DIY Mobility - Animal (Movement) Snack Flow
Well folks, Joey may have outdone herself and also eaten too many animal crackers at the same time….hard to say.
Along the same vein of movement snacks and micro workouts to break up your day, as well as get in needed training and motion; we bring you a fun little animal “flow” to try out this week. This one uses some common animal flow movements for the entire body to get you feeling reenergized and little more supple from head to toe.
Try this during a, 5-10 minutes break. Bonus if you get it in a couple times in one day. You can keep this simple and just do :20-:30 per movement and do it a few times through or spend a little longer in each flow.
As mentioned in our previous movement snack article, if you get 3-5 minutes of motion every 1-2 hours, that makes up almost 20-60 minutes of extra movement every single day which really adds up!
Joey goes nice and slow so you can try and follow along as these can be tricky when you first start. Have patience and have fun.
Animal Snacks?
While the idea of animal crackers (?) may pop into your mind, this movement snack is geared towards animal flow movements we often use in our warm-ups, cool downs and recovery flows.
Animal flow often “flows” from one all-fours based ground movement to another in a somewhat seemless transition that will mimic a particular animal motion. There is actually a whole movement paradigm for animal flow that is worth googling, but here Joey takes some liberty and explores to blend her own. Not all movements are based on the ground or all-four, but most are and will use the “beast position” (all fours with shoulders over hands and knees hovering above ground) as a transition.
We also really like these and use them as standalone movement snacks since they tend to involve the whole body, make you use your brain and coordinate a little more, and get the heart rate up while improving rage of motion more than just passive static stretches.
Movement Snack Rundown:
Down Dog to Seal Stretch: This sequence combines the benefits of both poses: stretching and strengthening the back, shoulders, and legs in Downward-Facing Dog, and deeply stretching the front body and lower back in Seal Pose.
Bear Sit to Crab Reach: Full-Body Workout: This transition engages multiple muscle groups like the previous, including core, shoulders, hips, and legs. Mobility and Flexibility: Enhances joint mobility and muscle flexibility, particularly in the hips, shoulders, and spine. Feel the diagonal front side stretch as you coordinate and balance through the hips and shoulders side to side.
Pigeon To Butterfly Stretch: Hip Targeting: Both motions target the hip area, improving flexibility and rotational capacity of the hips.
Scorpion To Frog Stretch: Both poses target the shoulders and spine as well as the hips and lower back. There is some control that needs to happen through the hips and shoulders as you transition as well.
More Animals? Feel free to take some liberties and explore as you go or add on.
These animal mimicking motions do more than just improve range of motion, as they also promote body awareness and wake up the brain. They are an excellent way to break up your day.
Get to Snacking/Flowing…
Start integrating these “animal” movement snacks into your daily routine as you can with many other forms of movement. Doing this every day will be certain to impact how you feel and move as a whole, especially if you are prone to sitting a lot during the day for work. Also note that there is not a definitive routine you must do, and one very cool thing about animal flows is you can make up your own and your own transitions. It’s very much about exploring your body and what feels good. SO…Do what feels good and see what you can find out. If you end up trying this one out or perhaps making up your own, send us a message or maybe even a clip and let us know! As always, Keep it moving…
Interested in learning new ways to maximize your mobility or perhaps some expert hands to help you with any current or ongoing issues? Book your first appointment with a 15% discount here using code MT15.
We will be back again soon with more DIY recovery, mobility and massage; but if you have a specific issue or area you would like to see us cover in one of these- as always- let us know. We want to make sure we find topics that help YOU!