Coach Zoe Living a sedentary lifestyle? Don’t let it affect your health. Do these SIMPLE stretches and exercises when you are sitting all day.
Can sitting too much hurt your hips?
Over time, any repetitive movement or position can cause our bodies to get out of whack. So yes, sitting falls into that category.
Other than lack of activity, it seems kind of weird that something so natural can be so damaging to our bodies. But it’s not because sitting itself is bad.
It’s just that sitting all day, nonstop, for days, weeks, or even years can really add up. Mostly, in the form of muscular imbalance.
A muscular imbalance is when a muscle (more often a muscle group) is over or under active. This can pull our posture out of alignment.
In my experience, imbalances can also cause spasms. Or chronic discomfort and ache from surrounding muscles that are lacking support or being forced to compensate.
Chronic aches and pains can be demotivating when it comes to workouts. Exercising can feel like the last thing you want to do when your body hurts.
How can I reverse the effects of sitting all day
In order for our bodies to stay in a position, our muscular system has to be working. Maybe not very hard, but our muscles are working.
Some are contracted and some are lengthened. When we sit (in a chair and in a “normal” position), our hip flexors and hamstrings are contracted/shortened while our glutes and quads are lengthened.
So what we need to do is activate/strengthen those underactive and lengthened muscles then relax/lengthen the overactive and tight muscles. This approach is called corrective exercise.
Corrective exercise is used to improve movement patterns and realign posture. Some exercises are not specifically corrective, but when used with proper programming, you can create a corrective workout.
This is great when you are new to making your own workouts. Although I have a great Lower Body Corrective Workout if you want a simple workout to follow that’s illed with exercises and stretches for sitting all day.
Plus, I have a Functional/Corrective Workout Playlist on YouTube you can try too!
The same way that all those hours of sitting can add up to hurt your body, hours of new daily habits can add up to help your body.
Start by standing and walking as often as you can. Stand at your desk. Taking a walk break every hour. Parking farther. Taking the stairs. Watch TV standing for an episode. Eat standing. Whatever way you can fit it in!
What are the best exercises and stretches for sitting all day?
The best stretches are pigeon stretch, runner’s stretch, a forward fold and cobra stretch because they elongate the hip flexors, pectorals, and abdominals. All the muscles that that spend the most time shortened while sitting, especially if you work at a desk.
You can do the pigeon and runner’s stretches on the ground or elevate yourself on a chair for more control and/or depth.
A simple and very effective stretch that is good for targeting the hamstrings is a forward fold. Start by standing in a staggered stance and hinging forward from the hips to a depth that is good for your mobility. The key is to maintain a flat and long spine so the hamstrings stay the targeted group.
As far as exercises, we want to focus on activating the lumbar erectors, glutes, and quads with movements like back extensions, squats, glute bridges, glute kickbacks, and fire hydrants.
The squat targets both the quads and the glutes, just at different times of the movement. The others really isolate the glutes and external rotators.
That’s because when we are seated, we tend to draw our knees together with internal rotation.
How much exercise for a sedentary lifestyle
As. Much. As. Possible. Well, to a degree. Obviously I don’t mean you have to live in the gym now. But squeeze it in whenever you can.
Do your best to get 20 to 30 minutes of exercise or a workout in most days out of the week. Figure out what works for you and make those small changes. Soon you won’t feel like you are sitting all day long.
Especially for new moms, all that nursing/feeding/burping leads to A LOT of sitting and broken posture. Apply these stretches everyday and check out my post, 7 Postpartum Habits To Avoid For Better Posture After Pregnancy to see if you can make any other little changes for a big difference!
