Spinal Mobility & Back Stretches is a feel good mobility workout from Julia Reppel. Though the focus is the spine, your shoulders and hips will get stretched and mobilized as well. I did this workout in combination with one of Julia’s more intense workouts: Bulletproof Spine. This worked perfectly to cool me down, and since it combines mobility with dynamic flexibility, it also stretched me out.
The exercises are done interval style; each exercise is done for 45 seconds followed by a 12 second recovery. There is a timer in the lower left hand corner of the screen counting down the intervals and recoveries. During the recovery Julia demonstrates the next exercise. During the preview Julia shows alternative versions of some of the exercises. There is also a progress bar in the upper right hand corner of the screen counting down the workout time.
Spinal Mobility & Back Stretches is 21:13 minutes. Equipment: fitness mat.
- Butterfly sit neck circles (sit in butterfly pose, hands holding ankles and circle head/heck)
- Shin grab cat-cow circles (sit on mat with knees bent and feet on mat, hands holding ankles, draw circles with spine, arching and rounding)
- Supine 90-90 > Alternating T spine sweep (lay on back on mat, start with knees bent, feet on mat and arms open to sides in a T, both knees drop to one side while sweeping one arm overhead and to other side to meet opposite hand, return to start then repeat on other side)
- Alternating pendulum (same starting position as #3, arms will stay open in T the entire interval, let legs drop to side then sweep top leg out straight and to side, return to start and repeat on other side)
- Alternating supine twist > SL baby (lay on back, one leg is extended straight, bend one knee and hold bottom of foot with same side hand in half/single leg happy baby, then bring same bent leg across body into a supine spinal twist)
- Repeat #5 on other leg
- T-spine opener (supine spinal twist, one bent leg is crossed over to other side of body, opposite hand holds knee, other arm is open to side with elbow bent)
- Repeat #7 on other side of body
- Child’s pose > Alternating arm sweep (start in child’s pose then sweep one arm under you into thread the needle, return to child’s pose and repeat on other side)
- Cat-cow variation (start on hands and knees, round spine in cat then lower to elbows/forearms and arch spine into cow)
- Alternating kneeling T-spine rotation (start in child’s pose, extend one arm under body thread the needle style but bend arm, elbow on mat and hand raised to ceiling, other hand clasps fist with elbow raised to ceiling, twist spine while looking toward ceiling, alternate sides)
- T-spine flexion > rotation (on knee and one forearm/elbow, other hand is behind head, open elbow to ceiling then lower elbow under body reaching it toward opposite knee)
- T-spine CARS (kneel on mat, arms are crossed over chest with hands holding opposite shoulders, draw big spine circles leading with elbows)
- Rounded squat > arch (start in deep yogi squat with arms extended in front of you and hands on mat with spine rounded, shift forward dropping knees to mat and arching spine in cow)
- Screwdriver (kneeling on mat, extend arms out to sides in a T, rotate wrists/elbows in opposition to each other, shift/lean torso to side that palm faces ceiling)
- Deep lunge + 2 way reach (in deep kneeling lunge, reach one arm to ceiling then behind you, looking behind you, repeat on other arm)
- Repeat #16 on other side of body
- 90-90 sit > T spine rotation (sit with both legs bent at 90 degrees and open in pretzel, place one hand on mat, other arm reaches to ceiling then thread it under other armpit thread the needle style)
- Repeat #18 on other side of body
- Diagonal spinal wave (flow between child’s pose and cobra, as you round in and out of poses, angle outward on a diagonal)
- Alternating cobra lift up (cobra pose with one leg bent to side, alternate legs as you raise in and out of cobra)
- Up dog sliders (in cobra/up dog, rotate hips side to side)
For more info on Julia Reppel and other (free) streaming workouts I’ve sampled and reviewed, check out my Streaming page.
