Exercise

Forward Fold with a Twist

Physiotherapist Charissa Fermelis shares a stretch for your legs, hips, waist and shoulders.

Written by Charissa Fermelis

How to

  1. Step your feet wide apart and press the whole of each foot firmly into the ground. Aim your sitting bones high in the air as you fold your body in half at the hip joints. Lengthen your spine from head to tail to create space for your ribs to move.
  2. Reach your right arm towards your left foot and hold firmly around the outside of the arch as an anchor.
  3. Use your free arm to reach up to the ceiling, feeling a generous twist through the trunk and chest.

Tips

Our bodies are made up of hundreds of intricate joints that allow us to move in many directions. When we don’t use all of this flexibility, our joints get stiffer and our muscles get weaker and tighter. Twisting the body helps to mobilise the rib cage and improves lung function.

Stretch out your whole body with the be. Stretching Guide.

Written by Charissa Fermelis

Charissa Fermelis is a physiotherapist, Pilates practitioner and Director of Grounded Movement in Melbourne.

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