An effective training programme should cover all five measurable health and wellbeing components: strength, work capacity (cardio fitness), mobility, body composition and emotional wellbeing. Stretching exercises fall under the banner of mobility, and this is a component you can’t afford to ignore if you want to get the best results from your workouts. 

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So, why are stretches so important? Maintaining the ability to move through a full range of motion will not only reduce your risk of injury, but also ensure you’re maximising both muscle and strength progressions.

If you’re new to mobility work, you should try our stretching exercises for beginners before attempting these more advanced moves.

Both sets of stretches – beginner-focused and those featured here – are designed to stabilise the core and loosen the glutes, hip flexors, adductors, upper back and ankles. These are all areas commonly associated with stiffness. Equally, they’re all areas that will improve strength training performance if you can move them efficiently.

Related content:

1. Best hip stretches
2. Best shoulder stretches
3. The best foam roller moves for every body part

How to get started with these stretching exercises:

The best stretching exercises can be performed as a standalone session, or as a dynamic warm-up before strength training.

If performing as a standalone session, aim to work through them as a continuous circuit – with 4 complete circuits your target. Or, if performing these stretches as a dynamic warm-up, the intent should be to move swiftly from one exercise to the next, therefore helping to elevate the heart rate as you mobilise your whole body.

These stretches are a little more technically demanding than the stretching exercises for beginners. So they require more body awareness to perform.

5 Stretching Exercises for Improved Mobility

1. Dynamic Pigeon
2. Spiderman
3. Thread the Needle
4. Adductor Dip
5. Ankle Hip Lift

Keep reading for full instructions on how to perform these stretches.

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Dynamic Pigeon 

Reps: 6 each side 

• Aim to get the knee and ankle both to the floor at the same time, with the shin as close as you can manage to being at 90 degrees to your body line.   
• Also, be sure to keep bracing the core to prevent extension of the lower back. 

Spiderman Stretch

Reps: 6 each side 

• The knee on the stepping foot should just brush against the outside of your shoulder on the same side.
• Try to keep the back knee raised from the floor to allow a greater range at the hip. 

If any of these stretching exercises feel too intense, support yourself with one of the best yoga blocks 

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Thread the Needle

Reps: 8 each side 

• Ensure you rock the hips back on to your heels before initiating the rotation. This keeps the movement in the upper back.
• The gaze should follow the fingertips of the moving arm. So, you should end up looking under your armpit.

If you’re looking for more stretches, why not also try these daily mobility stretches for men

Adductor Dip Stretch

Reps: 8 each side 

• Aim for 90 degree angles at both knees, with the weight centred over the knee on the floor.   
• Also, keep the torso as upright as possible as you dip – this ensures length in the adductors. 

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Ankle Hip Lift

Reps: 10 each side 

• Use the weight of the non-working leg to assist with pressing the heel to the floor as you lift your hips.   
• Ensure the core stays braced to avoid extension of the lower back. 

The post Stretching Exercises: 5 Stretches For Mobility appeared first on MensFitness.

Whether you’re a complete beginner to mobility training, or you’re not the best at remembering to squeeze in those post-workout stretching exercises, you’re in the right place.

Related content:

1. Best hip stretches
2. Best shoulder stretches
3. Best stretching exercises

Get kitted out with the best exercise mats

Try the Sundried Jute Yoga Mat 

BUY IT NOW: 

$33 / £27, sundried.com

Health and wellbeing has five measurable components: 

• Strength 
• Work capacity (cardio fitness) 
• Mobility  
• Body composition 
• Emotional wellbeing

A well-rounded programme should be looking to address all five. They may not all feature with equal priority all of the time – depending on individual goals – but none of them should ever be ignored.

You might also like these daily mobility stretches

The training adage of ‘use it or lose it’ is something that most can relate to when it comes to pursuing goals of strength, speed or improving body composition. However, the same is also true when it comes to mobility.

Why stretching is important:

Training and maintaining our ability to move through the greatest range of motion that we can safely control, while maintaining integrity of the joints, is key to getting the most from our workouts, as well as reducing the risk of injury.

Smart mobility training should allow us to gradually progress available motion without compromising joint integrity – this means choosing exercises that prioritise alignment and control over range.

The stretching exercises in this series are suitable for beginners and are designed to keep the core stable, and the four major joints centred, while encouraging movement in the places most people experience tightness – namely glutes, hip flexors, adductors (inner thigh), upper back, and ankles. Conveniently these are also the areas that, when we move through them appropriately, increase our performance in strength training. 

Check out our beginner’s guide to yoga for men

How to do these stretching exercises for beginners:

These stretching exercises for beginners are great to perform on their own as a dedicated mobility programme or active recovery session, or as a dynamic warm-up before a strength workout. 

If performing them as a standalone session, my suggestion is to work through them in circuit fashion and perform 4 complete circuits. 

If performing these exercises as a dynamic warm-up, the intent should be to move swiftly from one exercise to the next, helping to elevate the heart rate as you mobilise your whole body.

I would suggest starting with these stretches for a few weeks until you’re comfortable moving your body through these ranges, and start to be aware of how it feels to move into ‘tight’ areas.

Once you’re comfortable with these movements, you can move onto our pick of the best more advanced stretching exercises.

However, I should also point out that these beginner movements do not become redundant. I have many clients who have used these as their warm-up for years, and I often revisit them myself after 25 years in the industry. 

Best Stretching Exercises for Beginners

1. All-Fours Glute Mobilisation
2. Adductor Rock Back
3. Side-Lying Windmill
4. Half-Kneeling Hip Flexor Mobilisation
5. Knee to Wall Ankle Mobilisation

Keep reading for full instructions.

All-Fours Glute Mobilisation

Reps: 8 each side

• The hips should rock back and toward the side that has tucked in the foot.

Adductor Rock Back

Reps: 8 each side 

• Sit the hips back onto the heels before rotating through the upper body – this keeps the motion coming from the upper back. 

If you like these stretching exercises, check out our guide to yoga for beginners

Side-Lying Windmill 

Reps: 6 each side

• Try to keep the navel pointing forwards as the upper body rotates away – this helps to get the movement from the upper back.   
• Ensure that your gaze (and therefore the head) follows the fingertips of the moving arm. 

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Half-Kneeling Hip Flexor Mobilisation

Reps: 6 each side 

• In the set-up, ensure the knee is directly below the hips, and tense the glute as hard as possible on the knee touching the floor.  
• The forward rock is actually very small in this exercise – it should be no more than 1-2 inches. 

Knee to Wall Ankle Mobilisation

Reps: 10 each side

• A good target distance away from the wall is one foot width.   
• Ensure all of the weight is on the front foot as you rock forward, keeping the heel grounded.

If any of these beginner stretching exercises feel too intense, support yourself with one of the best yoga blocks 

Check out the URBNFit Yoga Block

BUY IT NOW:

$14.94 / amazon.com

£10.39 / amazon.co.uk

The post Best Stretching Exercises For Beginners appeared first on MensFitness.

Glute training has shown a leap in popularity over the last five to ten years, driven mostly by the increase in competitive physique contests, and of course the growth of the Instagram generation.

However, glute training isn’t only for women! This is a vitally important muscle group to train and strengthen for everyone – regardless of whether the goals are aesthetic, performance, or simply to be able to move and feel a little better.

Need some more lower-body inspiration? Try these resistance band exercises for legs 

How the glutes work

The glutes attach to the posterior aspect of the pelvis, and wrap around the hip joint, attaching to the upper and outer aspect of the femur. This 3D anatomical arrangement means that they have the ability to produce force in all three planes of motion:

• Sagittal: forward and back (hip extension, moving the femur behind the body)
• Frontal: side to side (hip abduction, moving the leg to the side away from the midline of the body)
• Transverse: rotation (rotating the leg externally away from the midline of the body)

In order to train the glutes correctly, you need to train all three of these movement patterns.

Limber up with these highly effective stretching exercises

Why you should train glutes

The glutes (along with their synergistic partners the hamstrings) play a role in extending the hip. What we mean by this is that they’re responsible for moving the femur (thigh bone) behind the midline of the hips. This action forms one half of the gait cycle (walking) which makes it a fundamental building block of human movement, and the foundation of any athletic activity.

However, as well as playing a dynamic role in extending the hip, the glutes also play a static role as an ‘anti-gravity muscle’. If we think of the hip joint as a major pivot, and our centre of gravity (the navel) sitting above it, then we require an equilibrium of forces acting around the pivot to keep it balanced.

The job of the glutes in this balancing act is to pull down on the back of the pelvis to counteract forces pulling down on the front. Considering most objects you lift or carry will be in front of you, and anyone who carries excess bodyweight is also most likely to be in front of them, then the role of the glutes in balancing this all out is a very important one. Your glutes quite literally hold you up.

When programming for clients, I will include specific glute training for everyone, no matter their goals. It really is that important.

Take on this dumbbell-only upper-body workout

These are the best glutes exercises to incorporate into your routine…

1. Hip Thrust 

Recommended reps: 6-8

• Imagine you’re lifting your belt buckle to your chin, to ensure there is no extension of the lumbar spine.
• Glue the chin to the chest to ensure there is no extension of the cervical spine (neck).

For more on this go-to move for stronger glutes, look no further than our comprehensive guide to barbell hip thrust benefits

2. Sumo Romanian Deadlift 

Recommended reps: 8-10

• The weight should travel in a straight line up and down, and the hips should push back behind you.
• Pointing the toes outwards at around a 45-degree angle allows the glutes to work through more of their fibre length.
• This is one of the best glutes exercises, and you can easily swap the kettlebell (pictured) for a dumbbell.

3. Side-Lying Abduction

Recommended reps: 12-15

• Hug the bench tightly with the bottom arm. This helps to stabilise the torso and keep the movement coming from the hips.
• Leading with the heel, and not the toe, helps to emphasise the glute over the hamstrings and TFL muscle.

4. 45-Degree Back Extension 

Recommended reps: 10-12

• Rounding out the upper back into a ‘slouch’ type posture as you perform this exercise lengthens the back extensor muscles.
• If you’re lengthening them, you cannot be contracting them to assist with the movement, which helps to protect the lower back and keep the work in the glutes.

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5. Frogger 

Recommended reps: 15-20

• Initiate the separation of the knees as soon as the buttocks lift from the floor.
• This allows you to train external rotation at the same time as extension, accessing more glute fibres with every repetition.

6. Single-Leg Romanian Deadlift 

Recommended reps: 8-10

• Loading the opposite arm and leg allows you to rotate over the stance leg, training the working glute through transverse plane as well as sagittal.
• You can encourage this even more by lowering the weight in front of the grounded foot rather than beside it.
• Clenching the fist of the non-working arm helps to improve balance by equalising tension.

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