How to Add Stretching and Breathing Exercises into Your Daily Fitness Training

Stretching and breathing go hand in hand. In fact, instead of timing each stretch, hold it for 2-3 breath cycles. Since breathing is the first and last thing we do on this Earth, it makes sense to be good at it for all our breaths in between. Here is a question from a retired Navy commander working on both breathing and moving better while he works hard in career No. 2:

Stew. Could you share your thoughts on adding breathing and stretching exercises into a daily routine? I see your mobility day posts and articles and am working on adding breathing skills, stretching, and easy cardio to my busy day. Thanks, Will

Will, those are great questions. We should add regulated breathing patterns to our stretching and use intentional breathing to improve our lives with improved strength training, steady-pace cardio, better sleep and stress reduction. The mobility days have been life-changing for many, including myself. You can perform a full mobility day by repeating the following:

Repeat five times.

• Any cardio activity for five minutes.
• Stretching for five minutes.

For each set of stretches, you can get intentional with the region you choose to stretch and hold the stretches and movements for 2-3 breathing cycles. For instance, try this for each of the stretching sets:

Set 1: Start with the feet, ankles, calves and shins (below the knee). Massage the soles of the feet with a tennis or lacrosse ball. Then work up the leg by moving the ankles and stretching the calves and shins. Incorporate four- to five-second inhales into the nose and four- to five-second exhales through the mouth.

Set 2: Work the region between the knees and hips by stretching, massaging and foam rolling the thighs and hamstrings. Incorporate four- to five-second inhales into the nose and four- to five-second exhales through the mouth.

Set 3: Focus on the hips and lower back with basic stretches and movements to work the hips through complete ranges of motion and massage the lower back. Incorporate four- to five-second inhales into the nose and four- to five-second exhales through the mouth.

Set 4: Focus on the torso from the lower back, abdominal muscles and chest into the shoulder girdle. Hanging, stretching and foam rolling while deeply inhaling and exhaling will result in a pleasant, relaxed feeling as tightness starts to subside.

Set 5: For the final set of the workout, stretch your arms, shoulders and any other tight areas. Continue to focus on breathing through all these movements and stretches.

A reminder: The cardio that interrupts these five-minute segments of moving and stretching is meant to keep the body warm and ready to stretch. Adjusting cardio activities from walking, biking, rowing and using the elliptical machine can help the body stay warm as you work through the body from the feet to the neck.

You can also do shorter, quicker versions of the Mobility Day as an end-of-the-workout cooldown. Repeat the above steps only 2-3 times, depending on the muscles worked in the day's workout.

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