There are lots of reasons you may want to work on your arms-overhead shoulder flexibility. From a practical standpoint, we want healthy shoulders to allow us to reach things overhead without pain. And many hobbies require flexible (and strong!) shoulders for being able to perform skills with “proper” form, like handstands or bridges in yoga, Biellmann spins in figure skating, needle poses in cheerleading, Eagle or other backbend-y foot grabs in pole dancing - the list goes on!. So let’s take a look at what you need to know when it comes to safely and effectively training your overhead shoulder flexibility so you can get more open shoulders.

Being able to comfortably sit cross-legged on the floor (aka “criss cross applesauce” as I’m told the cool kids call it these days) can be a frustrating challenge for bodies with tight hips - especially as we get older. Gone are the days of our youth, happily sitting on the floor during story time. Instead, trying to sit on the floor for any extended period of time may now result in a butt cramp or a cranky low back . . .

On the plus side, being able to sit on the floor without a) looking like a hunched over gremlin and b) not incurring nagging pain is a very achievable goal!

For all my runner or cyclist friends out there, here’s a great short stretching routine you can do right after your run/ride that hits the major lower body muscle groups worked: quads, hip flexors, hamstrings, calves, and glutes. You can “choose your own adventure” with this one, either sticking to the more “traditional” passive stretches for a feel-good stretch-out of the areas you just spent a whole workout contracting, or you can choose a more “active flexibility” approach and opt of the variations that include a strengthen-while-you-stretch component to mor effectively work on your flexibility of these areas.