Flexibility exercises and a weekly plan to build range

Flexibility exercises are what most people mean when they say they want to be less stiff: moves that ask a joint, gently, for a little more range. This page is a practical routine you can follow at home on a mat or a strip of floor. It covers the hips, legs, spine and shoulders, and takes about 15 minutes.

For the bigger picture, what flexibility is, why progress is slow and how yoga approaches it, read yoga for flexibility. This page is the workout.

Before you start: who should check with a doctor?

See a doctor or physiotherapist before starting if you have a joint condition, a recent injury or surgery, a condition that makes your joints unusually loose, or pain that is there even when you are not stretching. Stop any exercise that gives you sharp, pinching or electric sensations, or numbness or tingling.

How should the routine feel?

Steady and mild. The warm-up exercises should feel easy and slightly warming. The held stretches should feel like a broad pull in the muscle at about half to two-thirds of your strongest stretch, never pain in a joint. Breathe slowly through the nose and let each out-breath soften you a little.

The routine: ten flexibility exercises

Warm-up (3 minutes)

1. Cat-Cow, 1 minute. On hands and knees, breathe in and let the belly drop as you look forward; breathe out and round the back. Eight slow rounds. Cat-Cow for the whole spine has the full cues.
2. Leg swings, 1 minute. Holding a wall, swing one leg forward and back ten times, starting small. Switch legs.
3. Arm circles, 1 minute. Big, slow circles forward and back, ten each way.

Held stretches (about 12 minutes)

4. Standing forward fold, bent knees, 6 breaths. Feet hip-width apart, fold from the hips and let the arms hang. Roll up slowly.
5. Low lunge, 6 breaths each side. Back knee on a folded towel, ease the hips forward to feel the front of the back hip.
6. Half splits, 6 breaths each side. From the lunge, shift the hips back over the back knee and straighten the front leg a little, toes flexed, knee soft.
7. Butterfly, 8 breaths. Sit on a folded blanket, soles together, knees falling out, spine tall. For more options, see the inner thigh stretches from seated to lying down.
8. Seated twist, 5 breaths each side. Sit tall with the legs crossed, place the right hand behind you and the left hand on the right knee, and turn gently from the ribs. Switch sides.
9. Thread the needle, 5 breaths each side. On hands and knees, slide the right arm under the left and rest the right shoulder and head down. Switch sides.
10. Strapped hamstring stretch, 8 breaths each side. Lie on your back, loop a strap around one foot and raise the leg, knee soft, until you feel a mild stretch. Finish lying still for a minute.

A simple weekly plan

• Three or four days a week: the full routine.
• Other days: the three warm-up exercises and a walk.
• Once a week, if you like: a longer, slower practice, holding the floor stretches for two or three minutes with props.

If you would like a daily plan that works one area at a time, the 14-day flexibility plan rotates through the body with a printable checklist. Repeat the same routine for a few weeks rather than changing it daily. It is easier to notice small changes in shapes you know. To track your reach, repeat the sit and reach test every month or two.

Which exercise works which area?

If you only have time for part of the routine, pick by where you feel stiff.

How long before you feel more flexible?

Many people feel looser within the first week, mostly because the body gets used to the stretch and relaxes into it sooner. Changes you can see, such as hands landing lower on the shins in a forward fold, usually take several weeks of practising three or four times a week. Progress is rarely a straight line: a busy week, poor sleep or a cold morning can make you feel stiffer for a day or two. Look at the trend over a month, not a single session. To see that trend in numbers, the free mobility assessment with your phone camera measures your hip hinge, squat, shoulders, hip flexors and side bend in degrees, keeps the dates in your browser and builds a 4-week plan for the tightest areas.

A five-minute version for a work morning

On days when the commute starts early, this keeps the habit going.

1. Cat-Cow, eight rounds.
2. Standing forward fold with bent knees, five breaths.
3. Low lunge, five breaths each side.
4. Seated twist on a chair, five breaths each side.
5. Thread the needle, five breaths each side.

Does the heat make you more flexible?

Warm muscles often feel easier to stretch, and on a humid Manila afternoon you may notice you fold further than you do at dawn. That extra give is real but temporary, so use it to settle into the stretch, not to push past where it feels mild. Drink water before you start and keep a towel nearby so damp hands and feet do not slip in the lunges.

Common mistakes

• Skipping the warm-up. Cold muscles resist. Three minutes is enough.
• Bouncing or pulling. Let the breath, not the hands, take you deeper.
• Rounding the back to reach further. Fold from the hips, with the knees bent if needed.
• Comparing with photos. Bones and joints differ. Some shapes will never look the same on every body.

Make it easier or harder

Easier: sit on a higher blanket, keep the knees bent in every forward fold, and use a towel instead of a strap. Skip half splits and do the hamstring stretch lying down instead.

Harder: hold each stretch a few breaths longer, or add a gentle press-and-relax round to the hamstring stretch, as explained in the guide to contract-relax stretching. For a longer goal, the patient route to the splits builds on exercises 5 and 6. On a day when you just want to loosen up, a 15-minute full body stretch is enough. If you are unsure which kind of stretch suits which moment, the types of stretching explained sets them side by side.