5 essential stretches you should be doing every day, according to an expert

Date:
Wed, 10 Dec 2025 18:53:57 +0000

Description:
Tight hips, sore shoulders or a stiff back don't have to be a daily reality. These expert-approved, no-fuss moves will help you boost mobility, reduce
pain and smooth out any sign of tech neck

FULL STORY ======================================================================The Fit List The corner of the TechRadar site that swaps processors for press-ups,
The Fit List is our regular series of fitness listicles. We explore how to improve your health in a sedentary world of technology, all in handy
bite-size pieces of advice. You can read the whole series here .

Ever heard of tech neck? Its the colloquialism for chronic neck and
upper-back pain caused by looking downward at your smartphone or computer for an extended period of time. But its far from the only side-effect of life lived in the digital age.

Spend long enough in a certain position and you may also develop rounded shoulders, where the chest muscles tighten and the upper back weakens from hours spent hunched over a laptop or keyboard (even the best keyboards ,
which are generally more ergonomic), or desk-bound lower-back stiffness; the dull, persistent ache that comes from sitting for too long with poor posture and little core engagement.

Individually, these issues can feel like minor irritations, but together they contribute to a body thats tighter, more fatigued and far less mobile than it should be. The good news? A short routine of smart, targeted stretches can help undo the damage of long workdays and even longer screen time. Use one of these stretches whenever you get a movement alert on your smartwatch (and you can check out our best smartwatches guide for our current top picks), and
reap the benefits accordingly.

To advise, I recruited the help of Tom Hall , a specialist in one-to-one and online coaching for performance across a range of disciplines. Here are his five essential movements. Half-kneeling spinal flow

A post shared by Dr. Matt Wiest (@dr.matt_tcom)

A photo posted by on

Thoracic-spine mobility helps you rotate, reach, and lift more freely, reducing the strain that often gets dumped into the lower back and neck when the mid-back is stiff. Not only that, it also supports better posture and easier breathing, both of which make everyday movements feel smoother and
less fatiguing.

One of the biggest places that gets locked up is your T-spine, that controls almost everything that happens in your back, Hall explains. Its [responsible for] lots of flexion, rotation and extension, so starting to move your
T-spine allows you to feel more mobile. Take it easy and make sure youre breathing and exhaling throughout. Adductor hip rocks

Strong, mobile adductors around your hips make everyday movement feel a whole lot smoother, from walking up stairs to sinking into a deep squat without everything pulling tight.

Keeping this area supple also helps your hips stay stable and powerful, which pays off whether youre training hard with barbell squats, or just trying to get through a long day in an office or gaming chair without feeling creaky.

Youre going into your adductor on one side and almost a squat pattern on the other, with a little bit of knee flexion, says Hall. Rock backwards and forwards into the base of your squat position, trying to keep your back nice and straight. Just don't bend that leg.

"You can turn this all the way into a little push-up if you want to.
Supported hip airplanes

A post shared by Squat University (@squat_university)

A photo posted by on

Supported hip airplanes combine mobility and stability in one fell swoop meaning your hips can move more freely, while you also learn to control that movement as you progress.

As Hall puts it, its more of a mobility and stability exercise start this
off supported with a point of contact [such as a bar, as demonstrated in the video above] to open up your hip and move it around.

We can unlock the base of our pelvis and the hip 'capsule', which allows us
to have the mobility that our back doesnt. Doing this regularly helps with walking, bending and balance, and can reduce any nagging back niggles that come from stiff, underused hips. Couch stretch with lateral flexion

A post shared by Ben Bealey Performance Coaching (@benbealey_performancecoaching)

A photo posted by on

The couch stretch with lateral flexion is a powerful static stretch for
anyone who spends too much time sitting, because it targets the hip flexors and quads two areas that get chronically tight.

Hall explains that you should contract your glute really hard, so that it pulls on your hip flexor youre going to feel your hip flexor going into your quad, and youll get a quad stretch no matter what.

He adds that you dont need to dive straight into the deepest version: Use progression you dont have to go full-on and have your knee or shin flush to the wall.

Once youve found your position, he suggests adding upper-body movements: Try reaching overhead or to the side, which will give an increased oscillation stretch, helping to tug the top of your pelvis. This combo helps open up the front of the hips, improve posture and counteract the tightness that comes from long hours in a chair. Push back push up

The push-back push-up isnt a pure stretch so much as a full-body mobility drill, which Hall says most people need more of: we probably dont move enough in the real world.

Think of it as a yoga-style spinal flow: as you push back, you lengthen through the lats, shoulders and T-spine, then move into a hamstring or downward-dog-type stretch before sweeping forward into a push-up. Its a
simple way to mobilise and wake up the entire upper body.

Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the
Follow button!

And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/health-fitness/5-essential-stretches-you-should-be-d oing-every-day-according-to-an-expert


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)