Incorporate these daily mobility stretches for men into your fitness regime and you’ll benefit from improved performance and increased protection from injury.
Daily mobility stretches are so often overlooked, but the benefit stretching exercises bring not only to your training but your overall wellbeing shouldn’t be underestimated. Everyday niggles like those twinges you feel when touching your toes or loading a bag into an overhead locker can easily be ironed out with some basic hamstring or shoulder work – as well as with the use of a foam roller.
In the gym you’ll notice improvements too. If you’ve been paying attention to your mobility and flexibility, you’ll find it easier to hold the correct form lifting big during workouts for more effective gains and fewer injury concerns.
Give these four daily mobility stretches a go to begin with and you’ll soon notice the difference. They can all be done from the comfort of your own front room too.
Which areas should I target when stretching?
When incorporating flexibility exercises for men into your fitness routine, concentrate your efforts on the body parts that take the biggest battering from work and play, and you’ll see results fast.
Upper-back work is essential for basically everyone. Everyone is hunched forwards during the hours they spend driving and doing computer work. Ideally you need to counteract that daily by using flexibility exercises and mobility stretches for men.
Similarly, pretty much everyone needs to work on their hip extension – with all the sitting or slumping on the sofa we do, it’s an area that needs constant work.
Finally, you should work on hip rotation: again, everyone needs it, and it has direct benefits for squatting and jumping.
Why you can trust the workouts in Men’s Fitness
At Men’s Fitness we pride ourselves on delivering information that serves a singular purpose: to improve some aspect of your health, fitness or wellbeing. For over 16 years, we’ve been publishing authoritative health and fitness content – written by our expert editors and contributors – in the form of the monthly Men’s Fitness magazine. Each of our workouts has been created by either a highly experienced editor or expert contributor, and has been tested and used in real-world situations. These stretches were suggested by Jarlo Ilano, managing director at Gold Medal Bodies.
These are the best daily mobility stretches
1. Cobra with back emphasis
Why I like it: Reverse arching the back and shoulders like this counteracts the natural slump we fall into when sitting at a desk or on a sofa. This is my go-to stretch if I’m feeling any lower-back pain.
- Get on your stomach with your elbows underneath your shoulders and forearms on the floor
- Bring your shoulders upwards gently and, when you get used to the stretch, straighten your arms
- Hold the top position for 20-30 secs
- Repeat twice
2. Kneeling lunge
Why I like it: A kneeling lunge works on your core stability unilaterally, and helps improve posture. It also engages multiple muscles across the hips, knees, and ankle joints at the same time.
- Get into a modified lunge position so your back instep and knee are on the floor
- Shift your hips forward to rock gently
- To make it harder, bend your back knee and grab your foot – this will stretch your hip flexors
- Hold for 20-30 secs
3. Modified pigeon
Why I like it: This is another great stretch to counteract aspects of our sedentary lives. It focuses on lengthening the hip flexors, which tend to tighten after sitting for too long.
- This is modified from the full yoga version, which you don’t need if you haven’t got the flexibility
- Bring one leg ahead of you with your shin parallel to your body, your back leg bent at a comfortable angle behind you
- As you get better, work on straightening the back leg
- Hold for 20-30 secs
4. Travelling butterfly
Why I like it: This version adds a dynamic element to the traditional butterfly stretch, working the inner thigh adductor muscles. It’s also useful for reducing tension and tightness in the groin.
- Sit with your legs straight out in front of you, then put your hands behind you and your weight on your heels, bringing yourself forwards into a butterfly stretch – knees out to the sides
- Repeat 5 to 10 times
Need an exercise mat? Try the Maximo Fitness Exercise Mat
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