stretching routine 5-minute daily stretch 5-minute daily stretch Table of contents introduction 3 Exercise 1: Cat Cow 4 Exercise 2: World’s Greatest Stretch 5 Exercise 3: Asian Squat 6 Shortcut Your Transformation! 7 Exercise 4: Half Kneeling horacic Rotations 8 Exercise 5: Wall Slides 9 ADDITIONAL COMMENTS 10 DISCLAIMER 11 @jeremyethier 2 5-minute daily stretch introduction This stretching routine is designed to mobilize the key areas where most people, due to our sedentary lifestyles, have become tight and immobile. There’s 5 exercises we’ll use to do so. Each exercise should take you about 1 minute to do. Within that minute for each exercise, try to do as many quality reps as you can. But take it slow, focus on your form, and feel the various muscles being stretched. Exercise REP. DURATION Cat Cow 60 seconds World’s Greatest Stretch 30 seconds per side Asian Squat 30 seconds hold, 30 seconds rock side to side Half Kneeling Thoracic Rotations 30 seconds Wall Slides 60 seconds as many quality reps as you can For the best results, try to do this routine at least once a day. It can be done in the morning, during the day as a break, at night before bed, or multiple times throughout the day. Choose whatever time you’ll be most consistent with and stick to it! Implement this daily and you’ll feel better, your lifts will improve, and you’ll likely soon notice an unlocking of tight and sleepy muscles that you may have never even known existed. @jeremyethier 3 5-minute daily stretch Exercise 1: Cat Cow 60 seconds MAIN AREA(S) STRETCHED: SPINE START STEP 1 Get onto all fours with your knees under your hips and hands under your shoulders. From here, in a gentle motion, round your back up towards the ceiling as if someone was pulling your mid-back up with a rope. As you do this, take a deep breath in while tucking your head down. Pause at the top position for 1 second. STEP 1 STEP 2 Then, exhale as you reverse this motion by now curving your back the opposite way while lifting your head up. Pause at the bottom position for 1 second. Each cycle (going from up to down) should take you about 8 seconds to do. Try to get around 7-8 cycles within your 1 minute time frame. STEP 2 MODIFICATIONS If you’re having trouble nailing down this motion though, try placing a band around your mid-back. This will help pull your spine into the bottom position and then give you the resistance and sensory feedback you may need to learn how to properly round your spine upwards. MODIFICATIONS @jeremyethier 4 5-minute daily stretch Exercise 2: World’s Greatest Stretch 30 seconds per side STEP 1 MAIN AREA(S) STRETCHED: HIPS, ANKLES, MID-BACK STEP 1 Get into a plank position with your hands under your shoulders and feet together. From here, lunge forward by bringing your right foot up as high as you can, ideally next to where your right hand is. You should feel a deep stretch in your groin muscles of your front leg and the hip flexors of your back leg as you do this. STEP 2 STEP 2 Take your right hand, place it on your knee and push your knee out and back and then forward and back a few times to loosen up the hips and ankles. STEP 3 STEP 3 To deepen the stretch even more, drop your right elbow as far towards the ground as you can while rotating your upper body down towards the ground. As you do this, try to keep your right knee pushed out rather than letting it collapse inwards. STEP 4 To now open up the mid and upper back, rotate your entire upper body up and to the right and reach your right arm as far overhead as you can. If you can, try to keep your back leg as straight as possible as you do so. Then, reach back down and repeat this for 5 quality reps or about 30 seconds in total before switching to the next side. MODIFICATIONS STEP 4 MODIFICATIONS To make it easier, you can keep your leg bent or your knee on the ground and work towards straightening it more and more overtime. @jeremyethier 5 5-minute daily stretch Exercise 3: Asian Squat 30 seconds hold, 30 seconds rock side to side STEP 1 MAIN AREA(S) STRETCHED: HIPS, ANKLES STEP 1 Get a rolled up towel and place your heels on it. STEP 2 STEP 2 Using a squat stance which is typically just outside shoulder width, squat down into however deep is comfortable for you. Keep your chest up and try to keep your heels down. If your heels do come up, you can roll up the towel to make it even thicker, otherwise that’s fine to keep your heels up if you have to. STEP 3 STEP 3 Place your arms on the inside of your legs and use your elbows to push your knees out. Sit in this position for 30 seconds. STEP 4 For the next 30 seconds, move side to side to stretch out each ankle one at a time. As you do this, avoid collapsing your knees in and avoid pointing your feet too far outwards as this takes the stretch away from the ankles. Instead, try to keep your feet angled out at a max about 30-45 degrees out and keep each knee inline with the outside of your toes. STEP 4 MODIFICATIONS Overtime try to get to the point where you no longer need a towel under your heels. Also, to deepen the stretch of the hips during the first 30 seconds, you can place your arms in a prayer position. Once that gets easy, place your hands together into fists. Each progression will open up your hips more and more by spreading out the distance between your elbows. @jeremyethier MODIFICATIONS 6 5-minute daily stretch Shortcut Your Transformation! LOOKING FOR MORE SCIENCE-DRIVEN WORKOUTS TO ADD TO YOUR ROUTINE? 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CLICK HERE TO DISCOVER THE BEST PROGRAM FOR YOU! @jeremyethier 7 5-minute daily stretch Exercise 4: Half Kneeling Thoracic Rotations 30 seconds MAIN AREA(S) STRETCHED: MID & UPPER BACK, CHEST, SHOULDERS STEP 1 STEP 1 Get into a half kneeling position with your right leg bent as close to the wall as you can get it, and your left leg planted forward in a lunge position. Place both arms directly in front of you with your right arm making contact with the wall. STEP 2 STEP 2 Push your right hand into the wall as you rotate your upper body to the left, trying to reach your left arm to the other side of the wall. As you do this, avoid rotating at your hips and try to rotate only the upper body. MODIFICATIONS 1 To make it easier when starting out, try moving your planted leg further away from the wall and just try to rotate as far as you can without rotating your hips. As this improves, try to move your leg closer to the wall and rotate further. MODIFICATIONS 1 MODIFICATIONS 2 To progress the exercise even further to really open up the chest and shoulders by sliding your hand against the wall as if you were drawing a half moon. MODIFICATIONS 2 @jeremyethier 8 5-minute daily stretch Exercise 5: Wall Slides 60 seconds MAIN AREA(S) STRETCHED: LOWER AND MID TRAPS STEP 1 Now that we’ve loosened up your upper back, we will now temporarily have the mobility we need to be able to better activate and strengthen some of the smaller, weakened muscles in the back. Strengthening these muscles will help you maintain these mobility improvements long term. STEP 2 STEP 1 Stand with your back against a wall and contract your abs to flatten your lower back on the wall. STEP 2 Slide your arms up and down the wall while keeping your lower back flat and trying to keep your arms and hands in contact with the wall. When done properly, you should feel a few muscles in your mid back really light up as you raise your arms up. MODIFICATIONS MODIFICATIONS To make this easier when starting out, place your feet further away from the wall. Then overtime, try to get your feet closer and closer to the wall while trying your best to keep your lower back flat against the wall. If you can’t initially keep your arms in contact with the wall all the way through, or you can’t slide your arms up very high at all, that’s all perfectly fine. Just focus on improving this overtime. @jeremyethier 9 5-minute daily stretch ADDITIONAL COMMENTS I hope this PDF is useful for you! I put in a lot of effort into providing this routine for you free of charge. All I ask in return is that you show your support for my work and connecting with me on my social media platforms where I share more informative content on a regular basis: website BUILTWITHSCIENCE.COM instagram @JEREMYETHIER youtube youtube.com/jeremyethier tiktok tiktok.com/@jeremyethier facebook @JEREMYETHIERfit ENJOY! @jeremyethier 10 5-minute daily stretch DISCLAIMER The content provided in this PDF is for informational and educational purposes only. Jeremy Ethier is not a medical doctor, psychologist, therapist, nutritionist, or registered dietitian. The contents of this document should not be construed as medical, psychological, dietary, nutritional, or healthcare advice of any kind. The contents of this document are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any health conditions, nor are they intended to replace a physician, dietitian, nutritionist, or other qualified healthcare professional’s advice. You should always consult your physician, dietitian, or other qualified healthcare professional on any matters regarding your health, engagement in physical activity, and/or diet before starting any fitness program or meal plan to determine if it is suitable for your needs. This is especially important if you (or your family members) have a history of high blood pressure or heart disease, if you have ever experienced chest pain while exercising, or if you have experienced chest pain in the past month when not engaged in physical activity. You should also consult your physician, dietitian, or other qualified healthcare professional before starting any fitness program, meal plan, or dietary regimen if you smoke, have high cholesterol, are obese, or have a bone or joint problem that could be made worse by a change in physical activity or diet. Do not start or continue any fitness program, meal plan, or dietary regimen if your physician, dietitian, or health care provider advises against it. If you experience faintness, dizziness, pain, shortness of breath or any other form of discomfort at any time while exercising or while following any meal plan/dietary regimen, you should stop immediately. If you are in Canada and think you are having a medical or health emergency, call your health care provider, or 911, immediately. @jeremyethier Please note the following: • any and all exercise that you do as a result of what you read in this PDF shall be performed solely at your own risk; • any and all meal plans that you follow or adhere to as a result of what you read in this PDF shall be used solely at your own risk; and • any and all foods or beverages that you consume as a result of what you read in this PDF shall be consumed solely at your own risk. No part of this report may be reproduced or transmitted in any form whatsoever, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informational storage or retrieval system without the express written, dated, and signed permission from the author (Jeremy Ethier). All copyrights are reserved. Built With Science™ may not be copied or used for any purpose without express written consent. 11 5-minute daily stretch