Stretches to Do at Home:
4 Amazing Stretches for the Hips and Glutes with Nicole Cavarra
Fitness for Your Mind, Soul and Golf Game!
Whether you’re a golfer, skier or fitness enthusiast of any kind, you’ve probably been hit hard by this pandemic. Many of us are without access to gyms, resorts, and trails, while some of us can’t even leave our homes! It’s easy to want to give up on health and fitness in this stressful time when we have so much else to focus on, but we have to realize that now more than ever it is important to keep our bodies and minds healthy and strong! Especially if you find yourself working from a home office, this new sedentary lifestyle may begin to take a toll on your body. So we’ve teamed up with fitness instructor and LPGA-certified golf coach Nicole Cavarra to bring you 4 more amazing stretches you can do at home!
Why is Stretching Important?
Working out and moving your body from home is essential in order to be able to move from the couch to the course during this shelter-in-place and social distancing time. You may have seen tons of options for at-home workouts popping up recently as people struggle to stay active. But one thing you might not have considered is stretching and mobility! When you’re cooped up more than usual, taking time to work on flexibility and stability is crucial for overall body health, and reducing the risk of injury when you do return to vigorous exercise.
In Nicole’s last post, she shared with us two of her favorite stretches for hip mobility and golf. You can check it out here!
Today, she’s returning to give us four more amazing stretches that you can do from home to target and stabilize some of the largest and most important muscles in your body – the psoas and the glutes.
Read the previous post to learn why this area of the body is so crucial and what you can do to protect it!
SEATED FIGURE 4 STRETCH
Glutes, Piriformis and Hips
Sit on the ground and extend the torso and head as tall and neutral as possible in the spine. Keeping chest tall, extend left leg and pull the right ankle in as you bend the right leg. Using your hands, pull the right leg across the left thigh as close to your torso as possible. Hold for 30 seconds. From here, bend the left leg and lay the right ankle across the left knee, lean back on the hands and keep chin up and spine neutral…the more you bend the left knee, the more stretch you get in your glutes, hip, piriformis and hips. Hold for 60 seconds. Repeat both positions on the opposite side.
SIDE BODY LUNGE
Targets Iliacus, Quad, Psoas, and Oblique Muscles
- Using a chair or step behind you, place left toe behind you on chair and stand on right leg. Hold 30 seconds. Breathe through nose and exhale through mouth. Use deep belly breaths.
- Extend left arm up and reach as high as you can to ceiling. Hold stretch and breathe for 30 seconds. Rest.
- Reach up again, now lean and reach across your head to the right. Breathe and hold stretch for 30 seconds.
- Repeat on other side: standing on left leg, right leg up and reach with right arm. Repeat steps 1-3 on both legs three times.
*** This exercise can be modified for a deeper stretch by taking it to the ground and getting into a runners lunge position as shown in the picture above. Rather than standing you will lunge into the front leg and allow the ground to open up the rear leg and hip flexor.
RECLINED TWIST
Mobility for hips, psoas, shoulders and pecs
The following two stretches are especially important for your golf game. In order for your body to create its maximum amount of power and force, not only do you need to know how to work from the ground and legs and feet, but you must be able to create upper and lower body separation naturally, without having to think about it. These stretches you can do at home will help your body create muscle memory and awareness in separation.
Lay on back and pull knees to chest and hold for 30 seconds….rock side to side if you want to help massage the spine. From here, Kick out the left foot and keep the right knee bent and pull it across the body so it’s laying over the out-stretched leg. Lay the right hand as far back to the right as you can, palm facing the sky. Hold this position for 30 seconds. Increasing the stretch by using the left hand to pull the right knee as close to the ground as possible. Go back to the start and repeat x 3 on each side.
SEATED TWIST
Hip Flexor and Psoas Stretch / Upper and Lower Body Separation
Sit on floor and knees in and feet flat. Good neutral posture with spine. Allow both hips and knees to drop to the right, getting knees to touch the floor or as close as you can to doing so without changing posture or twisting the torso….the torso should face forward while the hips and legs are moving. Switch directions and push knees back to the top and allow them to drop to the other side. Repeat x 20 each side.
You Can Stay Fit At Home!
10-25 minutes a day with specific notions that are key to keeping the shoulder and hips limber and strong and for reminding our body what it’s like to work from the ground can be just enough to keep you in golf form, even if your driving range or golf course is shut down.
This base of Foundational Fitness is important for athletes of any sport, and we know you’ll see benefits if you commit to it daily. Starting with these easy stretches you can do from home will get you well on your way to mind and body wellness. Imagine coming out of quarantine fitter than when you started. Don’t believe us? It’s possible!
We love Nicole’s GOLFit in 10 program which is accessible, fun, easy and effective! You can access “GOLFit in 10” golf fitness workouts designed for you to daily in just 10 minutes a day, at
