Sam Cameranesi

10-Minute Post-Workout Stretch

Sam Cameranesi
Duration:   16  mins

Description

Give your muscles the love and attention they deserve after an intense workout. Trainer Sam Cameranesi leads you through this post-workout stretch. This session is for those of you who like a little longer stretch after a cardio workout, strength session, run, bike ride, or dance workout. Whatever it was you did to challenge your muscles and heart, use this session to be fresh and ready for the next workout.

Stretching is part of a muscle’s recovery and repair. Holding stretches is best after your workout when your muscles, ligaments, tendons, and body are warm. Holding your stretches for at least 20 seconds is key to muscle recovery. Look at this time spent with Sam as facilitated stretching. She will have you hold your hamstring stretches, and she will get into your glutes, hip flexors, and quads. She will have you stretch some of the upper body and give some attention to your back. All of this is helpful to prepare your body for the next workout and to prevent injury.

Sam is a dancer and very flexible. You may not be able to stretch like she can, but follow along because flexibility comes with practice. Slow and steady gives results, and if you feel like you are inflexible—even more reason to join in on this stretch session! Make this a regular addition to your daily workouts!

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One Response to “10-Minute Post-Workout Stretch”

  1. ANNE

    I will come back to this one time and again. I just did Shannon's bodyweight and bands workout and this stretch was perfect after! Thank you, Sam!

Hey Get Healthy U TV. I'm Sam Cam. And I'm gonna be leading you through your next 10 minute post workout stretch, right? So whether you just came in doing a run, a walk, a cycle, you just said I Get Healthy U TV workout, you did a hit workout, this is where you wanna come to after that workout. Whatever it looked like for you to just cool your body down and stretch it out a little bit. We've got 10 minutes together. A lot of it is focused on the lower body. We're gonna hold stretches for a few min, like a few seconds, few minutes to really just length out the body. So we're gonna come down to your mat, come down to stay seated. You're gonna start with a figure four. So you're gonna draw your right knee into your chest, cross it over. So ankle on top of your knee. And what I want you to do from here is sit up nice and tall. So you're gonna start to feel this as kind of a hip opener through the outside of that glute, maybe a little bit of that hamstring. And I want you to focus on a neutral spine. So again, in this 10 minute stretch, right? Pulse workout stretch. We're gonna hold these stretches for a few minutes, right? So when you start your warmup, right, we start to just kinda lubricate the joints, then you get into your workout, you crush your workout and we're just gonna sit and hold these stretches for a few seconds, a few minutes, right? So if you're not feeling anything, if you're like I could sit here all day, right? So you're gonna walk your butt towards your heel and then lift your chest and press through the floor. So you're not hunting back here, right? You're keeping that nice neutral spine. You can kinda wiggle it out from side to side. Just kind of find a sticky point. If it feels a little sticky there, hold it for a few seconds, but we're gonna continue to hold this here for just a few more seconds and then we're gonna switch sides. So this is what we call a figure four, really just feeling that hip opener and switch sides. So that opposite foot comes down. Good, cross the other foot right across your, right above your knee, right? So not right on top of your knee cap. You might have to sit back a little bit and then lift your chest tall. So I'm gonna show you from this side that we're not hunched back here. You draw that heel in towards your butt, right? You can be right up against it or you can sit back a little bit, feel out what works best for you and just kind of breathe into it. But I'm gonna come back and face the you at the front. Again, try not to bring those shoulders up into your ears. Try to press down. Use your upper body to hold you there. Again, find a sticky point, maybe you kind of move around a little bit, and then, oh, I feel that right here through the outside of my glute and my hip. Now the more you can press that knee open, the more you're gonna feel your hip. Good, breathe into it, take a few moments here. Good and relax, right? So I'm gonna come face this way. We're gonna lay on down all the way to your mat. Head touches down. Draw one of your knees into your chest, right? I don't care which one it is. Pull your knee all the way in, hug it in nice and tight. Extend that opposite leg all the way forward, right? If you need to bring a soft bend into that opposite leg, totally okay. If you can extend it, feel a little bit more through that hip flexor from here. That knee that's in your chest, you're gonna press it all the way up towards the ceiling. Now grab onto it, right? If you had a towel, towel can go behind your calf, towel can go behind the backside of your ankle, right? If you need to be here where your leg is straight up towards the ceiling. If that's where you are today, that's awesome, right? If you're a little bit lower, awesome. Find where you feel a stretch and just kind of hold it here, right? You should, at this point be feeling it through the backside of your hamstring. If you flex your toes back towards your face, you're gonna feel a little bit more through the calf as well as that hamstring. Pull it a little bit deeper towards your face if you can, right again, just holding it there, breathing through it, taking a few seconds to just hold these stretches at the very end of your workout. Now from here, I want you to open it up to your shoulder, right? So you're gonna open up your hip flexor. It's going to go to the outside towards your ear. Again, if you're out here, you're using that towel. Do what works best for you. I want you to pull it in tight. If you can use both of your hands to pull it in towards your head, do it, right? Everyone's flexibility looks a little bit different. Hold this stretch. You've got five more seconds right here. Four, three, you got it. Two and one, same leg. I want you to bring it in towards your chest again and then you're gonna draw it across your body. So your knee is gonna flop towards the opposite side of your body. Pull it over. Knee is bent. And you wanna keep thinking about squaring your shoulders to the mat, right? So neither of my shoulders are popping up off of the mat, right? Maybe you don't twist so far. If you feel that shoulder popping up, if you can twist a little bit further, right? Feel free to do so. Feeling rinsing it out through the obliques, right? You're also feeling this through the low back, upper middle half of that back, three more seconds holding it here for two, and one, come back to the center. Slide both legs down towards the ground. Opposite knee is going to come in towards your chest. Now, hug it out right here, breathing into this one, right? So you might notice that one side of the body feels a little bit different. Maybe roll that ankle, right? Finding a little bit more of that ankle mobility. And when you're ready, you're gonna stretch that leg all the way up towards the ceiling, pulling it in tight with maybe both hands, one hand, keeping both hips again square to the ground. So I don't wanna see your butt lifted up. You're gonna press it down and feel the hamstring stretch, right? Again, if you flex that toe back towards your face, you're gonna be a little bit more the calf backside of your hamstring, breathe into it. Use your upper body. Use your towel to pull that foot towards your face. Again, don't worry about where you're at, where I'm at, worry about where you are at in your flexibility journey. Hold this stretch for three, two, and one. You're gonna bring it to the outside, right? So you're gonna hang on with that arm. Pull it across to the outside of your shoulder, right? Maybe grab on with the opposite hand. Find the flexibility in the hip here. So right, we're opening a up our hips. The more you can pull it down to the ground, you're gonna feel that hip opener. Right, again, maybe you're up here, maybe you're out here. Find where it is comfortable but it's definitely a stretch, right? So you shouldn't feel like a pull. It shouldn't be like you're injuring yourself but it's definitely a little bit uncomfortable when we're stretching our bodies. You have three more seconds. In two and one. Bring that knee into your chest first, drop it on over, bring it across your body, trying to keep both of your shoulders square to the mat. Twist, twist, twist, right? So feeling like you have a little bit of rinsing on the inside, you're feeling that mid upper back, shoulders pressing down into your mat. Hold it here. Breathe through it, right? The more you find a twist and more you're gonna find. It's a little uncomfortable but definitely doable. You have three, knees come into your chest, and two and one. Bring both knees into your chest, right? Hug, get in tight, try and lift those shoulder blades up. We're gonna roll on up. And we're gonna come to a off for quadruped position. Shoulder stack right on top of the wrist and hips right on top of the knees. Drop your belly, lift your gaze, give me a few cat cow. Press through the floor. Lift, arch that back a little bit, belly button to your spine. Cat cow. You're probably thinking, are we doing some yoga here, right? Yoga poses are so good as we start to cool down and stretch our bodies. Drop your belly, lift your gaze last time right here, and find that roundness through your spine, arching on up belly to your spine. Good, find that neutral position before we start to move on. We're gonna come to all knees. So shoulders act right on top of your hips. You're gonna pull one foot forward. In case you like a 90, 90 position, you might wanna walk that foot out just a little bit more and we're gonna press our hips forward as that knee stays right on top of your heel, right? So option, I have those hands right here. Now I want you to make sure that you're in proper alignment. So both of your hips are squared. I'm not opening up to one side or the other. I'm driving both of my hips forward, knee stacked right on top of that heel. Lift your chest. Okay option to bring that same arm up and overhead as the foot that's back, drop the opposite arm to the ground, lift your chest. And we're gonna find a side body bend over. Okay, so you might be able to drop that hand all the way down to the ground if that is an option for you, go ahead and do it. If it is not, and you're reaching here, that is okay. Find your stretch where you should feel a side body stretch through that entire hip flexor as well. You've got three more seconds, hold it there. Two and one. Both hands, come back to the center, drop 'em down to your knee. We are going to press back. The leg that's forward is gonna straighten out all the way. You're gonna sit all the way back, right? So again, if this is an option for you awesome to find that hamstring stretch. If you're up here, that's awesome as well, right? So find where you feel that leg that's straight in front of you, a hamstrings stretch, but again, breathable, doable. Now, try not to round that spine up. I want you to keep a nice straight back here, hold it here. Maybe you shift and rock forward and back, breathe through it. You have three, two, and one. We're gonna press those hips forward one more time. And again, if this is an option for you right here, I'm gonna have you grab your back knee for a quad stretch, right? So you can grab with one hand, you can grab with both hands, and maybe you lift your chest tall, right? So you stay there, I'm gonna face the side of the room so you can see what this looks like. We started here. You're gonna bring that back leg in, grab it, pull on it. So I feel this through my flexor and my quad. I grab on with both. Now, try to square your shoulders towards the TV or wherever you are, right? So notice how I'm not open here. I'm drawing it forward. The more you can draw your hip forward, the more again, you're gonna feel that hip flexor and your quad. Hold it for three, two, and one, drop it. Come out of it. Opposite foot comes forward. I'm gonna face this way for this entire time so that you can see it, right? So opposite leg comes forward. Knees act right on top of that heel as I press forward, right? So here you might have to widen yourself a little bit. Notice how I'm not going over my toe, right? Staying here, now square those hips, square your shoulders and find a little bit more of that hip. You're also gonna squeeze your glutes to help you out, right? So just say here, now that arm reaches up same arm that is with that leg back, reaches up opposite arm, drops to the ground and you find a side body stretch, right? So you don't wanna hunch forward. You wanna keep your chest tall as you lean over to the side, right? You might be able to drop that heat it all the way down, you might not, and that's okay. Find it for three, two, and one. Both hands come back to the sky, bring 'em down to your knee first. Now you're gonna shift back. Maybe you stay here. Okay, flex that toe back towards your face. You're gonna feel a little bit more through the entire backside. If you're able to lower yourself down a little more, you find more of a deeper hamstring stretch, wherever you're at. Be okay with where you're at and just hold this stretch right here. Breathe through it. Take deep breaths in, deep breaths out. Good if you can walk those hands, maybe a little bit further forward, take deeper stretch. Find what works best in your body today. Three, two, and one. You're gonna come up one more time to that same stacked position, knee right on top of that heel. From here, you're gonna reach back. Okay, if that's an option, if this is all you can do, grab it, hold it. You can also grab a towel to pull it all the way. And now I'm gonna square in my shoulders. Lift up a little bit higher and I'm gonna pull my foot towards my booty as I send my hips forward. Relax your shoulders away from your ears. Again, towel's a great option as you find that stretch and pull for three, two and one. I'm gonna safely drop that foot down. You can come in to a yogi squat position. So you're gonna press with those elbows, knees track wide, sink your booty down. Whoop, find your balance. Good, right here. Just rock from side to side. So we did a lot of hip opening. This is also a hip opener, a chest heart opener right here, rock it side to side, for three, two, and one. Plant your palms, heels point to the back, toes point forward. Now again, just rock your hips from side to side, feeling the hamstrings again, feeling a little bit more of a mobility, right? So this should definitely feel different than maybe the first time you did this earlier today before your workout. You should feel the heart rate coming down. You are in control and they'll point those hands in the center. Take a few deep squats down. Booty goes a bit down and stretch it right back up again, down, breathe through it. Hips go high, send it to the sky, down for two, press it back up. Last one down for two, press it, back up. I want you to walk your feet together so that those heels, ankles, toes come to touch. Fine as long, keep those hamstrings nice and engaged. Just pedal that out from side to side, rock those hips right and left for three, two, one. Straighten both of your knees and your solely. Solely gonna roll one vertebrae at a time to roll up to stand, head is the last thing to come to the top. Just widen those feet just a little bit. We're gonna cool down the upper body as well depending on what you did today. Reach one arm overhead, left arm goes to the sky. You reach over for a side, body bend. Good, right there. Open up those shoulders. So try not to hunch this way. Open it up. If anything, you can also open it back right there. Squeeze three, two, and one. Come back to the center, drop the opposite arm down. Hurry to the opposite arm to the sky, side body bend right here. Good, maybe you look up towards the ceiling, right? Maybe you look straight at the TV, whatever you're looking at. Good, open it up for three, over here for two, one. Come back to heart center. Pull the opposite arm across your chest. Now right here, I want you to drop your shoulder down. So if you just did an upper body workout, this is gonna relax the chest, the shoulders maybe even feel a pull through the bicep, relax those shoulders down, tuck your belly button in, right? That core is still turned on here. Good squeeze and breathe. Now take that same arm. You're gonna bring it up and pull it back behind for a little bit of a tricep stretch right here. So you should be feeling it all the way through the backside of that arm. Dropping it down. Again, if you have a towel, you might wanna grab it and you can pull on it. So if I had a towel in this hand, I can pull it down using that for a little bit of extra support. No towel. Just use your own body right here. You've got three, two and one. Opposite arm comes across the body again. So as you pull, right, you might be here feeling a little bit of the tug in the shoulders, in the chest, that's okay. The more you can pull it in across that body, you're gonna feel bicep. I feel a little bit of bicep right here up and into the upper back into the shoulders. Again, not up here, shoulders relax down, finding that cool down, that stretch. You're almost done team, right? This is really good for you to do no matter whether you came in from a run, a cycle, right? A hit class, whatever you just decided to do, arm goes back by behind your head for that tricep stretch. Again, if you had a towel, you'd grab it into that arm that's going up behind your head. You pull through the opposite arm. No towel, you don't need it. You can use your body. Now pull your belly button in. Ooh, I feel this in the backside of that tricep but chin lifts up a little bit higher. But now relax to flap those arms a few times, right? Maybe a few shoulder rolls. Whatever you just did, you crushed your workout, you just finished your 10 minute. Post a workout stretch, wait to honor your body today. You guys incorporate this through your workouts, right? Week after week, bodies get tight after all the work that you're putting in. Take some time to cool down, to stretch. It's so good for your bodies. We hope you join us next time.
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