10-Minute Daily Stretching Routine for Beginners – Static Stretch

After we are done with our workout routine, most of us just walk out of the gym without stretching. Stretching and relaxing your muscles after an intense workout routine is as important as training your muscles to get better. So we have come with a comprehensive stretching routine for beginners. You can use this a daily stretching routine that you add to your workout.

Stretching should be added to the workout routine and should be considered as a part of your daily routine instead of keeping it as something you do after you are done with the workout.

So, here are the stretches that everyone should do.

Open-Chest Stretch

Sitting with a humped back or in the office chairs for long often causes rigid pectoral muscles. Though not stretching doesn’t mean there would be serious repercussions in a year from now, but it does mean that you would lose agility and in the long run, a humped back and stiffened chest would be your normal posture, the effect is worse on men. So, a stretching routine for men needs to have the open-chest stretch.

Do this:

Stand by a door or a wall
Keep your entire forearm on the wall
Now keep one foot ahead and maintain enough space between the legs
Now lean forward until you feel a strong pull in the chest, hold it for 30-45 seconds
Come to rest posture and then do it for the other arm

You can do it for both arms together as well but doing one side at a time lets you concentrate on the stretch better and managing the intensity of each side – definitely an addition for the daily stretching routine for beginners.

Shoulders – One Arm Push

Stretching out the shoulders after you lift even a few pounds of weight, this will help with the shoulder fatigue later. Also, if you have been sitting on the chair for a longer duration you should stretch your shoulders. Most of the time when we sit with a humped posture, your shoulders are curved in too. This could eventually lead to rounded shoulders and a geek neck.

More than women, this needs to be on the stretching routine for men.

Moving your shoulders correctly and daily is important to maintain aa upright posture. So that’s next in our daily stretching routine.

Do this:

Raise one arm straight up.
Using your other arm push that arm closer to your chest
This should cause strain in your deltoids
Do it for the other arm

Back – Cat Stretch

Cat stretch, amongst all the fancy stretches for back, is the most basic and very effective. Most of the back related problems like that anterior and posterior pelvic tilt happen because of weak back muscles and no back movement.

The cat stretch triggers both anterior as well as posterior pelvic tilt and stretches lower and upper back muscles and is essential if you want a stretching routine for flexibility – so just pop it in your daily stretching routine beginners!

Do this:

Come on all fours like a cat
Curve your back upwards as much as you can without moving your arms and your legs. Bend your neck down when you do this
Then arch your back and look up
Repeat this a few times

Arms

A lot of our workout daily involves movement from the arms. Even if you lift a pen and use it for a while it strains the bicep muscles. Relieving your arms muscles is essential and should be done daily. Especially, if you are a gym bro or broette.Definitely an addition to the daily stretching routine for beginners.

Biceps

For the biceps, we have one simple stretch that will stretch longhead as well as shorthead biceps

Do This:

Hold your hands behind your back as shown.
Lift your hands up as much as you can without bending your back.
This will introduce a lot of tension in your back
Hold it for 40-60 seconds

Triceps

For the triceps, extension is the way for the stretching exercise and we can use something similar to what causes extension during the workout. A variation like the overhead tricep extension.

Do This:

Hold your hand as you do in the relaxed state of the one-arm overhead tricep extention.
Push the arms in the posture with your other hand.
All the tug should come for the tricep and not the shoulder.
Hold the posture for about 30-40 seconds
Switch hands and do the same

Legs

Moving around all day long, sitting in one position for too long, or lifting heavyweights. Each of these contributes to the stiffness of your glutes, hamstrings and thighs. How does moving cause stiffness you may ask, the gradual fatigue built in the muscles.

To relieve stress from these muscles we can adapt some simple extension based stretches to increase their flexibility and reduce tension. These are going to be really helpful for beginner lifters after their leg days. So, don’t shy away and add it to your daily stretching routine beginners.

Quadriceps

The simple standing quadriceps stretch would work well if you are someone who sits at home for long days, or just wants to end their schedule with some leg stretches.

Do this:

Bend one of your knees, such that your foot touches your butt. Hold that foot in your hand.
Use the other hand for support, if required.
Now pull the foot further up until you feel a strong stretch in your quads.
Once you feel the stretch – hold the position for 40-50 seconds.
Switch over to the other leg

The standing quadriceps stretches are effective and can be used to create good muscle stretches in the quads.

Hamstrings and glutes

For hamstrings and glutes, stretching your hamstrings wide enough will create a pull in your glutes. One of the simplest ways to do that is pulling your legs as far apart as possible. If you keep your torso tight, it can further assist the pull created in the hamstrings.

Do this:

Pull your leg up and as much as you can, then land it on an elevated platform or a wall.
Now if the platform is moveable them go further up or use your toes to crawl up the wall.
with your hand closer to the foot, try touching the foot.
Now bend your head towards the foot and try touching the other hand to the foot as well.
Hold it for about a minute.
Switch to the other leg.

Calves

Walking through the day causes strains in your sprinter muscles and the calf muscles. Removing this stress is vital to maintain agility and prevent fatigue from walking. There are a few simple stretches that you can perform to open your calves.

Do this:

Stand against the wall with your toe resting on the support of the wall and facing upwards.
Now pull yourself close to the wall and shift your body weight from the hind leg to the toe.
This will create a pull in your calf
Hold it for 20-30 seconds and switch over to the other toe.
Repeat the variation a few times.

The toe stretches work almost opposite to the calf raise and thereby counteracting the contraction of the calves by creating an opposite tension.

Full Body – Optional

Even after we are done with stretching the entire body muscle by muscle, we haven’t done a single stretch that can do all of these. Even though we have stretched the muscles it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve filled the needs of these muscles. The stretching routine for flexibility or just a daily stretching routine that reduces fatigue needs to be a lot more elaborate.

So, let’s do a full body stretch that will focus on each and every muscle, fill its needs by regulating the blood flow and will calm your body. There is only one such stretch – the Surya Namaskar.

The 12 steps of the Surya Namaskar starting from joining your hands together to the last step where you repeat the first step, each of the steps has its own significance and target muscles.

If done properly with regulates breathing, you will feel a lot fresher and rejuvenated.

Wrapping Up!

These are just a few simple and easy stretches that you can do every day as a part of your daily stretching routine at home or do after your workout at the gym. These simple stretches that help your muscles relax can contribute a long way.

Okay, bros and broettes, that it from Cannot Cardio on daily stretches. Follow us for more articles on stretching, workout routines, and to know the science behind the workouts.

Remember, to Stay Fit and Stay Awesome!