Stretches to do while the kettle is boiling

Do you ever feel like you don’t find time in your day for exercise or stretches? Often, we feel that we need to set aside a specific amount of time and then never quite get around to it.

Well, how would you feel if you realised that you can get some stretches and exercises in during your normal daily activities without needing to find any extra time?

There are so many spare moments of time when you can do a quick stretch or exercise during your day. Waiting for the kettle to boil is one of these perfect times.  Depending on the type of kettle you have you can do just 1 each time or more if you’re making tea for lots of people.

Here are 5 simple exercises and stretches that you can do while the kettle boils. You can hold onto the counter for any of these to help manage your balance and support yourself:

Calf Stretch

• • Holding the counter place one foot as far back as you can with a straight leg and your foot flat on the floor, you should feel a stretch in the lower part of the back of your leg as you lean forwards. Make sure your toes are pointing directly forward and not slightly out to the side.

To add a 2^nd stretch in here you can keep the same position but bend your knee – you may need to bring your foot forward a bit to be able to bend your knee – depends on the tension in the 2 different muscles.

Hamstring Stretch

• • Stand with one leg slightly forward and one slightly back – you are stretching the front leg. Keeping the front leg straight bend the back leg and act as if you are going to sit down – you should feel this stretch in the back of your thigh, often around the knee as well. Go as low as you need to feel the stretch.

Heel raises

• • This one is an exercise to strengthen your calves and Achilles tendons, you want to go up onto your toes as high as you can whilst also making sure that your ankles stay straight and don’t roll outwards as this can put unnecessary stress in that area.

Squat

• • When you do a squat, you want to pretend you are going to sit on something behind you, making sure you keep your knees behind your toes so as to not put all the stress on them. A squat strengthens your thigh and buttock muscles.

Thigh Stretch

• • Stretching out the front of the thigh, bend your leg behind you and grasp your foot with your same side hand. Bringing the foot closer to your buttock increases the stretch in the thigh and if you then want to also bring the knee backwards you can stretch up into your hip at the front. If you bring the knee backwards make sure not to stick your abdomen forward at the same time as this reduces the stretch. This stretch can be adapted if you can’t reach your foot but you’ll need some equipment for that.

Happy stretching everyone, if you would like more information about stretches, exercise and how Chiropractic care could help improve your well-being please contact me here.