For the past couple of years I’ve been extremely sedentary and I am definitely noticing how that’s taking a toll on my body. I think I had imbalances and such before but now they are glaringly obvious; one shoulder higher than the other, one hip/glute is tighter than the other, same with calves, etc etc it goes on and on. I wanna try to address this stuff, so if anyone has any pointers or resources that they find helpful for mobility/strength/flexibility that would be dope.
I recommend beginner’s yoga videos and a thick yoga mat. You can always skip poses that are too hard or just do them with less extension. The nice thing about yoga is that you can “fail” any time and just hang out on a comfy mat. Low impact and slow movements.
I also recommend simple isometrics. Practice standing on one foot for over a minute. Do planks. These kinds of exercises focus on building up the small muscles that help with stable walking and running and improve posture. Give yourself 1-3 days of recovery time, with more at first.
Isometric exercises are not something I thought to search for, I forgot about the word honestly. Standing on one leg is so hard! I try to do it while brushing my teeth and the tooth brushing motion adds to the experience for me lol
Those little stabilizer muscles can get weak and it can be hard to even notice until you do things like stand on one foot! If you do thst 2-3 times per week you will see good progress within a month.
If you’re in the US, I recently learned that some states allow you to see a physical therapist directly, without a referral. In my state it’s limited to a few sessions, but you can tell the therapist something like “I won’t be coming back, give me the best at-home routine for my issues”, and they should be able to help you out. I know this still is not accessible to everyone, but I wanted to make sure you were aware that it might be an option!
Oh yeah that’s a good idea! I have seen PTs in the past but I kinda feel like they weren’t seeing the “big picture” when it comes to how fucked my whole body is lol. I should give it another shot though. Good idea to ask them for a comprehensive home routine
sometimes i follow videos by “the girl with the pilates mat” on youtube. a lot of her videos focus on mobility, strength, flexibility, and balance with a lot of low impact beginner videos as well (they really do make me feel so much better when i have energy to do them). i’d also be interested to see what other recommendations people may have for physical therapy cause i definitely need it too.
Awesome thank you for that! I definitely need beginner exercises for sure. I found a website with exercises for ankles/knees/hips and I had to begin with the seniors modifications for some of the exercises which was discouraging but it’s better that I start at ANY level as opposed to not doing it at all
i absolutely agree, exercises aimed at seniors are genuinely really helpful! that youtuber also has senior videos too and they’re way easier to follow cause they’re a bit slower paced so i can keep up better (genuinely the ones i follow the most). always gotta go at your own pace and listen to your body! also can i ask what website you use?
haha yeah if I’m trying to follow yoga or cardio videos that go too fast I feel like I trip over my own feet even when I was my most fit.
The workout I used was based off of this. I kinda combined a few other exercises with the basic format of the seniors/beginners routine to make it longer. I seriously had no idea how difficult it would be to do the amosov squats and ankle rotations! I’m pretty sure I have shit ankle mobility so squats are pretty difficult for me to do so that was good but only could do like 20. Same with ankle rotations, I could only maybe do 20 in both directions, but now I’ve worked up to 50 in each direction. Gotta take 1-2 breaks though
“Yoga with Kassandra” on yt
I like MovementByDavid on YouTube. He teaches about flexibility training, has exercise videos teaching stretches for specific joints with alternate stretches for different levels, and has free books online with training info. Doing those stretches alongside my strength training has helped me feel a lot more connected to my body, limber, and resilient
Oh the motion is lotion guy! Lol. Thats awesome that you’ve noticed results I’ll follow his stuff more closely
Kelly Starrett and Kit Laughlin on Youtube.
check out Hybrid Calisthenics, there are videos on most social media platforms i think & Hampton, the creator has a really kind and patient vibe. like i remember when i couldn’t do a full pushup for example, there was a hybrid calisthenics video that gave ways to build up to one, helped a lot when i first started off from a totally sedentary lifestyle
Just checking out his beginners routine and he’s super thorough which I love! I can be a pretty rigid thinker so it’s helpful that he shows variations, ESPECIALLY for squats I cannot do one properly to save my life
famous clown and taco bell wedding participant dan ryckert recommended Diamond Dallas Page’s yoga program
i don’t know if it’s any good but that’s extremely funny.
that sounds so fucking lit lol
I usually end up watching Bob and Brad on YouTube whenever I need some physical therapy exercises. They’re geared for non-athletes and the exercises they discuss usually don’t require major purchases.
I just used their video about bruised ribs.
Squat University on youtube shares so much information in his shorts. Don’t know if hes on the tiktok or not but a lot of his therapy is exercise related / stretching
