long time, it will lose its tension. Eventually, the rubber band becomes lengthened, making it weaker and slower. You don’t want to be weak and slow. However, it should be noted that this is primarily a temporary effect. It doesn’t mean static stretching will permanently make you slower and dynamic stretching will permanently make you faster. The research is inconclusive, but the effect lasts anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. You will be back to normal the next day.

Static stretching Isn’t the Devil, However.

This doesn’t mean static stretching should be avoided at all costs. It has its place. It is beneficial for restoring range of motion after an injury or surgery. It can also increase flexibility in sports that require great ranges of motion. However, given their temporary effect, they probably shouldn’t be used prior to a competition, practice, or workout. Static stretching should primarily be used in rehabilitation settings and post-workout. Light static stretching can also help speed up recovery, but dynamic stretching is probably a better way to go for that.

How to Stretch Before a Game

So what’s a good strategy to stretch and warm-up before a competition? Of course, what sport you are playing should ultimately dictate this. In general, though, lunges, RDLs, kicks, jumps, throwing (when relevant to sport), and sprints are some great general all-purpose dynamic stretches that enhance all athletes’ performance. The key is to not overexert yourself with these movements. Remember, this is just a primer for competition. Generally, 5-8 movements with 5-10 reps on each movement is an excellent place to start. Take some mental notes on how it makes you feel and perform, and make adjustments next time if necessary. Most important, listen to your body to find the proper warm-up.

• https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/fulltext/2008/07000/four_week_dynamic_stretching_warm_up_intervention.36.aspx.
• https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Fulltext/2011/07000/The_Acute_Effects_of_a_Warm_Up_Including_Static_or.19.aspx

To develop the mobility and strength necessary to comfortably assume this position repeatedly throughout a game, goalies must perform exercises that engage the muscles around their hips, specifically the glutes and groin muscles. The following lower-body exercises can be performed as part of a strength workout (perform 2-3 sets of 8-12 reps) or incorporated into a pre-workout, practice or pre-game warm-up (perform 1-2 sets of 8-12 reps).

Glute Bridge

This exercise engages the gluteus maximus, the muscle primarily responsible for extending the hips. The glute area is a critical muscle group for controlling a goalie’s descent into the butterfly and exploding back into the ready position.
Start with a Glute Bridge and progress to a Single-Leg Glute Bridge as you build strength. For an additional challenge, add weight or wrap a resistance band around your hips and heels.

Mini-Band Hip Activation

Mini-band exercises are great for isolating the gluteus medius, the muscle used to raise a leg to the side or open the hips. This is particularly important for moving laterally when exploding side-to-side in the net or kicking the legs out into the butterfly position.

1. Lying Clam Shells
Lie on side with hips and knees at a 90-degree angle. Contract core and slowly raise top knee away from bottom knee until hip is near a 45-degree angle; avoid any hip rotation. Keep your top arm stretched out on the floor in line with your chest to limit hip rotation. Slowly return knee to starting position and repeat. Perform set on opposite side.

2. Standing Clam Shell

Stand in a quarter-squat position with feet flat on ground and approximately hip-width apart. Ensure feet stay flat to ground (imagine the feet trying to pull a floor seam apart between them). Stabilize left leg and contract right glute to separate knees. Maintain stability through hips and minimize body movement. Slowly return to start position and repeat. Perform set with opposite leg.

The Slide Board

The slide board is a great tool for simulating hockey movements, because it forces you to maintain balance and stability while on a low-friction surface (just like ice). The Slide Board Lateral Lunge helps prevent groin injuries by developing groin muscle strength to balance out hip muscle development. The Slide Reverse Lunge develops hip and knee strength as well as stability, so goalies can quickly transition in and out of the butterfly position while retaining balance and stability to make the next save.

1. Slide Board Lateral Lunge
Start at the end of the slide board with one foot on board, the other foot on ground and body perpendicular to board. Slide leg to the side until your grounded leg is in a quarter-squat. Simultaneously pull leg back to center and drive up out of squat to return to start position. Repeat for specified reps. Perform set on opposite leg.

2. Slide Board Reverse Lunge
Assume athletic stance facing away from slide board with one foot on board and other foot on ground. Slide foot backward and squat with opposite leg, continuing until front thigh is parallel to ground. Contract front knee and glutes; drive up through heel to rise out of Lunge. If using bodyweight, swing arms upward to generate momentum. Use dumbbells or kettlebells for an additional challenge.

It is essential to understand that all bones, joints, tendons, muscles, and connective tissue work in conjunction with one another to execute healthy movement patterns. Therefore an injury or pain associated with an injury can cause an issue somewhere else along the kinetic chain. Damaging one area of the body carries repercussions to the surrounding areas and can even affect gross movement patterns. More on this later.

Getting Started

Before we discuss flexibility, mobility, and stability in concern to injuries any further, I must profess that I am not a doctor nor a physiotherapist; therefore, I do not intend to diagnose any of your medical issues here, nor should you. If you believe you have an injury, please seek professional help.

We must understand the terms flexibility, mobility, and stability to understand better how the body is affected when one joint is injured or compromised and how it will affect another.

Flexibility is the complete range of motion in a joint or group of joints, as well as the length of muscle crossing that area. Flexibility is essential because we must possess enough to execute movements in both activities of daily living and athletics.

Mobility is often confused with flexibility. However, there is a clear delineation between the two. Joint mobility refers to an articulation (the area where two bones meet) and the degree to which movement occurs without restriction. These restrictions can include muscles, ligaments, tendons, and other surrounding tissues. Mobility denotes the ability to move well with coordination and a lack of restriction, whereas flexibility does not represent one’s ability to move with strength, coordination, and balance.

Stability is the ability to maintain control of joint movement or positioning. Surrounding tissues of a joint and the neuromuscular system work together to create stability. Many people think of this when also referring to ‘balance’ or the ability to coordinate themselves through movement.

Once you’ve a firm grasp of these definitions, it becomes relatively easy to understand how flexibility, mobility, and stability work together.

Gray Cook, the founder of Functional Movement Systems, has “The Joint by Joint Approach.” This phenomenon is simply a table displaying an anatomical skeleton with each joint circled, then labeled, including their function. The best part is there are only two labels, mobility, and stability. The ankle, hip, and thoracic spine represent mobility, whereas the knee, lumbar spine, and cervical spine represent stability. There are more joints in the body to consider, such as the elbow and wrist. Cook demonstrates that the body alternates between stability and mobility from head to toe.

Application

One can use Cook’s joint by joint approach to analyze what happens when an injury occurs and gain a greater understanding of its repercussions on the rest of the body. For example, a common injury such as rolling the ankle. This mobile joint quickly becomes immobile, putting a massive amount of stress on the knee and making what is usually a stable joint possibly unstable. If the ankle is treated and allowed to heal, it should be relatively easy to return to activity, right? On the contrary, simply fixing the broken part (in this case the ankle) will not magically fix the issue.

Depending on the severity of the injury, rolling an ankle can require reduced loading or weight bearing on that particular leg for a certain period of time. This means that the knee and hip become more sedentary in that time, ultimately causing a loss of mobility/stability in each joint, respectively. The gait with which the person was running or walking before they rolled their ankle simply does not return to normal if all joints are not taken care of. This could be equated to fixing a flat tire but not checking the rims themselves for damage too. A lot of things make the wheels go round’, and the same goes for our bodies.

Summary

In summary, the human body is a complex unit that requires all of its moving pieces to work in unison for optimal functionality. This article provides an elementary understanding of what is known as the kinetic chain and how flexibility, mobility, and stability each play a critical role in movement. Assuming one joint is to blame for a host of issues in the body is a dangerous oversimplification; therefore, we should all take a comprehensive and global approach to our analysis of how we move and the injuries we incur. Stay mobile, stay flexible, stay stable, and stay healthy!

Read More:

• 3 Ways To Enhance Your Flexibility Instantly
• This Ankle Mobility Test Is Used at the NFL Combine. Can You Pass It?

To shoot harder, you need to be able to rotate in your thoracic spine. Below are a quick test to check your rotation and some exercises you can add to your warm-up routine to loosen up your upper back before games.

Seated Thoracic Spine Rotation Test

• Sit upright with a ball or roller between your legs.
• Place a light bar or dowel rod across the front of your shoulders.
• Squeeze the ball and rotate your upper back as far as you can.

In a study, a group of healthy young adults averaged about 55 degrees of rotation. The average age of the subjects was 23.  In my opinion, for rotational sport athletes, I recommend a 55 to 65 degrees of rotation.

These movements can be added to your on-field pre-game routine. Perform them before your dynamic warm-up.  They can also be done before a training session in your weight room.

Bretzel

• Lie on your side with your head on a glove/ball.
• Place your top leg on top of your bottom hand.
• With your top hand, grasp your bottom leg, pulling your leg in line with your body (if you can).
• Look the opposite way with your head and eyes, rotating through your upper back.
• Hold for 6-8 breaths; with each breath, try for more rotation.

Side-Lying Windmill

• Lie on your side with your top leg bent 90 degrees.
• Rotate your top arm and upper back around, following your hand with your eyes.
• Repeat for 6-8 reps.

Quadruped Extension Rotation

• Place your arm behind your head, and rotate up, following your elbow with your eyes.
• When you reach a position of tension, hold for 2-3 breaths and relax.
• Repeat for 6-8 reps per side

Bretzel 2.0

• Rotate your upper back by walking your hands as far as you can.
• Hold end range for 6-8 breaths.
• You can also perform 6-8 Push-Ups in the extended position.
• Hold for 6-8 breaths with your forearms on the ground.

RELATED: 

• 3 Ways to Warm Up the Upper Body
• The 13-Exercise Duke Lacrosse Dynamic Warm-Up
• Increase Your Lacrosse Speed With Multi-Directional Exercises

And this leads to many problems. Muscles tighten up, joints become stiff and your posture gets all out of whack. This can lead to pain or even an injury if you’re not careful. It’s difficult to undo hours of sitting, but there are a few exercises that can help correct these problems.

Here are five moves that you can do each and every day to help maintain your body. You can also do these moves before a workout to help correct common issues to give your body relied.

Couch Stretch

Target Area

• Hips
• Quads

Instructions

1. Drop to half-kneeling position with your back knee on the ground, close to a bench, box, wall or other fixed object. The closer you are to the object, the more difficult the exercise will be.

2. Make sure the front leg is in a stable lunge position directly in front of your body, with your shin vertical (knee over heel).

3. Keep your mid line tight throughout the stretch. Do not over-arch your back.

4. Squeeze your glutes and practice moving your hips forward to increase tension.

5. Do 2-5 minutes total for each side

Elevated Pigeon Stretch

Target Area

• Hips
• Glutes

Instructions

1. Lay one leg flat on top of a bench, box or other fixed object (approximately knee-to-hip height), perpendicular to your body.

2. Keep your back tight and squeeze your glutes.

3. Practice rotating your upper back and/or leaning forward to intensify the stretch.

4. If you experience any knee pain, bring your foot closer to your body or let it hang off the object.

5. Do 2-5 minutes total each side

Corner Pec Stretch

Target Area

• Chest
• Shoulders

Instructions

1. Face a corner in a room where two walls come together at 90 degrees.

2. Extend your arms to your sides at a 90-degree angle, and place your forearms and hands on the wall.

3. Maintain an upright posture with your “chest high” as you lean your chest closer to the corner.

4. Do 2-5 minutes total

Quadruped T-Spine Extension/Rotation

Target Area

• Thoracic Spine
• Shoulders
• Lower Back

Instructions

1. Get into the quadruped position (on your hands and knees with your hands directly below your shoulders and knees below your hips) and place one hand on the back of your head.

2. Rotate your upper back inward so your elbow points toward your opposite knee.

3. Briefly pause, and then rotate your upper back outward so that your elbow is pointing toward the ceiling.

4. Keep your lower back tight and avoid rounding throughout the movement.

5. Do 3×10 each side

Dead Hang

Target Area

• Lats
• Shoulders
• Upper Back

Instructions

1. Hang from a pull-up bar or other fixed object with your arms fully extended.

2. Keep your head straight, core tight and shoulders up by your ears.

3. Do 3-5 minutes total per day

READ MORE:

• 6 Everyday Stretches For People Who Sit Too Much
• 3 Super Simple Stretches That Alleviate the Pain of Prolonged Desk-Sitting
• How to Fix Bad Posture and Move Better With 4 Exercises

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