Just the other day I watched a kid sitting on his knees, bouncing up and down on a hard floor. Just watching him made me cringe because I thought to myself, “My knees would probably just snap in half if I did that.” As we start to get older we notice our body gets more aches and pains than it used to when we were younger…we can’t do the same things we used to. A lot of us chalk that up to the aging process but we can’t use that excuse for everything. The truth is, a majority of people take less care of themselves as they get older because it requires much more work than when we were a kid.

It is extremely important to keep up with daily stretches and muscle strengthening. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to a be able to do a split or squat two times your body weight. Just little exercises each day can help keep you healthy all over. Stretching helps with range of motion, stiffness and even helps with tension linked to stress. Muscle strengthening helps relieve stress on your joints and the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism…which means the quicker that burrito you had for lunch will burn off. Here are a few simple stretches that can keep you feeling healthy! Feel like you need some help with safe strengthening exercises? Come in and see us for a FREE SCREEN and we can help you with some easy, house friendly exercises!

**Stretch the muscle until you feel a strong pull but you should always feel comfortable. Stretching should never hurt!

From Shape Magazine: