Free your body from stress and tension and feel great all day with these mobility exercises to get the energy flowing through your body, from Monika Akabusi.
Words & images: Monika Akabusi. Main image: Shutterstock.
Without mobility, your joints can seize up and your general range of movement can become limited. This routine will loosen up all your major joints and allow blood and nutrients to enter the open spaces between them, and with that comes improved bone and joint health.
You may find one or two moves challenging, and it’s OK to modify or simplify them. Over time, your range of movement will improve, and you will notice how much more freely you can move. Before embarking on any new workout though, it’s advisable to warm up by gently swinging your arms back and forth, and do a few half-depth squats.
Reach out
This exercise will actively mobilise your entire upper spine, making it ideal for improving your posture.
Lie on your front with a roller or a rolled-up towel in front of you.
Place your hands underneath your shoulders, look straight ahead and gently push off the floor, mobilising your upper back (A).
Hold the lift and reach out to both sides of the roller or towel (B).
Exhale and hold the lift for 2-3 secs. Return to A. Repeat 10 times.
Lunge and rotate
This exercise uses all your abdominal muscles to rotate your upper body whilst mobilising your entire spine, including your lower back.
Take a step forward with your right leg, bend both knees and push the foam roller or other type of bar straight in front of you. Hold your upper body upright (A).
While maintaining the lunge, rotate your upper body over the front leg and take the roller as far to the side as your mobility allows (B).
Follow the roller with your eyes. Move slowly and in a controlled way. Exhale with every rotation.
Return to A. Do 5 reps over each leg.
Reach over
This exercise creates total lateral spinal flexion, which is particularly good if you want to avoid or ease lower back discomfort.
Stand with your feet wider than hip-width apart and place a roller next to you and rest your hand on top. Alternatively, hold onto the back of a chair. Take the other arm out to opposite side (A).
Keep both knees soft, engage your abs and begin by reaching with your free arm up and over towards the roller (B).
Make sure your hips stay parallel and your weight remains evenly distributed on both feet. Exhale as you reach.
Hold the stretch for 3-5 secs. Repeat 5 times, then switch sides.
Pendulum
This is an ideal exercise to gently free up your hips and pelvic joints.
Place one hand on the foam roller to help with balancing on your same-side leg (A).
Freely swing your other leg back and forth, increasing the range of movement for your hip and pelvic joints (B).
Swing back and forth 10 times. Repeat with the opposite leg.
Hurdling
This is a fantastic exercise to mobilise your hips, lower back and pelvis, whilst using all of your lower body muscles to stabilise those joints. You can even use an imaginary hurdle if no roller is available.
Stand sideways to a wall and secure the foam “hurdle” between your outer knee and wall (A).
Lift your leg closest to the wall over the hurdle whilst keeping the roller secured against the wall (B).
End by touching down your foot down in front of the hurdle (C).
Do 2 sets of 5 reps on each leg.
Monika Akabusi is a health and fitness expert with more than 30 years of experience. She’s an advocate for keeping active at every age. She’s also part of the new Strong Like Mum app that has recently launched. Find her at instagram.com/Strong_like_Oma.
