7 Easy Mobility Exercises to Try Without Breaking a Sweat

You might want to stand up for this: All the time you spend sitting (behind the computer, on the couch, or even during your daily commute) slowly but surely. harm your health and mobility.

While there’s nothing wrong with lifting weights, long sedentary hours are a problem. one study of 447 office workers suggested that long periods of sitting are associated with symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders in the shoulders, lower back, thighs, and knees. When other research found that university students who spent more than seven hours sitting and less than 150 minutes per week of physical activity experienced reduced thoracic mobility. Long periods of sitting can also strain the muscles in the hips shorten and feel tightor even affect your posture.

Long story short: Eliminate stationary time at your desk (or couch, dining table, wherever) with some another movement can make the world better. That’s where this 7-day mobility challenge takes place. Made by Men’s Health Director of Fitness Ebenezer Samuel, CSCSThis week’s routine is designed to get you out of the chair, and active in a way that counteracts negative sedentary patterns.

Each day, you’ll go through one exercise that stretches your hips and another that challenges your spine. This strategic pairing will ultimately help open your hips, release the lower back, and release the tightness in the neck and shoulders. As you go through the week, you will gradually get deeper and more thoracic specific movements.

Here’s how to break it down: For the first day, you’ll start with one exercise to ease the challenge. On the second day, you will add one more drill. Each subsequent day, you will repeat one movement from the previous day, paired with a new exercise. All you need is a bit of floor space, and potentially a mat, to get started.

Each series of exercises is designed to fit into your schedule (seriously, it won’t take more than a few minutes to reach the required reps!) and you won’t break a sweat. Ideally, you’ll go through this series of two moves three times a day. After the seven days are over, you might consider repeating the challenge for a few more weeks, or even making this mobility exercise a regular exercise. Once you feel good, you can try the next 30-day mobility challenge.

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At Men’s Health 7 Day Mobility Challenge

Note: For unilateral exercises and stretches, one rep equals a rep on both sides.

Day 1

Spiderman Lunge With Thoracic Rotation, 8 Reps

Start in a pushup position with your hands directly on your shoulders. Keep your glutes and core engaged. Step one foot close to the hand while continuing to squeeze the quad and glutes of the back leg. Reach your hand (same side as the lunging leg) over the other arm. Then take a deep breath and roll through your spine to reach your arms straight up, keeping your eyes on your fingertips throughout the movement. Return the hands to the ground, return to the plank position, then repeat on the opposite side.

Day 2

Spiderman Lunge With Thoracic Rotation, 4 Reps

Cat-Cow to Bear Plank to Plank, 4 Reps

Sit in a desk-top position with your shoulders above your hips, and your knees slightly wider than hip-width apart. Round your back, spread your shoulders, and bring your head to your chest. Next, arch your back while squeezing your shoulders together. Return to the table and tighten your abs. With your toes pressed into the ground, lift your knees off the floor, engage your core, and hold a bear plank. Keeping your hips and shoulders square, return to a plank position and hold. Repeat the movement, then repeat from the beginning.

Day 3

Cat-Cow to Bear Plank to Plank, 4 Reps

Inchworm for Scorpion Stretch, 5 Reps

Start with your feet placed slightly wider than shoulder width apart. Hinge at the hips to bend and place your hands on the ground, keeping your legs straight for a good hamstring stretch. Slowly walk your hands forward, keeping your hips and shoulders toward the ground, until you reach a pushup position. Bend your elbows and lower your body down to the ground. From here, bend one knee and squeeze the glute. Keeping the head and arms in place, rotate through the spine to bring the leg to the right of the body, and try to touch the floor on the other side. Repeat on the opposite side. Lift back up into place, walk your hands to your feet, stand up, and repeat the movement.

Day 4

Inchworm for Scorpion Stretch, 5 Reps

Low Lunge With Overhead Reach, 5 Reps

Start in a standing position with your feet shoulder width apart. Step forward with one leg, and lower your body down into a lunge. Drop one knee to the ground, untuck your toes, and bring your hands to the sky. Pull your hands back, look for low knees. Then, lift your arms down and, using your heels, push your body back to the starting position.

Day 5

Low Lunge With Overhead Reach, 5 Reps

Child’s Pose With Reach, 5 Reps

Start in a kneeling position, and allow your toes to touch. Make your knees wider than your hips, and bring your hips into your heels. Let the chest relax to the ground, walk the hands out in front, and bring the forehead to the mat. From this position, reach one hand over the opposite arm. Take a deep breath and roll through your spine to stretch your arms straight up, keeping your gaze toward your fingertips throughout the movement. Lower your arms down to the ground, then repeat on the opposite side.

Day 6

Child’s Pose With Reach, 5 Reps

Deep Spiderman, 5 Rep

Start in a pushup position with your hands directly on your shoulders. Keep your glutes and core engaged. Step one foot close to the hand while continuing to squeeze the quad and glutes of the back leg. Put one arm down to the ground, then the other. Hold for a few breaths, then reverse the movement and repeat on the opposite side.

Day 7

Deep Spiderman, 5 Rep

Deep Squat With Alternate Overhead Reach, 5 Reps

Start in a standing position with your feet just beyond shoulder width apart, and your toes slightly out. Squeeze your abs, then roll your shoulders and keep them standing straight. Push your buttocks back, then bend your knees and go down until you can wrap your fingers around your toes, keeping your hands on your knees. Rotate through your spine to extend one arm toward the sky, keeping your gaze toward your fingertips throughout the movement. Lower your arms down to the ground, then repeat on the opposite side.