15-Minute Lymphatic Drainage Workout (All Standing, No Equipment)

If you want to boost lymphatic flow and your morning energy, this routine is for you. It's all standing, no repeats and no equipment. And it's going to help your body feel lighter. You can do this routine daily. So let's jump in. All right, you guys. I'm Lindsey Bomgren of Nourish with Love, and today is extra special because, as you can see, I'm joined by not Rachel or Caroline. We have a new guest on set today, and her name is Kelly. Kelly and I are in a women's business circle together, and Kelly has her own YouTube channel. She's an amazing expert, a physical therapist. I'm going to let you introduce yourself, Kelly.

Yeah. So I'm Kelly Sturm. I own Cancer Rehab pt. I have been a physical therapist for 12 years, and I specialize in lymphedema or the lymphatic system, as well as in oncology.

I love it. So it was so fun. Kelly's been part of our live Q and A's that we've done here on YouTube, but I wanted to bring her on set because we've been getting asked about lymphatic drainage and exercise. And so I was like, let's do an exercise routine that's specific for lymphatic flow.

And.

And I wanted to bring in the big guns. So we've got an expert on set today. She's going to talk about all things lymphatic drainage as we move through this workout. But we're going to go ahead and jump in. We have a variety of exercises for you today. Around 15 exercises. We're going to do all body weight, all standing. We're going to do each exercise for around 40 seconds, and then we'll just walk in between. A great way to get your steps in, a great way to start your morning. So you're just going to need your body weight today, and we're going to go ahead and jump in. There's no warmup. We're just going to get right to to the exercises. So we're going to start with our feet shoulder width, distance apart. Exercise one is just going to be some deep360 breathing with some arm sweeps to get us moving. So it's going to be a big inhale, reach up, exhale, arms, fall at your sides. Inhale, reach up, exhale, arms, follow your sides. Now you can slightly make this a little bit bigger. Exhale, add a little knee bend. Big inhale, reach, exhale, knee bend. So you can make it bigger and bigger as you start to get that blood flowing and warm up. Right. So the main goal here is to increase our circulation, move through our lymphatic system, which, Kelly, like, can you just, like, for us who are not as well versed as you, like, what is our lymphatic system?

Yeah, your lymphatic system is really important. A lot of people don't talk about it, but it is part of your immune system. So all of your blood goes through your arteries from your heart down, and some of that blood comes back to your heart from the veins, but some of that comes out and your lymphatic system takes it back up. So it's a way to just detoxify or just get rid of any foreign bodies, illnesses. It's just a way to help keep your body healthy.

So keep our bodies healthy, keep our immune systems healthy. All right, we are going to move on to exercise two. We're going to do some simple neck rolls. If you want, you can steady your feet and just go side to side. So just dropping ear to shoulder. Ear to shoulder. You can go halfway, or you can make it big and go all the way up and around. You get to decide if you would like to add a little bit more movement here. You can try and do neck rolls as you march in place a little bit, or add a little walk, kind of like a rub your belly, pat your head feels a little bit harder to do. We'll do about three more neck rolls here. One, two, and three. And then we can just go back to that walking in place. We're just going to get our steps in, and we're going to keep that blood flow moving throughout today's workout. We're going to go back to the upper body. We're going to think about opening our chest and then rounding through the spine in a standing way. You can go big. Inhale, arms open, exhale, collapse, and round. Inhale, arms open, chest expands. Exhale, collapse, and round. So open and down. Nice work. So like a little cat. Cow. So major lymphatic points in the body, what are they?

Yeah, you have major lymph nodes that are in your abdomen. You have them near your collarbone or your clavicle, by your ears, under your armpits, and then in your groin area, your main lymph nodes.

All right, there we go. So we're going to hit all of those main hot spots today. Throughout today's workout. Right here, we're hitting a little bit of those under your armpit ones, especially

opening up the chest.

Right.

A lot of lymph Nodes, and a lot of lymph fluid comes back in around that up in the middle of the chest there. Nice.

Okay, last one close and open. Let's go back to, like, a walk in place. You can just keep that blood flowing. All right, we're going to go back and we're going to. We're going to stay on those armpit lymph nodes, and we're going to start by doing like a chicken wing. So take your hands to your shoulders if this is comfortable for you, and then you're going to do some shoulder circles or shoulder rolls from this position. So placing your hands on your shoulders is just really going to force you to make that big circle with your elbow and really get that shoulder going through a full range of motion. But opening up that armpit where those lymph nodes are living. Nice work. Awesome job, you guys. It's really fun to have Kelly on set. I know. We actually had Britney on set with us. She's one of our members who was in a workout with us. She's a breast cancer survivor. And that's really your area of expertise is working with cancer patients? Kelly.

Absolutely. I know.

Yeah. We have a lot of people in our audience who have been there. And so if that's you, I highly, highly suggest checking out Kelly's YouTube channel or going to link it in the description below. Obviously, you can all go check out Kelly's channel. She's super knowledgeable, especially if you want to learn more about the lymphatic system. She's got some great exercises as well as resources, and they're all free on her YouTube channel. So go ahead and check that out. Okay, now we're going to stick with this march in place. So option is you can stick here. You can just stick with, like a walk in place, a march in place. If it feels comfortable for you, you can make those knees a little bit higher. Or if you really want to add a little bit and wake up that circulation, you can add a little rebound with like a little skip, skip, skip. Right. So you can add a little bound here if it feels good for you. Great way to wake up the circulation in that lower body and upper body. And it's true. Right? Like, this is why I. Well, I love calf raises regardless. Great for knee health, but calf raise, your calves are literally like your second heart.

Yeah. They do pump a lot of fluid, especially if you think about gravity. By the end of the day, all the fluid wants to sit by your feet. So it's the best muscle to get things moving. Back up towards the heart.

I love it. Yeah. So if you're feeling, especially during pregnancy, you feel like that ankle swelling, Right? This is good for that. Okay, we'll go four, three, two, one. Okay, so now we're going to really focus on those calves that we just talked about. We're going to do a calf raise with an overhead reach. So as you lift your heels off the ground, can you reach your arms overhead and then lower with control? Reach and lower with control. So calves are pumping the blood back towards our heart. Every step we take when we're running. Every calf raise. Every calf raise. It's really a great way. Keep that blood flowing. Nice. Up and down. Nice. Awesome job, you guys. Then we're gonna move from here and we're gonna go into opening our thoracic area. Your spine, which is a major lymph hub as well. Correct.

Absolutely.

Nice. Let's do two more here. Big reach, up and down. Last one. Big reach, up and down. Okay, so now we're gonna go into a good morning. So we're gonna take our hands behind our head, Soft bend in those knees, hinge at the hips, stand tall, and once you get to the top, this is where we're opening up our thoracic spine and then bring it back. So hinging at the hips, stand tall, and then a big rotation through that spine to open everything up. Nice work. Awesome job. Push those hips back, stand tall. Big rotation to open. Nice. About how long of movement or how much movement do you need to improve circulation and wake up the lymphatic system?

I think more than doing more, it's more about consistency. So instead of sitting for eight hours a day, it's, can you get up for five, ten minutes every hour and just move your body? That's more more beneficial than anything else.

Okay, good to know. Those small little micro movement breaks, we love them. Okay, let's do one more here. Awesome job. Nice. Okay, now we're going to add a little, like side to side movement. We're going to rotate through that torso. The abdomen, which we know is where some of our lymphatic system is as well. So we're going to do a big sweep and reach. Sweep and reach. So think about. Your toes are going to follow your hips as your hip rotates, that back toe is going to follow. Big sweep and reach, rotating through that torso. Big arm sweep. Nice. Arm sweep and reach. Arm sweep and reach. Awesome job, you guys. A great just like daily morning routine, too. To just like or like a micro movement break. Like you were Talking about middle of your work day. Open things up, hunch over that computer. Nice work. We're going to do one more each way. Reach and reach. We can go back to that. Walk in place. And then we're gonna go to some hamstring scoops. So hitting the back side of our legs and our hips. So you're just gonna go right, toes up towards the ceiling, big scoop and reach. Now we're gonna go left, toes up towards the ceiling, big scoop and reach. So throughout this workout, we're seeing a lot of big scoop and reaches, a lot of overhead reaches. Like, why is that so important, really?

We just want big muscles to move. So using as much of your body, large movements is going to get the most bang for your buck, because that's how your lymphatic system works. You just want muscle activation throughout your body.

Right. Okay. And so I feel like it's becoming. Lymphatic drainage has really grown in popularity.

Yes.

And so for, like, the average individual, if I'm doing daily movement exercise, am I getting that? Am I getting those benefits?

Absolutely. There's nothing more important or natural for your lymphatic system other than just to move your body. It doesn't have to be anything specific. Find something that you enjoy doing that you will do consistently, and keep going.

Big fan of the consistency. Right. Like, that's the piece is just find what you enjoy that gets your body moving. Okay, now we're going to go into an opposite leg and arm. So we're going to go both arms overhead. As I lift my right knee, I'm going to pull down on that left arm, and then I'm going to go back to neutral and then switch. So it's a big pull down, squeeze, reach, pull down, squeeze, reach. Again, like Kelly just talked about, we're trying to get the big muscle groups moving. Right? That's what we're doing here. Big muscle groups are moving. That's what we're doing. Pull down. Nice. Activating our core and getting the legs, the arms both moving together. Nice work. Awesome job. Let's go for four, three, two, and one. Great. Okay, now we're gonna go into a squat with a hip open. We talked about living the lymph nodes living in our groin. So we're gonna open those up. So we're gonna do a squat, and then I see a big hip circle to the right. Then you're gonna do another squat. Big hip circle on the left this time. If you need to, you could always grab a chair or a countertop for A little bit of balance support here for going for a squat with a big hip open to target those lymph nodes in our growing. Nice work, guys. Let's move. 11 of 15. So we are getting there. You guys are doing awesome. Can always just pick a couple of these, a handful of these exercises that felt the best for you and add them to that micro workout we were talking about. Quick 5 minute movement break throughout the day. Nice work. Let's do one more each side here. Squat, big circle and then one more here on the left. Nice. Go back to that. Walk in place. Get those steps in while we're here. We might as well kill two birds with one stone, right? We're gonna go back to the upper body. We're just gonna go for a simple alternating shoulder sweep. So just simple big arm sweeps to the back and back. Nice alternating arm sweeps. Make it big. Open the shoulders, open the chest. Reach and reach. Nice work. Soft bend in the knees. Core stays tight. Awesome. Let's go for 4, 3. Switch directions after this one. Now let's go to the front. Sweep forward and forward. Just switching directions here. Awesome job, you guys. Nice. We're gonna add a little bit of impact on the next move. If you want, you can stick with calf raises if that feels best for you. Otherwise, if it's available to you, we're gonna add a little hop in 4, 3, 2 and 1. So we'll start with level one. Again, we're just doing calf raises, lifting those heels off the ground, lowering with control so you can stick here. This is option A. Option B, if you want to add some light jumps, almost like you're jump roping, you could add a little circle for your arms here. Light jump ropes. Nice. I have a six year old daughter, she's gotten into jump roping. It's been kind of fun. So fun, right? And so good for you. So good for you to get that like little heart rate, little impact for. This is great for bone density. So many reasons. These little jumps are good for us. This impact, even as we age. Great way to just keep moving. Nice work, you guys. All right, keep jumping here. I know it's getting a little bit challenging. Stick with it. We got this. And then we're cooling down. 10 more seconds of jumping and we're cooling down. We got two moves to cool us down. Finish it. Last. Three, two, one. Awesome job, you guys. Let's take it nice and wide. We're gonna hold like more of a sumo squat. Hands are gonna go to the inner thigh. So as I drop down I'm gonna drop my left shoulder to the ground. Stand up. I'm gonna drop my right shoulder to the ground. Stand up. Nice. Using your breath a little bit. Impact there. Just starting to cool things down here. Dropping the shoulders to the ground. Nice work. This. And one more move. You guys made it. You did it. Awesome job. These gentle movements are just a great way to support your lymphatic system. You could do this daily. It's the breathing, the bouncing again, targeting those big muscle groups. That consistency, it's really going to help you. As we hear people say, like, I'm feeling stuck, stiff, I'm feeling puffy. Great way to reduce inflammation. Great way to keep your joints healthy. Awesome job. Let's do one more. One more here on the left. Nice. Walk it in. Last move. Calf raises with shoulder rolls. Your calves are definitely going to get a good workout today. Calf raise, shoulder roll. All right, Kelly, is there anything else you would want people to know about their lymphatic system or lymphatic drainage in general?

I think the big thing that people, now that it's become more of a trend is just to know that 90% of the population doesn't need to add anything ext than living a healthy lifestyle. Moving, getting hydration, rest, repeat over and over.

So it's like their general wellness principles, right? Exactly.

Most people, that's enough for them.

Awesome. Great. And you say, like, I know on your plate you have some options for like, vibration plates. Like, those are really great options. You were saying for specific people, like, who would you identify as that?

Yeah, so I specialize for those who have a dysfunction, what we call so they were born without lymph nodes or lymphatic system, was injured in a surgery or from cancer treatment. We treat that and we give them more tools like that. But for the most part, people have a healthy lymphatic system and they just seen it move.

That's so great. Okay, so if you know anybody or you just want more information that is suffering from those conditions or has those conditions that Kelly was talking about. Absolutely. Go check out Kelly's resources on her YouTube channel again. We're going to link it in the description below entirely free. She is such a wealth of knowledge and it was so fun having you on set today, Kelly. Yeah, thanks for having me. Thanks for being here. Thanks for sweating with us today, you guys. I hope you enjoyed the workout and we'd love to see you back soon. Have a great day. I hope you feel so good after doing that workout. If so, hit subscribe to my channel. I queued up another workout you might enjoy here. Otherwise, I'd love to invite you into a two week strength challenge. You can find all the workouts in this playlist right here. Have a great day.