Deep Stretch Routine for Recovery
Ten minutes of longer holds for hips, hamstrings and spine. A recovery session for the day after hard training, or any day you feel tight.
Routines
Day 1 — Deep Stretch Flow
Yoga-inspired static holds for full-body mobility and relaxation.
About this plan
One session of longer holds — thirty seconds and up — for the hips, hamstrings and spine. Intermediate, in the sense that the positions go further than a general cool-down.
It runs child's pose, cobra, thread the needle, a supine spinal twist and a kneeling hip flexor stretch, each held for thirty seconds or more.
The length of the holds is the whole distinction from a warm-up. Thirty seconds and beyond is where connective tissue starts to respond rather than just the muscle relaxing, and where changes begin to persist between sessions rather than fading within the hour.
The supine spinal twist is the position to spend the most time in. Lying on your back, one knee crossed over, shoulders staying down — it takes the spine through rotation without any load on it at all, which is the safest way to train a range that a day in a chair steadily removes.
Cobra is the counterpose to almost everything else in a training week. Sitting, cycling, squatting, crunching and deadlifting all flex the spine or hold it flexed; cobra is one of the few things most people do that extends it. Come up only as far as is comfortable and keep the hips down.
Use it the day after hard training, or on a rest day. It also works in the evening — long holds and slow breathing settle the nervous system, which is why this and the bedtime yoga plan feel similar despite different intentions.
Do not force anything. Range comes from spending time in a position you can breathe in, not from pushing into one you cannot.
Train this plan in the app
LoadMuscle carries the routine with a demo for every exercise, and logs your sets as you go, so next session you can see what to beat. Free on iPhone and Android.
Want something built around your own schedule and equipment instead? Try the free workout planner.
