Fierce 14 Day 5: Active Recovery // Full Body Stretch + Mobility

Active Recovery // Full Body Stretch + Mobility is Day 5 in Heather Robertson‘s Fierce 14 program. I plan to do the majority of her Fierce 14 workouts, but I will not be doing them in order (and I won’t start doing the rest of them until January). This is an excellent, feel good recovery workout. Heather gives you everything in this workout: flexibility/stretching, mobility work and even some body weight strength work (though not a lot and nothing intense). This was exactly what I needed after a tough Beastmode Week. I used one of Naomi Joy‘s recovery level rebounder workouts to warm myself up then I finished with this feel good workout. Unlike the majority of Heather’s other workouts, this is done voice over. Heather leads you through a relaxing series of flexibility and mobility exercises. Many of the moves are done more than once but in the break down below I only list the exercise once even though you may flow through it several times before moving on to the next exercise in the breakdown.

Active Recovery // Full Body Stretch + Mobility is 30:55 minutes. Equipment: fitness mat.

1. Sit cross-leg on mat and do head rolls
2. Shoulder rolls
3. Still sitting cross-leg, place one hand on mat beside hip and reach other arm overhead and to opposite side into a side stretch; lower to elbow and hold, other arm reaches behind back then returns overhead, reaching to opposite side in side stretch
4. Crouch on the mat, weight on the balls of the feet and back rounded, bringing nose to knees; straighten legs so that you are in forward fold–continue flowing between these two moves, crouching and forward fold
5. Forward fold with ankles/calves crossed
6. Standing side bend stretch, flowing side to side
7. Deep yoga squat
8. Wide leg forward fold with hands behind head; shift torso to one side, holding ankle with both hands
9. Clasp hands together behind back, reaching them to floor to stretch shoulders/chest; hinge forward, reaching clasped hands to ceiling
10. Kneel on mat with tops of feet on floor, glutes on heels, lean torso back; lean forward and change foot position so toes are on floor, place glutes on heels again and lean torso back again–continue to alternate these two positions (feet flexibility/mobility)
11. Forward fold with hands holding opposite elbow, swing upper body slowly side to side
12. Standing quad stretch; hinge forward into dancer’s pose
13. Bend one arm overhead into a tricep stretch while also leaning torso to side
14. Downward facing dog; flow forward into up dog–continue flowing between up dog an down dog
15. Cobra, looking over one shoulder
16. Lay on stomach, arms extended in front of you with thumbs to sky, sweep arms down to sides, bending elbows and bringing thumbs together behind back, return arms to start–continue flowing through this motion
17. Cat/cow
18. Bird dog pose, alternate sides
19. Still on hands and knees, do wrist stretches
20. Kneel on mat and clasp hands, rotating wrists; with palms/forearms pressed together, bend wrists side to side
21. Extend one arm straight in front of you and pull fingers back toward you with other hand
22. Scapular push up (in straight arm plank, do scapular retractions, lowering chest while keeping arms straight and bringing shoulder blades together then rounding spine)
23. Child’s pose; reach arms to one side of mat
24. Downward facing dog, pedal feet
25. Kneeling lunge, shifting forward; reach arms in front of you then lift knee off ground so you are in lunge; continue flowing between kneeling lunge and high lunge
26. Return to kneeling lunge, place one hand on floor beside front foot and rotate torso toward front leg, reaching other arm to ceiling; wrap arm that was reaching for ceiling behind back
27. Sit on mat with legs bent into a Z or pretzel position (one leg bent in front of you and one leg bent behind you, sole of front foot against thigh of back leg), arms are raised to shoulder level with hands clasped in front of you, raise glutes so you are on knees then lower glutes back to mat; continue raising and lowering glutes
28. Seated figure 4 pose with hands on mat behind hips
29. Lay on back on mat with knees bent and feet on floor close to glutes, raise both arms to ceiling and raise hips into bridge
30. Plow pose
31. Lay on back with knees pulled into chest and hands on shins, rock side to side; hold knees with legs still bent and circle knees/hips in opposition
32. Lying spinal twist
33. Repeat #29
34. Corpse pose

For more info on Heather Robertson’s workouts and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.