Issue 22: Do these movements from your chair in just 3 minutes

Heya, FTWer,

Let’s be honest: sometimes you just don’t have time to get up, roll out your mat and pop off your socks, and crank out 10-15 minutes of movement. Heck, sometimes you don’t even have time to read this newsletter! ;) (It’s okay; I get it.)

Even if you technically have the time, you might be on a tear in your current project, on a tight deadline, or simply struck by an overwhelming sense of ick about getting up right now.

Obviously, whenever you can, you should be grabbing water, moving around, what have you. But if it’s just not in the cards this time, here are six stretches you can do just by rolling your chair back a couple feet.

If you tackle them all at once, they shouldn’t take more than 3 minutes or so. Or, you can break them up throughout your day!

Find them all right here:

Seated Twist

Hug in your knee or cross your ankle over your thigh.

Don’t try to crank your neck over your shoulder.

Side Stretch

Move your top shoulder back in space, so it’s stacked over the bottom one, not folding forward.

Grab your chair or your opposite thigh as you lean.

Hammy Sweeps

Slide forward to the edge of your chair.

Keep your spine long as you reach. A nice shoulder opener, too!

Seated Cat-Cow

Rounding might seem counterintuitive, but imagine pulling each of your vertebrae as far apart as possible.

Focus on opening the chest more than arching the back.

Glute Leans

Keep your spine long.

Hang out in the fold for a bit, if it feels good!

Thoracic Extensions

Even better if your chair back is a little lower than mine.

Not great if your chair back is wood (do more cat-cows instead)!

Amazing! Add in a few wrist rotations or a few rounds of “take a cookie, leave a cookie” (remember those?) and you’re golden!

You’ve got this!