Disclaimer alert! Hey, everybody, it's Dr. Jo and
handsome Super Bear. And today I'm going to show you five real
time standing stretches for seniors.
So let's get started. So before we get started, since these are
standing exercises, if you feel like you have a little bit of
balance issues, make sure you're doing this by countertop or have
a chair next to you. Or even sometimes if you don't have that
near you, or you want some open space, I like just using a cane
and it might not be a cool pink PVC pipe like mine, but even
like a broomstick or something solid, because with balance,
sometimes you just need that little bit. Just a couple of
fingers on there to give you that balance. So make sure if
you need something like that, go ahead and pause real quick to
get, you know the stick, cane, or move your computer close to
the countertop or something just so you have something for
balance if you need it. So we're going to start off with a warm
up. And as we go, I'm going to talk a little bit more about the
whole thing. So each of these is going to be 30 seconds. We'll
take a short break, 30 seconds again, we're gonna take a long
break, and then the stretches will be 30 seconds or a little
broke up in between. So first of all, just kind of a neck circle
half circle, you can go all the way back. I know some people
don't like doing that extension, or maybe they shouldn't. So you
can just do a half circle rotation if you want, but just
kind of loosening up the neck a little bit going that way, then
you can just kind of open up the arms into a T position. So now
we're getting our shoulders and chest area just a little bit.
This is just continuous motions, we're kind of warming everything
up just to get things loosened up. So not really a pause unless
you want it. Then you can also just do like a modified jumping
jack, where I'm not actually jumping, I'm just kind of
alternating, putting one foot out and the other one out like
that. Just to kind of again, get things going a little bit and
loosened up. And then you can even just do a little march in
place if you want to. And if you need this stick, you can do that
as well. So we're gonna go into some full stretches, that's 30
seconds holding the stretch. If you don't feel like you can hold
it for the whole 30 seconds. That's okay. So with this one,
we're just going to do a side bend with our arm up and over.
So just kind of bring it up, and then just do a little bend over
your head. It doesn't have to be a lot. But you're coming over to
the side, where you should feel it in your shoulder and down all
the way into your hip area. So just kind of hold that in that
position. You see my legs are spread out a little bit. That's
to help with my balance, I'm looking up towards my hands and
my finger or my hand and my fingers right there, just
getting that nice stretch. Nice deep breaths, come up, and then
come back down into that break. So usually, when you're doing
stretches, you'd want to do 30 seconds, three times on each
side. But this is just a short routine. So we're just doing one
on each side just to kind of get you moving for that daily
routine. So then we're gonna do the other side. Bring the arm
up, and then go over. You don't have to go any further than
this. You can also kick your hip out just a little bit that way
to give yourself a little more stretch in this area here. Or if
you just want to bring your arm up into this position, I'm
getting a little bit of a stretch this way. So you can
start out here and then slowly progress over each time you do
it just to make yourself get a little bit more of a stretch.
Make sure you're kind of looking up in that position, just to get
that extra stretch up in there. And then coming back down. So
then the next one is going to be a chest stretch. So this time,
you can do this seated or standing. But you're just going
to take your hands and kind of clasp them behind you. If this
is too much, like if you can't get your hands behind you, you
can use the stick and just kind of hold it behind you like that.
So you can see like this, if you can't get your hands behind your
back, but I'm just pushing down and out with my hands and then
just kind of pushing my chest forward. And I'm feeling a
stretch right in the pec muscles there or that chest area. So
again, just holding that stretch for 30 seconds, getting that
nice stretch.
If you feel like that's a little too uncomfortable. Again, you
can use a stick, you can use a towel, or you can just take your
hands and just kind of push back like this. I'm getting a good
stretch doing that way as well. So you don't necessarily have to
put your hands together. But you will get a little bit better
stretch in that chest area and open everything up if you can.
But you don't want anything to be painful. So, again, kind of
clasping back and pushing back this way. So these stretches
are, you know, designed for seniors, but they're really
designed for anyone you know, this is just a nice daily
routine. You don't have to be an older adult. You don't have to
be a baby boomer like my parents or anything, you know. This is
just something to really kind of get you going each day and get
you moving and kind of working all those areas in there. So
again, just really kind of pushing down and out, getting
that nice stretch in there. So then the next one is just going
to be a side lunge stretch. So this would come into place where
maybe you'd want to hold on to your countertop, hold on to a
sturdy chair. If you've got a cane, or like I said, even like
a broomstick or something where you can put it down, just enough
to hold on. So I'm just gonna kind of spread my feet out a
little bit, and then go into a side lunge position. So if I'm
leaning over this way towards my left side, bending that knee,
I'm getting the stretch on my right side in here. Try and keep
those toes pointed forward while you're stretching. Because if I
turn it out, I'm not getting that groin area or those
adductor muscles that I'm looking for, for that stretch.
So I'm just kind of placing my hands on my PVC pipe here, or
the cane, or the stick. I'm not pushing down on it a lot, it's
just there for a little bit of balance. Then coming back up.
And then we're just gonna go to the other side. You don't have
to spread your feet out as much as me, you know, if you want to
just go here and do what you can. But the further out you
start, the better stretch you'll get. So now, I'm just going into
this position here, and I'm getting that nice stretch
through there. You don't want your knee going really far from
your toes, especially if you have knee issues. But if it goes
over just a little bit, that's fine. And again, if you feel
like your balance is off, make sure you're using something.
Countertops work great if you especially if you have a laptop,
and you can move it around. Or if you're doing this on your
phone, you can kind of get to a spot where you can be a little
bit more comfortable. So the next one is going to be a runner
stretch. So runner stretches for the calf muscles back there.
Same thing with this one, if you've got a nice sturdy chair,
or a countertop, or even a wall, you can place your hands here.
But you can also again, just use a stick or something. The side I
want to stretch is going back behind me. My heel stays down,
my toes are pointed forward. This knee bends, but this one
stays fairly straight. I'm getting a nice stretch through
that calf area just doing this runner stretch. But the key is
to keep that heel and the back down. If I come up, I'm not
getting that stretch anymore. So if you have to bring it up just
a little bit, you can do that and you won't get quite as much
of a stretch. But really try and keep that heel down. Keep that
leg straight, front one beny forward. And then just switching
sides. But the reason that you want to keep those toes pointed
forward is that if you turn them out again, you're not going to
get that calf stretch. You're going to get a different
stretch. So keeping that heel down, toes pointed forward, back
leg straight, front knee bent just a little bit. I'm getting a
nice stretch in there. And again, see, you know, I don't
necessarily need this, you might not need it. But I'd rather you
use something and focus on the stretch, versus trying to keep
your balance the whole time and then not really getting a good
stretch because you're trying to keep yourself up a little bit.
So then the next one is going to be a hamstring stretch. Again,
if you want to use something to hold on to the side, you can.
I'm not going to for this one just so you can see it a little
bit better. But with the hamstrings in the back, it's
good to stretch those because they come all the way up to the
hip here and they cross that knee joint. So I'm just going to
prop my leg out that I want to stretch. The heels just kind of
propped up, keep the legs straight, and just been at the
hips. So this is not bending, curling down, trying to touch my
toes. Yeah, I can touch my toes here. But since my back is
curled, I'm getting less of a stretch than if I keep my back
straight and just been forward at my hips and not necessarily
my back. So I'm getting a nice stretch through there. Just
holding that stretch. Make sure you're keeping those toes up
like this, not turned out because again, then you're not
going to get those hamstrings. Try and keep those hips forward.
So it's not stretching this way. Everything's forward, back
straight, bending out those hips, and I'm getting a nice
stretch through there. You might feel it more at your hip. You
might feel it more at your knee. You might even feel it a little
bit into the calf area. But just getting that nice stretch, going
to comfort level. If you can go further. Great. If you can only
go to about here. That's okay too. But again, make sure and
hold on to something if you need to. So there you have it. If
you're interested in checking out some of my other real time
videos, click on the link over there, and don't forget to
subscribe down there. Yeah. And remember be safe, have fun, and
I hope you feel better soon.