First, we need to define some terms.

Let’s give an example of a front kick. If you can only kick to the height of my chest, that is the limit of your mobility. If I grab your foot and then can raise it up to the height of my head before it stops, that is the limit of your flexibility. Make sense? Flexibility has uses, but we are only concerned with mobility. That is the useful range of motion of a joint. This is one of these things that if you don’t use it regularly, you lose it.

I’ve done a lot of this work in the past. Enough to be better than average at my age, but not consistently enough to be where I want.

This practice is specific to me, though you will probably have a lot of the same areas to work on. I like to start with the neck and spine. This area is always stiff and sore for me. Do some simple rotations. Seek out those areas where the movement isn’t smooth or there is pain. Gently work through them and see if they will ease up. I also do the tai chi twist and try to flex my spine in all directions.

Then I work on my wrists and fingers. I work with my hands and they get a lot of abuse. After that, I do some shoulder rotations, grab the pull-up bar, and do some overhead stretching. After that, drop into a deep squat and try to move through all angles of that.

If I am running short on time that morning, I can just do a minute of hanging and a minute of the squat and get most of the benefits.

When I get to the lower body, I’m mostly doing static stretches. Instead of counting seconds, I like to count 5-10 slow, deep breaths. This forces you to be slower and also focus on the breath. I do a Forward lunge hip flexor stretch, then drop back and straighten the front leg to get the hamstring. Repeat 2 or 3 times and switch sides. I do an alternating pigeon stretch, and then a Cossack squat to each side to hit the adductors.

This covers a lot, and done every morning should cause some pretty significant changes. Remember, though, the routine has to be flexible as well. If something pops up that morning that hurts or needs more work, feel free to change things up. If for example, I wake up with an extremely sore neck or shoulder and need to spend the whole session getting it to move with less pain, so be it. That is still a big win.

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