Most of us get tight, inflexible and immobile at some point. It can be from aging, being sedentary or working a desk job that has you sitting for long periods of time. These things may not affect you if you are young but as you age and have spent more time sitting you will notice it.
Sitting too much can be particularly bad and can lead to things like:
Decreased hip mobility
Head forward posture
Less shoulder mobility
Decreased thoracic mobility
Reduced core strength
Lowered glute activity
All of these can kill your posture and lead to pain particularly in your back but also in your shoulder and hips. If you are stuck in a job that requires sitting at a desk there isn’t much you can do about it short of quitting your job, luckily this flow can help you feel better and move better.
It’s not just people with desk jobs though, even fitness and bodybuilder types who are active can lose mobility from the exercises they do and muscular imbalances that happen from lifting weights, it’s actually pretty common. Really anyone can get tight no matter who you are, sometimes it can even be genetic.
The good news is today we are going to give you a nice flow that will help loosen you up and have you feeling like new again. First, let’s go over what a flow is.
A flow is basically a series of stretches done one after another. They flow together which is obviously why they are called a flow, obviously. Flows are generally more of a yoga type of stretching but the flow below is more for fitness types and people who sit too much.
Flows are generally designed to loosen up the shoulders, hips and back since these are the main problem areas most people have trouble with.
The Flow
The flow below was developed by fitness expert Max Shank who specializes in athleticism and mobility. It is 5 minutes long and can be hard to keep up but don’t worry, over time you will get it and if you don’t do it perfect the first time it’s fine. As long as you are working the movements you will still get the benefits. The more you do the flow the better you will get at it and the more beneficial it will be.
While it is recommended that you do the flow in the morning to get yourself loosened up for the day you can really do it at any time and you can also do it more than once a day. If you are particularly tight you would get more benefits from doing this in the morning as well as at night.
Be sure to try and work on your mobility every day. If you slack off you will lose your mobility and flexibility just like you will lose your strength if you stop lifting. If you stay with it you will see improvements over time. We promise.
