This 31-day body-weight workout challenge will inspire you to move more, no matter your starting point. Get all the details here.
Ever wake up the morning after doing a new or particularly tough workout and feel like you might not be able to get out of bed? That's the perfect time for a mobility session: a slow, gentle workout that takes your joints through their full range of motion while stretching your muscles.
Morit Summers, CPT, creator of Brooklyn-based training studio Form Fitness and host of our New Year, Do You Challenge, created this mobility workout to give your body that chance to recover in between strength-training workouts and to help you move better every day.
"A major reason people have more aches and pains [as they get older] is because they stop moving their bodies and over time they lose some ability to move," she says. "Doing mobility regularly can help keep our bodies moving the way they are intended to move."
If you're doing the challenge, follow the weekly rep scheme below. If you're doing this workout on your own, increase or decrease the reps and sets based on your fitness level.
In between sets and exercises, rest for 20 to 40 seconds. You won't feel fully rested (like you were before your workout) but you should feel ready to tackle the next set.
Reps and Sets Per Exercise
Sets | 90/90 Hip Switch | Cat-Cow | T-Spine Rotation | World's Greatest Stretch | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Week 1 | 2 | 5/side | 5 | 5/side | 5/side |
Week 2 | 3 | 5/side | 5 | 5/side | 5/side |
Week 3 | 3 | 5/side | 5 | 5/side | 5/side |
Week 4 | 4 | 5/side | 5 | 5/side | 5/side |
4 Body-Weight Moves for Better Mobility
The New Year, Do You Challenge is accessible to all fitness levels. That's why we're providing a main move and at least one modification or variation.
In the videos below, you'll see Summers (left) demonstrating the more challenging version of the move and her fellow trainer Keri Harvey, CPT, (right) demonstrating a less challenging or modified version. Some exercises have even more options for upping the difficulty level. Choose the version of the exercise that works best for you.
1. 90/90 Hip Switch
- Sit on the ground with one knee bent in front of you at 90 degrees and one knee bent behind you at 90 degrees (shown on the left).
- Lift both knees up and turn to face the leg behind you, keeping your heels planted on the ground.
- Keep switching back and forth.
Modifications and Variations
To make this move easier, place your hands behind your back to support you (shown in the video on the right). You can also decrease the range of motion, only dropping your knees to the side as far as you can comfortably go.
To make the 90/90 stretch move more challenging, add a hip thrust on each side. After rotating your knees to one side, draw yourself up onto your knees and squeeze your glutes at the top before lowering back down and rotating your knees to the other side.
2. Cat-Cow
- Begin on your hands and knees, as Summers demonstrates on the left.
- Exhale as you round your back, pull your bellybutton toward your spine and tuck your chin toward your chest.
- Starting at your tailbone, release one segment of your spine at a time, relaxing through your lower back, mid-back, upper back and neck as you lift your chin upward.
- Reverse the motion. Be aware of what segments feel stuck. Breathe into these spaces and remember to move slowly. That's 1 rep.
- Continue to move between cat and cow pose, letting your body move with your breath.
Modifications and Variations
If it's more comfortable, you can perform this move while seated (shown in the video on the right). Sit up tall, place your hands on your knees and move between rounding and arching your back with your breath.
3. T-Spine Rotation
- Start on all fours. Lift your right hand toward the sky.
- Rotate through your mid-back to look up as far as you can comfortably go, hand pointing up.
- Twist back down and bring your right arm under your chest and then under your left armpit, keeping your left palm facing upward. The outside of your right arm should be on the ground.
- Return to tabletop. Do all your reps on one side before switching.
Modifications and Variations
If it's more comfortable, you can perform the T-spine rotation stretch lying on your side (shown in the video on the right). Bend your knees to 90 degrees and extend your arms in front of your chest. Open your top arm and reach behind you (or as far as you can go), then return to the start.
4. World's Greatest Stretch
- From a high plank, step your right foot to the outside of your right hand so you’re in a low lunge (as Summers shows on the left).
- Release your right hand and bring your right elbow to the floor.
- Then, twist open to your right side, reaching your right arm toward the ceiling and opening your chest.
- Return to a high plank, then switch sides.
Modifications and Variations
To make the world's greatest stretch a bit more accessible, perform the move from your knees (shown in the video on the right) and only go as deep into the stretch as your flexibility and mobility allow. You should feel a gentle stretch and not a painful pulling.
Follow Along With the Challenge
Use the calendar below to help you stay on track with the New Year, Do You Challenge. Do the workout listed, then check off each day as you complete it. (Get a printer-friendly version here.)
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