It’s been a while since Jessica Smith has uploaded a new workout to YouTube–but she uploaded one yesterday. Since it is a recovery level workout and today is my recovery/rest day, I decided to work it in. Mobility Exercises is exactly what the title indicates–a mobility workout. But unlike mobility workouts I have done by other trainers (Mark Lauren and Cathe Friedrich), this is very gentle and feel good. Jessica takes every joint in your body through a full range of motion–but nothing aggressive. You will feel really good by the end of this. Because you are working mobility you are also getting flexibility work.
At the beginning Jessica says you can use this as a warm up before doing another workout. But seriously–who does a 23 minute warm up before doing strength or cardio? I never do 23 minute warm ups–except on my recovery days and those are an entirely different type of warm up. For instance, before doing this mobility workout this morning, I warmed up with one of Naomi Joy‘s 24 minute rebounder tabata workouts. I do that so that all of my muscles and joints are nicely warmed up for stretching and mobility work. But on a normal workout day (strength or cardio), my warm ups are 10 minutes max, usually closer to 5 minutes.
I am really glad Jessica is back doing YouTube workouts! This is a perfect recovery day, feel good workout.
Mobility Exercises is 23:47 minutes. Equipment: fitness mat.
- Standing on mat, rotate head side to side looking over shoulder
- Shoulder circles
- Hug yourself, rounding back (hands are on opposite shoulders); open arms wide on a diagonal (one arm high, the other arm low); continue alternating these two movements
- Single arm shoulder roll, circling the arm
- With hands on hips, circle hips
- In split stance, shift forward raising back heel then shift back rising toes of front foot stretching calf, continue shifting back and forth
- Stand with legs wide, hinge forward with hands on knees, standing cat/cow
- Still hinged forward with one hand on knee, raise other arm up to ear level, thumb facing ceiling then lower it; let arm hang down and circle the arm (stir the pot)
- Get on hands and knees, raise heels of palms off floor then lower them (keeping fingers on floor the entire time); changes to raising the fingers while keeping the heels of your palm on the floor; raise entire palm so that only the fingertips are on the floor
- With knees wide and feet together, lower glutes to heels, one hand is on floor, other hand is behind head, open elbow to ceiling then lower
- On hands and knees, do hip circles with knee bent; place opposite hand on shoulder (continue circling bent leg)
- Cat/cow
- Repeat #11 on other side of body
- Sit on bottom with knees bent and feet on floor, one hand is on floor beside hip, reach other arm overhead and to side, reaching on a diagonal, alternate sides; continue this move but raise hips so you are in crab/reverse table top when reaching hand on a diagonal and lower bottom back to floor when changing sides
- Lay on back, one knee bent with foot on floor, raise other leg with knee bent at 90 degrees with foot flexed, bend knee bringing heel of flexed foot to hamstring; place heel on floor, keeping foot flexed, squeezing hamstring and calf and pulling it back along floor
- Same position as #15 but extend one leg to ceiling, foot still flexed while pushing both hands against quad then bend knee, releasing tension
- Still laying on back, knees bent and feet on floor, squeeze inner thighs together then release
- Lay on side with knees bent in front of you and both arms extended straight in front of you with palms together, open top arm, reaching it overhead then to floor, twisting spine so shoulders are flat on mat, keeping legs stationary then close arms again; continue opening and closing arms, doing spinal twists
- Still laying on side with knees bent, head is resting on bent arm, open and close top knee keeping feet together
- Lay on back, legs raised with knees bent at 90 degrees, pressing hands against quads and pressing quads back against hands then release
- Repeat #17
- Repeat #18 & 19 on other side of body
- Repeat #20
- Get on hands and knees, extend on leg straight behind you with toes on floor, circle foot/heel/ankle around
- Downward facing dog, pedaling feet
- Stand with hands on small of back and arch/extend spine
- Deep breath, reaching arms overhead
For more info on JessicaSmithTV and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
