Optimize Mobility: Athlete’s 20-Minute Stretch

Enhance Flexibility: Try This 20-Minute Athlete’s Stretch Routine”

Cody Mooney, the director of performance for the stretching app Pliability, emphasizes the benefits of this practice, including muscle tension release, increased flexibility, and stress reduction.

The Pliability team shared a 20-minute stretching routine used by professional CrossFit athlete Emma Lawson, renowned as the ‘second fittest woman on earth’ at the 2023 CrossFit Games. This routine requires no special equipment and can be easily incorporated into one’s daily schedule.

Emma Lawson’s 20-Minute Stretch Routine:

1. Puppy Dog: Start on hands and knees, slide arms forward with palms flat, holding for 1-2 minutes.
2. Dragon: Step right foot forward, left leg extended back, sinking into the front knee, holding for 1-2 minutes on each side.
3. Lizard: Step right foot forward, left leg extended back, hands (or forearms) inside the right foot, holding for 1-2 minutes on each side.
4. Pigeon: Bring the right leg forward, shin perpendicular to the torso, lean forward over the shin, holding for 1-2 minutes on each side.
5. Down Dog to Active Lizard Complex: Transition from down dog to lizard pose on both sides, repeating for 2 minutes.
6. Down Dog to Seal Complex: Transition from down dog to seal pose, repeating for 2 minutes.
7. Sumo Squat: Stand with feet wider than shoulder-width apart, sink into a deep squat, holding for 1-2 minutes.
8. Wide Stance Down Dog: Start in down dog, widen the stance, pressing heels into the floor, holding for 1-2 minutes.

_{Repurposed article originally published in Fit&Well}