5 Stretches Seniors Should Do Everyday

[Music] maintaining good flexibility is an essential part of life and it's very important to implement different stretches into our daily routines the nice thing is stretching can be done anytime and anywhere i like to set specific time on my daily schedule to help keep me accountable here are some head to toe stretches for you to perform every day remember if any of these cause pain or discomfort make the necessary adjustments before we get started did you know that silversneakers members can access live virtual workouts every day of the week there are so many class and instructor options for you to choose from the best part is that you can chat live with the instructors all at no cost to you if you're eligible for a silver sneakers membership to check out the schedule and sign up for classes check the first link in the description box below after the workout let's start with the warm-up just walk in place feel your strong abdominal muscles engaged feel your back nice and strong as well chest is lifted shoulders are relaxed back and down slow your walk down a little bit now remember this is just a nice little warm up to get us going so we can dive into the stretches heels front right left [Music] draw your elbows straight back we'll wake up our upper body a little bit too elbows come a little higher up elbows down now remember you can perform this in a seated position if you'd like stay here elbows come up shoulder height feel your back warming up nice and just come back to the walk come in front of your chair and gently lower your body all the way down to your chair walk in place slow down heels front elbows come up plant your feet shoulder shrugs good shoulder rolls start to increase the range a little bit for your shoulders now try elbow rolls let's try right to left side nice you're seated tall on your chair feet are firmly planted in the floor now reach to the sky right arm first [Music] add a little twist as we reach across reach up again nice across your body [Music] shoulder shrugs nice shoulder rolls now elbow bowls increase the range a little bit try full arm circles right to left nice all the way around perfect we're going to start really with the stretches from head to toe if any of these feel uncomfortable make sure you make the necessary adjustments drop your right ear to your right shoulder release your hands beside you and actually make sure your shoulders at the same height feel the stretch all along the left side of your neck beautiful now we're going to hold these stretches anywhere from 30 to 60 seconds it depends how you feel core is still engaged in fact on this one if you wanted to you could relax your back in your chair nice now take your chin towards your right shoulder look down at your right shoulder ah a little variation a little different stretch still feeling this nice neck stretch that's happening now the key is to continue breathing avoid breath holding as we come into the stretches and again back off if it causes any pain or discomfort let's hold this for five more seconds you can do it very nice now gently roll chin to chest and we'll hold here for a moment again you should feel this really nice into your cervical spine really from the base of your head all the way to the upper back keep your shoulder blades released back and down [Music] nice keep nice steady breathing very nice head returns to a neutral position now lower left ear to left shoulder we'll repeat everything on the left side i like to just touch my shoulders and make sure they stay at the same level sometimes the tendency is to start to pick up your opposite shoulder feel the stretch all along the right side of your neck continue breathing nice you're seated tall you're feeling strong beautiful now take your chin and try to touch your chin to your left shoulder ah nice variation to the neck stretch feeling good feeling just a nice release of tension [Music] in fact on your next inhalation go ahead inhale now as you exhale focus your breathing to where you feel the majority of the stretch let's hold this for five more seconds beautiful chin gently rolls to chest stay here and we'll hold this next stretch one more moment now again with any of these stretches if you feel like i just don't have the time holding them at least for 15 seconds is a good opportunity for you every day head returns to a nice neutral position roll your shoulder blades up back and down and we'll go into moving our way from head to toe right arm reaches to the sky lengthen through your fingertips now take your hand and touch your back as you are in the stretch where do you feel the majority in your triceps muscles right side good keep breathing now if you can allow your hand just to walk down your back a little bit more the key is to avoid tensing up your shoulders keep your shoulder blades release back and down and continue breathing we sit about 30 to 60 seconds 60 is a long time if you feel you could work your way up to this opportunity now i want to add a little more more complexity to the stretch tuck your left elbow in and start to laterally lean towards the left side of the room lift your elbow and now feel the intensity of the stretch entire right side of your body keep breathing beautiful relax your shoulder blades back and down head stays in nice alignment as well let's hold this for five more seconds keep breathing now with all your core strength lift yourself upright reach to the sky and relax your arm down very nice left hand reaches to the sky we're repeating everything left side correct take your hand touch your back now this side may feel totally different you may not have as much flexibility and that's okay field of tricep stretch first sit tall continue breathing [Music] now are your shoulder blades relaxed back and down or do you feel that upper back starting to tense up keep the shoulder blades released back and down tuck your right elbow in support yourself as you laterally bend towards the right side of the room this really will increase the intensity of the stretch whole left side body keep breathing [Music] that's the key sometimes when we hold stretches we start to hold our breath let's hold this for five more you can do it nice steady breathing now draw your navel to your spine lift yourself upright reach your left hand to the sky and gently release down beautiful work next stretch is so important for opening our front body try chest expansion slide your hands back your back towards the back part of your chair you can do the standing if you'd like to and that way you could just hold your hands behind your body once you come into the stretch i want you to feel what's happening in your anterior deltoids into your shoulders and also all the way into your chest your pectoral muscles hold right here and breathe now what's your back body doing wrap your shoulder blades around your spine continue breathing i'm going to turn just at a slight angle so you can see what this looks like from a side view holding onto the chair behind shoulder blades wrapped around behind the back beautiful keep breathing nice let's hold this for five more seconds you've got it one more nice deep breath inhale exhale and release next stretch we're working our way down our body is for our hamstrings right heel comes to the floor in front lift your toes to the sky now right away think about movement from your hips as you hinge from your hips now i'm going to turn sideways so you can see what this looks like you stay right there [Music] as you hinge forward head stays in nice alignment with your shoulders down to your hips you can hold on to the tops of your thighs hinge a little deeper if you'd like the idea is to feel the stretch behind your leg into your hamstrings now you may even feel this into your gluteal muscles as well relax your shoulders back and down and in fact gently just move your head side to side nope not going to tense my neck today stay there i'm going to turn front view for you keep breathing you can always draw both hands to the opposite thigh hinge a little deeper into the stretch you know the drill five more seconds you can do it nice glancing out on the floor right out in front of your right foot core is engaged lift yourself upright and step your foot in same thing left side let's try it left heel front grow tall as you inhale as you exhale hinge from your hips shoulder blades release back and down and hold the stretch for the left side again i'd like to show you a side view so you can see what this looks like from a seated position so it's a hip hinge forward but my head just stays in nice alignment just as if i were standing up you can draw both hands to the top of the opposite thigh hinge a little deeper and breathe in fact i'd like all of you just roll your shoulders up back and down remind yourself to keep that upper back release back and down relax and hold into the stretch not our breath though right nice even continuous breathing stay there turning towards you nice we'll hold here for you know yes i have more continue breathing release your shoulder blades down and hold draw your navel to your spine and lift yourself upright step your foot in last but not least ankles go ahead and pick up right foot circle your right ankle now as you do this if this becomes too difficult you can always set your foot on the floor and trace the outer edges of your shoe along the floor you decide what feels good to you and when you're ready reverse the circle nice seated still nice and tall and continuing braiding you can slow this down or speed it up whatever feels good to you now try flexion and extension so just pointing your toes to the floor lifting your toes to the sky toes down and toes up what does that look like if my foot's down just lift your toes and then press all the way through your heels so toe up and then lift your heel up do this a few more times each direction [Music] nice release right foot down tall spine and when you're ready go ahead and pick up your left foot start with those ankle circles and you decide does this feel good with your leg lifted or do you just need to trace the outer edges of your shoes on the floor let's go a few more times we want to balance out other direction [Music] all the way through nice ankle rotation think about all the things we need good ankle flexibility for walking stair climbing driving hold steady point and flex your foot nice building the strength into our shins maybe into our calf muscles as well keep going you've got this let's do four more each way release your foot to the floor if you're comfortable go ahead and just relax your back in the chair thank you so much for joining me don't forget to check out the link at the end of this video to sign up for classes and of course check out that great schedule you

Channel: SilverSneakers

Views: 1,665,126

Keywords: SilverSneakers, Senior Fitness, Free Exercise Video, Free Senior Workout, Stretching

Id: 3dkKquMiQIk

Length: 15min 15sec (915 seconds)

Published: Thu May 20 2021