hey everybody it's Doctor Jo and the Pups. I know. and today I'm going to show you a
seated relaxing full body stretching routine in real time. so let's get started.
so before we get started, if you haven't already, make sure you click that
subscribe button and make your subscription public or let me know that
you're a subscriber because I always try and respond to my subscribers. so I'm
going to go ahead and start with a warm up and kind of talk through what I'm
doing while we're warming up. so the warm up is gonna be one minute. so let's just
start off with some long arc quads or kicking your legs out, just to get those
loosened up. so with each stretch since it's real time, we're gonna do 30 seconds
on each side. some of them aren't an actual hold, some of them are just kind
of doing it for the 30 seconds, but we'll do 30 seconds quote on each side, and
then have a short break in between each one. now let's do a little march back and
forth, and then a long break in between each actual set of exercises, just to
give our bodies a little reset while we're doing it. so after you kind of get
those legs warmed up a little bit, you can just kind of do some arm kind of
jumping-jack movements going out and in a little bit. once you get that moving a
little bit, then you can kind of go out and just to get all of that loosened up
a little bit. so after you get all those, now we're going to go into the first
stretch which is going to be an upper trap stretch. so I like to just kind of
sit on my hand and then I'm gonna pull over to the side. so I want you to see
it's it's bringing the whole head sideways. I'm not turning my chin or
anything like that. I'm just going over to the side and
holding that full 30 seconds. you should be able to feel that upper trap right in
through here. that's gonna be able to help kind of relax those muscles in the
neck there getting that stretch. you want to feel a comfortable stretch. you don't
want it to be super painful. so now we'll have a quick little break in between
we're gonna do the other side. you can also do your hand behind your back, so
I'm gonna do behind my back for this one just so you can see different ways to
stretch it. so I'm just gonna place my hand behind my back, but again I'm just
pulling right over to the side. my finger's kind of on top of my ear, so I
know I'm getting that just direction over to the side getting that stretch.
and again you should kind of feel it in the neck area. it might go all the way up
to your ear area and then down into the shoulder. you should feel that as well.
this one sometimes might bother the shoulder with it behind your back, so
again you can still you can put it either sit on it, or just push your arm
down. so now I got a little longer break just to kind of reset everything, but
next we're gonna go into a levator scapulae stretch. and again there's two
different ways you can do your arms. so I'll do one way on one side and one way
on the other, but you do whatever is most comfortable for you. I'm going to start
just with my hand behind my back. my hand's going behind my head.
my head's turned in about a 45 degree angle, and I'm almost trying to tuck my
nose into my armpit there. and so that's the stretch. I'm not turning my head
sideways I'm pulling down and again just kind of tucking that nose in there. and I
should feel that stretch right through there because that levator scapulae goes
from your shoulder blade all the way up into your cervical spine into that neck. so
you can also put your hand up that helps hold that shoulder blade down, but
sometimes it's a little uncomfortable for people. but this is the way I learned
it, so I like to do it my hands going to be on my shoulder here with my elbow up,
and again turning to that 45 degree kind of tucking that nose into that arm pit
area, or almost like I'm trying to go in towards my shoulder and getting that
nice stretch through there. and this one feels really really good. I like this a
lot of times when you have stress and anxiety, or you just want to relax this
is a really nice one to get that stretch and get everything nice and loosened up.
so again that longer break just to kind of reset everything. so the next one is
going to be shoulder squeezes. so this one's gonna be one you're not
necessarily going to hold it for 30 seconds, but you can do it for that 30
second time. I usually like to hold it for 3 to 5 seconds, so I'm gonna turn a
little bit so you can see me, but I'm just squeezing those shoulder blades
together. try and keep your shoulders down. so you're not squeezing
up, and in you're keeping them down and squeezing in. I like to use my elbows as
a guidance. so you can see here, but I'm really using those muscles to get the
squeeze. I'm not using my elbows to get the squeeze, I'm using my muscles to get
that squeeze. so a little hold for three to five seconds, and then relax. again
you're not bringing your shoulders up, try and keep them down with that squeeze.
take a little break, relax it out a little bit, and then go back into the
squeeze. so I'll do a little bit more squeeze and less talking with this one.
so again squeeze in for that three to five seconds, and you can also do it
without your hands. so if you just want to do that squeeze like this to make
sure you're using those muscles you can. and again kind of holding it that three
to five seconds. if you want to kind of tuck in your chin a little bit while
you're doing it too, you can get a double stretch with that and then relax and
then go back into that stretch. so we've got that little long break. so now we're
gonna go into rotating the back a little bit. getting up what we would call it
trunk rotation in sitting. so it gets the upper back the mid back a little bit
and the low back. so if you have arm rest that works well too. if you don't all
you're gonna do is just kind of grab and get a little twist. this shouldn't be
painful, you should feel that nice little stretch through your spine there so you
don't have to pull hard. again this one doesn't necessarily have to be a
30-second stretch. it can if you want it to be, to do each side. I like to hold the
stretch because as you go sometimes you can get that little bit more stretch as
you do it, but if you want to do like a 10 to 15 stretch and just alternate back
and forth you can do that for this one as well because this one might be a
little more uncomfortable. but again I like doing the full hold for this one
just to get that nice stretch in there. and then you're just going to rotate
back to the other side. so again if you've got a maybe a chair that is is
tall so you can't grab on the edge, you can just do it with your body. you don't
have to hold on to the side or to the armrest, but
sometimes that's nice because that gives you that little extra pull. but again see
I don't have to I can just actually use my leg if I want to and twist to
that side. I'm getting that nice kind of stretch through there, so that's nice as
well. so the next one is gonna be a QL stretch and that muscle the quadratus
lumborum is one of those back muscles that a lot of times causes back pain,
but we just don't think about it a lot. and it's really a big stressor. so it's
nice to relax it. I'm gonna place I'm just gonna sit on my hand and then bring
the other one up and what you want to do is almost sit on your hand, and then
reach over this way, and you should feel that stretch kind of through here. you
might feel it all the way into your lat up into the shoulder. so you're getting
kind of a double stretch here, but I'm lifting up and then arching over. so I'm
not just pushing over it's kind of up and then I'm leaning into it getting
that nice stretch. so this one again is a good one kind of for the QL, the lats, the
shoulders, and everything. but again if you have a little bit of trouble with
your shoulder, you don't have to do the whole arm all the way up. you can kind of
bend over with it a little bit but you're gonna get a better stretch if you
come up kind of squish into that hand and then really kind of arch over to get
that nice stretch. I'm looking up towards my hand maybe even looking into my the
crease of my elbow just to get that that neck in that stretch as well to get that
whole body stretch.
and then coming back down. so the next one we're going to kind of go into the
hips and the knees a little bit. so we're gonna do a seated knee to chest stretch.
you can also do this on the floor, I just wanted to show you ways you can do it
all seated because sometimes people have a hard time getting on the floor. so this
one all you're doing is just bringing your knee up towards your chest, just
like it sounds. if you do have some knee issues you can grab underneath here, but
the goal is to kind of bring that knee as closest to your chest as you can
comfortably. so if you're feeling a little pinch in the front or some
uncomfortableness in the back don't force it, just go to where you feel
tension and get that nice stretch in there. if you don't have any knee issues
you can kind of grab in like this. It'll give you a little bit better stretch, but
try not to come forward. keep your back straight if you can so that will give
you a little bit better stretch. and then you're just gonna go over into the other
side. so the same thing, my left sides a little bit tighter because of my past
surgery, but just coming up like this. again not necessarily like this try and
keep your back straight so you can really feel that stretch in here and
through here. but if you have those knee problems, you can kind of grab underneath
if you want to as well. so this is just a nice kind of modification of this knee
to chest stretch if you have a hard time getting on the floor. but you can do it
lying down in your bed or on a couch too but if you're in a chair this is a nice
way to do it. so the next one's going to be a hamstring stretch. this is kind of
another modification if you're sitting and you can't get down on the floor, you
don't want to stand up, or you don't have time to stand up to do the stretch, you
can really just kind of scoot to the edge of your chair and prop your leg out.
keep your legs straight and keep your back straight, and all you're doing is
just leaning it at your hips. so I'm not curling down trying to touch my toes. you
need to keep your back straight to get that stretch in those hamstrings. so you
should feel that stretch right through there you might feel it more in your
hips. you might feel it more at your knee, but it doesn't matter because that
hamstring is all the way up and your hip down past your knee. so that's why it's
important to keep your knee straight and that's why it's important to keep your
back straight to really get that stretch. and then you just go over and switch to
the other side. so I'm gonna turn a little bit so you can see that if you
pull up your toes that helps lock out your knee, and that helps get a little
bit of a calf stretch as well. but again if I'm curling down like I'm not feeling
much of a stretch right here at all, but if I keep my back straight, I feel a
really good stretch in those hamstrings. so really try and keep keep that
straight and just move at your hips right through there.
this one's been a little bit tight because I've been doing a lot of yard
work, and so it's nice just to kind of relieve all that and make it nice and
relaxed while I'm stretching it out. so the last one is going to be an active
calf stretch. a lot of times you might see me using a strap, and use a dog leash,
or a belt, but you can also stretch it actively too if you don't have any
equipment to do it. so really just put your leg out in front of you. again try
and keep your knees straight and just pull your toes towards you. so I feel a
little bit in my quad because you're activating your quad to straighten out
your knee, but when you pull your toes up you're gonna feel that calf stretch in
there so you don't necessarily have to do it passively. sometimes that's better
to get a bigger stretch, but you can just pull it towards you and you should
really feel that stretch as well. again I'm feeling it in my quads because I'm
activating everything, but as I pull my toes up, I'm gonna feel it in the calves
and that that's really kind of what you want to feel is that active calf stretch.
and so it's nice and even if you want to put your leg down, you don't have to hold
it up cuz that'll maybe take the quad out of it a little bit. but I'm pulling
those toes up towards me and I should feel it right in through here. I might
feel it in the back of my knee because those calf muscles cross that knee joint.
so wherever you feel it, but you want your leg to be straight. and then again
you might feel that quad activating a little bit to help get that pull up
there, but I'm also feeling that nice stretch in my calves as well. and again
just holding it for that thirty Seconds as much as as much as you can
comfortably. so there you have it that was my seated relaxing full-body
stretching routine in real time. if you'd like to help support my channel, don't
forget to click up there, and remember to subscribe by clicking
down there by Kali. and remember be safe, I know, have fun, and I hope you feel
better soon.