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7 NEW Exercises You Should Do Everyday
- chelsie462
- 9 hours ago
- 12 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in August 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/D7tpdLLDXJE
Mike: Are you looking for some practical exercises or stretches you can do each day?
Brad: Well, you're in luck, because today we're going to go down memory lane, look at some of the best exercises from seven years ago with Bob and I. And we've actually updated them with new information that we have received in the last year or so.
Mike: So today, we're going down memory lane and looking at a very old popular video, seven years old, called "Seven Exercises You Should Do Every Day." So we're going to recap that quickly right now.
Brad: There you go.
Bob: We're talking about the seven exercises you should do absolutely every day.
Brad: Yes, because seven is complete.
Bob: Right, seven's that fancy number that seems to work for a lot of things, right?
Brad: Exactly.
Bob: And these are exercises that, you know, I eat my own cooking, I guess, as you put it. These are seven exercises I do pretty much every day. Some of them I don't do every day. But the vast majority of them I do. And they're easy to do because you can do them, you can incorporate them into your day. You don't need to say, "Now at 10:00 I'm going to do seven exercises." A lot of these are ones that you should be doing throughout the day.
Brad: Right, you can do them while you work, while you drive, some of them. All right, so you had a brief look at the old exercises. They're still good. But these are actually better and more complete. Let's start with the first one.
Mike: We may look a little different, I don't look like Bob at all. Anyway, the first one is the arm slides on the wall. So what you're going to do is put your pinky side, touch your elbows. You're going to slide up as far as you comfortably can, hold for a few seconds while breathing. Try to take three to five breaths. Or, if you like time, you can hold this for 15 to 30 seconds. Come back down, keep contact with the wall the entire time. And I'm squeezing my shoulder blades down. You're getting a nice good stretch and movement in your shoulder blades, as well as your lat muscles.
Brad: One thing to keep in mind, really important, while you get up, can you go halfway down? There, once your elbows get to here, think about not just moving your hands up, but watch Mike. He's shrugging his shoulder blades up. And that tightens the muscles up here, pulling the shoulder blades up. And that's the key to this exercise. It really makes a difference on shoulder mechanics as well as posture.
Mike: Now if you struggle with both arms at once, you can certainly just do one arm at a time and then switch. We would recommend doing 10 of these each day. Now we're going to go into the second exercise right away. It kind of compliments that one. You can modify this in a seated position if you can't get on your hands and knees. But it's kind of like a child's pose or prayer stretch. So, I have my knees and hands down on the ground. I personally like to touch my feet together. And I sit my butt on my heels, keeping my shoulders where they are. If I'm not feeling much of a stretch, I can creep them forward a little bit. Again, breathe. Try to hold this for three to five breaths, or you can hold it for 15 to 30 seconds. Come back up. And we're going to repeat this 10 times like the other stretch.
Brad: Now the reason this compliments that stretch is because it actually stretches the muscles that pull the shoulder blade down. So they work together. Plus you get a low back and hip stretch, as well as ankle stretch, all at the same time. It's really encompassing in a lot of different parts of the body. And I did want to mention also, neck pain and headaches can be relieved from these two stretches combined.
Mike: Now Brad, do you want to show how you could do that seated as well?
Brad: Oh, yes.
Mike: So just take a chair.
Brad: Yes.
Mike: You can have a solid chair, a rolling chair. Do the same thing. Some people's knees we realize aren't as good.
Brad: Yes, of course.
Mike: So you can do it like that.
Brad: Yeah, so if you got a smooth table, and a chair without wheels, this is what you'll do. Take a towel, put it there. Wipe your face off a little first, I'm just kidding. What we're going to do is slide forward using the towel to minimize resistance. You get the same stretch in the back. The only thing you don't do is get the ankle stretch, but that's okay, we'll get that later. And do that 10 repetitions. It's really important you relax and breathe with all of these.
Brad: If you have a chair with wheels, chair with wheels.
Mike: This is a stool, but, same thing.
Brad: All right. And then you don't need the towel, you simply scoot your butt out, and you get the same stretch. And it works very nice. All right, what's the next one?
Mike: I would like to recommend that that's from our friend Rick Olderman, who's a physical therapist. Check out his channel rickolderman.com. Anyway, next one is a hallelujah or "W" stretch. You can do this in a seated position, or a standing position as well. I'll do it standing.
Brad: I'll do it seated.
Mike: Okay, so what we're going to do is you can either go arms straight up. If you're standing you can arch your back backwards a little bit. And then come back down. Do 10 repetitions. Or, you can do the famous "W," as Brad likes to say, look, my head is the middle of the "W."
Brad: There you go.
Mike: Make a "W" shape.
Brad: Yeah, that's a weird looking "W" there. It's important if you do it in a chair, it cannot be a tall chair. It needs to be a lower chair. And a firm chair works the best so you can arch your back over. And again, breathing and relaxing. Allowing the muscles to stretch, it's great for your posture. It's super for that mid back, as well as the low back. Are we going to go to the next one?
Mike: We can, but you can also use a ball if you want a little more rounding in your spine with that one.
Brad: Yeah, Mike did invent this idea. Put the soft ball six or eight inches, and you put it wherever you need the stretch. See, now for me, I like it down low. But some people may want it up between the shoulder blades. You'll know. Just actually do it and see what feels best. You'll probably get some back cavitation. In other words, it'll crack a little bit. And that's good for mobilization of those vertebra at that location. What are you doing on there?
Mike: We're going to do the next exercise, number four. And this is glute pumps. A lot of people don't engage their glutes enough throughout the day because we sit too much.
Brad: We're talking about the glute maximus, the big muscle in your butt, that has a lot to do with your back and how you walk with stabilization of the pelvis.
Mike: So if you struggle on your hands and knees, again, Brad will show an alternative option. So you're going to go up. This is a common glute pump most people think of. We're not going to go through the full range of motion. We're going to go somewhere in between. And you're going to do little oscillations. Do 30 repetitions on each side. If you have to break it up in the sets of 10, that's fine. If you're not feeling much glute engagement and it's all in your hamstrings, try rotating your foot in, this will engage the glute max a little more, and perform them like that. Make sure to do them on both sides.
Brad: You probably will not want to do these on a bed. Maybe that gives the impression, because we're on this plinth. A carpeted floor will probably work best. You don't have to go on your elbows, you could do it on your hands if you have some issues with that. And again, some people will not be comfortable going down on the floor, or on their hands and knees. So the option is, is a cupboard, like this. Cupboard will probably be a little higher. Either hands or elbows on, depending on your comfort. And then, the same thing, I'm going to work the right hip, that right glute. Bend the knee at about 90 and work that mid range oscillation up and down. So we're not really whipping it hard. We're just giving some good mid-range. And again, you can rotate like this, and that. Ooh, there we go. I can feel that glute maximus kick in. And do again, 30 seconds or 30 reps.
Mike: If that feels easy, you could certainly use a cuff weight or a resistance band. You could do the same thing Brad was doing there. It's just going to offer a little bit of resistance. Anyway.
Brad: How many people got these laying around in their house?
Mike: Everyone. My mother has them.
Brad: Does she?
Mike: She maybe bought them.
Brad: Yeah, but she was a gym teacher, wasn't she?
Mike: She just bought them recently. Anyway, the next one, we're going to strengthen the glute medias hip abductor side hip muscles. These muscles keep you upright when you're walking and standing. If they're really weak, some people might have a waddle walk. That means they're not kicking in right. So what you're going to do is kick your leg out to the side. Brad is showing beginner version, holding onto something, kicking out straight. If you want to add more tension and resistance, you can certainly use a band like I am doing. You can do 10 to 15 repetitions of this. Any form of bands work, you can use one of those loop bands as well.
Brad: A real important point that people will make a mistake on if you're not aware of it. Look at my foot. This is right. But the natural tendency is to point your toe away from you. We don't want that. Watch the hip. It really makes a difference and gets that proper strengthening done in the pelvis. Particularly if you're one of those people that kind of has a tendency to waddle walk. It's a good exercise to help eliminate that.
Mike: With this one, you should shoot for 30 repetitions total on each leg. If you do three sets of 10, two of 15, whatever works. Just pick your numbers you like. What's the next one? Calf stretching, Brad?
Brad: I'm still recovering from that recent one.
Mike: Well good thing we're working on a different muscle group. So we're working on the calves. You can stretch them many different ways. Brad will show on the wall. I will show on the stairs. Brad, you want to do yours first?
Brad: Sure. What are we doing, calf exercise?
Mike: Stretches.
Brad: Oh, okay. I was thinking of something else. Anyways, daydreaming. Toe forward. Not like this. I'm stretching this calf right there. Look at those nice blue socks, matches my shirt. And I'm going to straighten the knee out, get it back, heel glued to the floor. And I'm going to lean forward. And that stretches a gastrocnemius. You don't need to know that. It's a bigger muscle up here. But you do want to also come forward, toe forward, bend the knee, and then lean forward. And you're going to feel a different muscle, a deeper muscle stretch. And it's important that you do do both. Make sure you do both legs as well so you don't walk in circles.
Brad: Mike has a really convenient way to do it off the edge of a step.
Mike: So, just stand on the stairs. Hold on for support, otherwise you'll probably tip backwards like that. And you just have to walk your feet off the edge. I have the front or balls of my foot on the step. Then I'm going to relax down into it. I'm going to hold this here for 30 seconds. I actually like to do this for one to three minutes because I have super tight calves. But don't start that high duration right away.
Brad: And, did you mention it's important that they're wearing shoes with this? I think if you do it stocking foot or barefoot it will not be very effective or comfortable.
Mike: Yes, I typically do these wearing my shoes.
Brad: Yes, yes.
Mike: And we got one more. And it's a stretch, and it's for the hip flexor muscle. We're going to perform this on the edge of the bed because most people can do this way. Some people struggle stretching it one of the other countless ways. So for this, you're going to lay on the edge of a firm surface of sorts. Your bed might not be firm enough. You can try, maybe put a pillow under your butt. Some people will do it on a countertop or even kitchen table. So I'm going to start bringing both knees to my chest. If I'm stretching my left one, I'm going to drop it off the edge of the mat here. Now I'm going to bend my knee back and I'm going to pull the opposite leg up towards my chest. You can see when I do that, my hip flexor goes up a little bit. I'm just going to try to hold this for 30 seconds. Breathe throughout it. After I do this side, I'm going to switch and perform it on the other side. A couple tips to be aware of. I'll show this leg. Make sure your legs stay straight. Don't let it deviate out to the side like that. Or in, but I don't know who goes in. Most people go out.
Brad: Right. So Mike had mentioned the hip flexor. So that when he pulls his knee up and this knee goes up, that's as a result of the tight hip flexor here. Because if I push his knee down, you feel it up here. Yeah, his eyes opened up a little bit.
Brad: Anyways. Good. Now there is one little stretch. If you cannot do this because of whatever reason, you don't have a bed, or not getting on the kitchen table is not tolerated. This way, you can do it on a chair. It's like the second best way. And it's safe for people who are not as mobile. Turn sideways. If you have a firm chair with armrest is ideal. And then, go like this, and then bring this knee back. Not like this, up tall, and stretch like this. You'll feel a nice similar stretch. Again, both ways. That's seven, isn't it?
Mike: That's all seven. So give them all a try. Pick out your favorites and perform them each day. And if you would like to check out more videos on stretches or exercises you can do, check "7 Exercises You Should Do Absolutely Everyday! (Updated)." This one's from four years ago, so it has a few different options in it as well.
Brad: Yeah, of course they want to check out more videos. Everyone does. All right, enjoy the day and seven wonderful stretches.
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