WORKOUT

Focus & Ben­e­fits: You can improve your pos­ture, reduce ten­sion, and enhance your over­all upper body mobil­i­ty with these tar­get­ed upper body stretch­es. Use this quick rou­tine as a mid­day com­put­er break, active recov­ery ses­sion, or warm up/​cool down activity.

Equip­ment: None (option­al exer­cise mat)

Tips & Help­ful Infor­ma­tion: You’ll get the most out of this rou­tine by prac­tic­ing with­out shoes and set­ting aside 10 min­utes to focus on your­self. Use your breaths to deep­en each stretch, allow­ing your mind to set­tle and ten­sion to flow from your upper body. Many of us tend to car­ry stress in that area, so take your time to work through each exercise.

Dif­fi­cul­ty & Mod­i­fi­ca­tions Explained: This rou­tine is rat­ed a 2 as a result of low-inten­si­ty moves, gen­tle pac­ing, and medi­um ranges of motion. If you’d like to make this rou­tine more dif­fi­cult, deep­en your ranges of motion.

Rec­om­men­da­tions: Are you a chron­ic headache-suf­fer­er? Build an arse­nal of headache-kick­ing rou­tines like with one with these recommendations:

• Desk Job Stretch­es to Relieve Tight Mus­cles & Improve Pos­ture (10 minutes)
• Gen­tle Exer­cis­es for Headache Relief (11 minutes)
• Bet­ter Pos­ture & Ten­sion Relief (13 minutes)
• Stiff Neck Stretch­es and Exer­cis­es to Fight Off Tech Neck (16 minutes)
• Com­plete Upper-Body Stretch­ing and Mobil­i­ty Rou­tine (20 minutes)
• Quick Yoga Flow for Neck and Shoul­der Ten­sion (21 minutes)
• Uncon­ven­tion­al Neck Stretch­es (21 minutes)

Work­out Structure

• Mobil­i­ty Cir­cuit (45 sec­onds on, 15 sec­onds off)
• Child’s Pose, walk arms for­ward, rota­tion towards ceil­ing – L/R
• Child’s Pose, arm extend­ed at 90 degree angle – L/R
• Cat/​Cow
• Mod­i­fied Crab sit (rock­ing motion optional)
• Mod­i­fied Bridge (hand posi­tion­ing only)
• (Sit or stand) Tho­racic sidebend + rota­tion (serv­ing hand) – L/R