Five Morning Stretching and Exercises

Five Morning Stretching and Exercises

Morning stretching and exercises workout has become more and more important to the start of my day.  So much changes as my daily routine changes, evolves and adapts to new situations.  For example, as we continue to do more from home and often home being about nomading somewhere around this magnificent planet of ours, I adapt and evolve to the situations.

And, as I add another month, and into another decade, other changes abound.  Things take longer to heal.  But, I have learned that what I work on, what I practice now will benefit me in the years to come.  When I practiced taekwondo in my 40’s, I know I benefited in my 50’s.  So, with questions about how I stay in shape even with some of my injuries, the following is where I have evolved.

I’ll start at the beginning of my current and still ever evolving routine, from the moment I begin to wake.  I should also add, this routine is not for everyone, on both sides of the scale.  If you are really struggling, I would start with a more gentle set of stretches and exercises, and definitely start.  And, if you are in good condition, and I’m referring to those of 50, 60, even 70 something, you will probably want to continue a stretching and exercise program at a higher level.

And, one more important factor is the breathing.  These exercises, especially the squats, are so much more effective and feel so much better with good breathing inhaling and exhaling through the nose.  When doing one of the Pilates type exercises, inhale through the nose and out through the mouth like blowing out a candle.  For those curious, breathing in taekwondo is to inhale through the nose and out through the mouth like fogging up a mirror.

While Waking…Legs and Core

As I’m lying in bed waking up, I just start with the ankles.  As one might spell out the alphabet with the feet, the toes, I’ll do do sort of the same thing, but just rotate the feet from the ankles one way and then the other, and forward, back, down, up, and give them a nice stretch before I hit the floor cold and running…well, not quite running.  And, before I do get up, I’ll take one from Pilates, and breathing is important with this.  With legs straight, I exhale feeling it from my core as you do in Pilates, lift one leg up and feel the stretch in my hamstrings.  Starting out, this might look like 45 degrees, for others, closer to 75, 80 degrees.  Once I’ve gone a couple few times, both sides, putting my hands on the sides of my thighs, give the quads and hamys a little pull, just a couple inches, for a bit more stretch.

At this point, the ankles and legs and core and mind are feeling good.

Coffee on and a Cold Shower

COFFEE ON and in for a COLD SHOWER, as cold as one can get in Arizona.  Even that feels so good and there’s no question there’s a difference in my day after a cold shower.

Stretches

Starting in Mountain pose, to arms out, fingers intertwined right thumb over left, to palms out and arms up into Upward Hands, shoulders to ears a couple seconds to shoulders down for a few seconds, to arms out to the sides and into Mountain, repeat to arms out to left thumb over right…of Sun Salutation stretch.  I do the Upward Hands just twice to get the arms, shoulders, chest moving and then down on all fours into Cat / Cow, one of my favorites.  

Cat/Cow is one of my favorites, as I can really feel a good stretch on my lower back.  Better yet, is that nice stretch of my abs.  I’ll do 3-20 times, or 3-10 times twice to 20.  

Next, I do what looks like a dog getting after it’s tail to the left, then to the right.  Not sure what this is called, and have only seen it in the paper I had long ago, so I’ll call it Dog after Tail.  In contrast to the Cat/Cow up and down, this is side to side, and feels really good on the hips and IT bands.

To compliment those two exercises, I do as if in a barrel, rotate from my core and chest with arms into the air at the sides from parallel to the ground to 30 to 60 to sometimes almost 75, 80 degrees, right side then left side.  This is another really nice stretch.

While I’m on all fours, I’ll finish with some bird dogging and into Downward Dog.  The bird dogging is a really nice feel on my core abs and glutes.  Don’t sweat getting the legs parallel to the ground right off, as you might feel a little tweek on the knees, so up a few inches to start is perfect.

And from here, I’ll go into Downward Dog for a few seconds or more and then slowly make my way up to standing.

Meditation

After a good stretch the legs feel good, and I am better at getting into a meditative sitting pose, legs crossed, often with my left leg, foot, on my right leg, thigh.  I’ve found a nice 5 minute meditation bell, chimes, which I reset in the 4-5 minute range.  This gives me a nice 15-20 minute meditation, while also working on my knee flexibility.

The meditation is really nice to clear junk and it’s amazing how I can get clarity into what needs to be done, at least in the morning, if not the whole day.

Stretches / Core

After meditation, and yes some more coffee, I’ll do another set of stretches of Cat / Cow, Dog after Tail, Barrel, Bird Dogging, Downward Dog, as it just feels too good.  And sometimes, before Downward Dog, I may take another one from Pilates and do a set of One Hundreds…roll over and Downward Dog.

From here, and really after meditation, I am finally getting into some TRX…squats, rows, love it.

TRX

Squats, rows, biceps, triceps…running…rows w front kick…

Squats are my favorite.  Squats just get everything warming up.  Then I can go into chest rows, and into bicep curls.  We have threaded a stretch band through one of the loops to do triceps.  I’ll do a butterfly stretch facing the other way between those sets, and then get after another set.

When the joints and muscles are feeling good, I’ll add in a portion of a front kick.  I’ll start with simply raising the knee when I’m pulling into the chest.  When that’s feeling good I’ll throw the full front kick, starting straight out, solar plexus height, then into a higher front kick, as if to the chin.

And, from there I’ll work in other martial art and tai chi techniques, a couple being side kicks and roundhouse kicks.  There is a little different angle happening, but it all feels really good.

If you can do this with a little cardio in mind, basically going right into one exercise after another, lower  body to upper body and back to lower body, you can feel the breathing aspect.  And again, breathing through all this is very important.  If you can, inhale and exhale through the nose.  I’m practicing a running technique where I as  quickly as I can, on the balls of my feet, as an outfielder or wide receiver running, as fast as I can, pitter patter the feet, up and down, fast, fast, fast for a minute or more…boom. 

If you have another couple minutes, check out our TRX article, Our Game Changer!

Tai Chi Form Practice

Tai Chi is something I have been wanting to get into for many years now, and am slowly doing so.  I’m learning some of the movements, but being a bit of a perfectionist with the martial arts movements, hitting a point of the board the size of a dime in practice, for example, I don’t know if I am really doing the Tai Chi movement as it should be.  I would love to find a master, someone who is excellent in teaching.  However, till then, I will continue playing around with movements for 15, 20 minutes a day.

Taekwondo Forms practice in a Tai Chi style slow motion

So, as some of you know, I studied, practiced taekwondo.  For a dozen years or so, I had the opportunity starting in my late 30’s, early 40’s and into early to mid 50’s to practice.  And, I mean an opportunity, for so many reasons.  I highly recommend taekwondo for children and the entire family.  We had folks show up in their 50’s and 60’s to train and it was good for everyone.  Anyway, I continue to study my forms up to the black belt level, from White Belt on thru to 1st Black Belt, some 3 dozen forms.  However, while I will practice these in true form and speed, I really enjoy practicing the movements in my latest endeavor, the slower movements of Tai Chi.  I will go through a form very slowly and really enjoy each and every movement; moving from one stance into another stance, blocks, punches, and kicks.

Then, with my schedule, I need to hit the TRX at least two more times in the day.  If I don’t I’ll feel the sitting down effect later in the afternoon.

And, I need to drink 2+ liters per day.  I’ll drink 1 liter in the morning and 1 liter in the afternoon.  I’ll have a 1/2 liter when I wake, and 1/2 liter as I go to bed.

FAQ

Do you think I can do the martial arts thing, the taekwondo thing?  Often I will say “yes” within a couple thoughtful seconds, as I want to stay positive.  And of course, it depends on who I’m chatting with, someone 5-18, someone 18-60 or older, and then it’s a conversation.

Could I become a black belt?  Again, I will probably say “yes”.  However, let’s not get to far ahead of ourselves.  What about the red belt…green belt…yellow belt…and you won’t become a white belt until you step into the Dojang (Taekwondo Korean martials arts school versus Dojo in Karate).  One important piece I learned or came to me, and well after Black Belt, was that the White Belt rank was as important as any rank, even Black, and possibly more important.  Many, if not all, especially men, not necessarily boys, but men, just want to get through their White Belt training because it’s the “lowest” rank and they know they can beat up those kids over there.  Anyone in martial arts knows the answer to that.  But, I came to very much honor and love my White Belt experience, training and practice, even though I wsa one who just wanted to move on in the beginning.

Question is, do you know you can…

The question is and beyond, what is when I’m in my 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, coming in at 70’s, coming in at 90’s…let’s have the conversation.

“Cheating”, Isn’t that cheating?  Here, I will smile as I enjoy the way of the child, and say “no”.  As I would say to beginning martial art students, white belts, yellow belts, and some still in the lower belt range of purples, greens…use the wall to aid in balance, then lightly push off…nothing wrong with that…your muscles, your tendons, your bones, your head, balance within your ears.  For some students, I will have them do vertical push ups (offs) the wall with there fists, as it can be difficult for some to do a standard push up on the floor.  As they increase the angle off the wall, they move to the floor, maybe on knees versus toes, maybe a towel doubled up to continue working on their fist strength.  And soon, they are able to do what they need to do through this “cheating”…as I smile.

DISCLAIMER

All content in this article is for informational and educational purposes only.  This is not a medical office and nothing in this article should be construed as medical and legal advice.  Although I’ve been active in sports and outdoor activites 50 of 60+ years, and practiced Taekwondo for some 12 years, I am not educated in the Medical or Health & Wellness industries.