Dynamic Stretching for Spine, Chest, Hips, Shoulders, and More

This full body dynamic stretching routine targets literally everything. The dynamic mobility exercises include lower back stretches for spinal decompression, plus hip openers, chest openers, and stretches for shoulder flexibility.

Mobility is a critical but often overlooked part of personal training. When you have tightness in any area of your body, that is going to restrict your movement when you do things like squats, lifts, etc. This will mean you don't get the maximum benefit from these exercises. You also put yourself at a greater risk of injury.

My clients usually do at least one session per week of dynamic mobility exercises. It's not as glamorous as lifting weights and you won't win any medals from doing sun salutations, but dynamic mobility exercises provide critical support to your strength training and cardio efforts.

Many of the exercises in this video are taken from traditional yoga movements or poses. You may be familiar with sun salutations if you've taken a Vinyasa yoga class. Child's pose and warrior are also very standard yoga poses. Yoga is great for spinal decompression and opening tight areas like the hips or chests, which is why I love to incorporate them into my own stretching routine and use them daily with clients.

Here are the dynamic mobility exercises I cover in this video:

• Sun salutations (hanging stretch, plank, cobra, downward dog)

• Child's pose into chest opener (cobra variation) with leg out option

• Runner's stretch with twist

• Warrior post variation

• Thread the needle

• Hanging stretch into sumo stretch

• Lying on floor chest stretch variation

• Sunrises

Like I say in the video, this video is all about "dynamic" movements. Static stretches are the kind that you hold for a long time without movement. With dynamic stretches, you move in and out of the stretch, which is particularly helpful for mobility. When doing these dynamic mobility exercises, don't just "hang out"--keep the movement going.