MaryKate Schmidt leads an 8-minute lower-body recovery routine for beginners, with stretches and mobility moves like hip openers, downward dog, and side stretches. She offers modifications throughout and emphasizes how most people skip stretching, especially women, even though a quick cool-down helps release tension and slow down.
Hello! Today we are going to do a lower body recovery session. I am somebody that I'm guilty of not stretching enough, and that's why I wanted to guide you guys through this so we could do it together. So we're just going to focus on a little cool down. So I know as women we are just go, go, go and we forget to give ourselves this time. So we're going to focus on lower body today. It's going to be really low impact, and you can do this any day of the week, anytime when you're feeling a little bit sore or you just want to slow down a little bit. Okay, so you're going to bring those feet out wide. We're going to start here and you're going to bring your arms above your head. You can close your eyes. You'll take a big deep breath into the nose and you'll exhale as we reach those arms on down. Good. As you sit here in your space, just focus on that breath, taking a big deep breath in, exhaling here. Good. You're going to place those hands and rotate them so your fingertips are facing towards whatever is behind you. And if that's uncomfortable, you you can just keep them facing forward. You can start to incorporate little rocks back and forth here, or maybe a slight bend in the knee will feel good. So slightly side to side. You're going to turn and rotate your fingertips back towards me, and you're going to release those arms behind you and give me a big forward fold. Good. Again, just taking those big deep breaths in and exhaling. You're going to release your arms on down, and I want you to turn your right foot and drop your left leg. Your left leg is just going to be hovering a little bit here. Fingertips can be on the mat, or if it's more comfortable, fully place your hands on down. You're going to focus on stretching out your left hip here, but then we're going to release this right arm up to the ceiling, and we're going to rotate it around. If it feels right, you're going to place it behind that low back, open up the chest, have your gaze switch towards the ceiling, or if you want to, towards the mat. Mat. Good. We're going to release that right hand down. We're going to place that right foot back. We're going to come into a downward dog. We're going to pedal it out here. Good. Again, that big deep breath in. Exhale. You're going to come in with a nice flat back. Lift this right leg high. Open up that hip. You're gonna pass it on through. You're gonna let this left leg drop. The forearms are gonna face down on the mat. Hands can be released in front of you, or you can just hang out here. Now, if this isn't comfortable for you, you can lay down on your back and just grab for that right knee, and that can be your modification here. You can roll out your neck, shake it side to side. Plant your hands back down. Lift yourself back up into that plank. Left leg is going to come forward, right leg's going to drop, just like that other side. Now you don't want your leg fully on the mat here, have it just hovering. And then left arm is going to come high, roll out that wrist, bring it behind low back. Good. Same thing here, plant that hand down Come back into that downward dog, pedal it out. Then we're going to come in with a nice flat back, lift that leg high, open up that hip. When it feels right, we're going to pass that arm through here, dropping that right leg, allowing forearms to come down on the mat. And again, hands can go long in front of you, or you can just hang out here, whatever feels comfortable. Good. Just taking your time here to just reset, recover. Bring it back up into that plank. Right leg is going to come forward. This time you're going to lift it up, straighten it out, reaching for that foot or ankle. Or if that's uncomfortable, or you feel like you're flexing ability isn't there, just lift on up here and do the best you can. We're going to swing it on over to that other side, so come into a lunge here, then you're going to propel your foot up, reaching for this left foot or ankle. Good. I want you to bring it back down. Into a tabletop position here. You're going to just bring it back and forth here, stretching out your core, stretching out that low back, allowing your head to just relax here. Hands are directly underneath your shoulders, booty is coming back and forward. Or maybe circles feel a little bit better for you here. You can circle it out Good. I want you to hold it center. You're going to bring those knees in a little bit closer. You're going to bring that belly button in, and then you're going to extend it out. Good. We're going to swing our legs around. Place your booty on the mat. Right leg is going to be extended long. Arms are going to come above your head. Again, you can close your eyes if you want to. Big deep breath in, exhale as we reach on over. If you can, you can place your forehead all the way down on that kneecap. If not, you can stay lifted here. Good. Bring it back center, release that leg in. Left leg goes long. Bring those arms up. Big deep breath in. Exhale as we come on over to the side. Good. I want you to bring both legs center. Close your eyes. Bring your hands to your heart, or you can hold your ankles, whatever feels right. But thinking about how you just took the last few minutes to really slow down to reset, to recenter. We are constantly go, go, go, immediate gratification type of people. We want what we want when we want it. We have to-do lists that we constantly are trying to check off, and sometimes we feel like we don't get everything done, and we just have a really hard time giving ourselves time to just, to just be and to slow down. I'm totally guilty of it too. So I want you to think as you go throughout your days and you're a little stressed or overwhelmed to just take a step back, come back to this moment, how you felt releasing and recovering, allowing your body to just be still, to go through motions that are an outlet for you and release anything that you're holding on to. You are capable of slowing down. You are capable of giving yourself this time. So just take a big deep breath in, exhale it out, and remember to rest and recover. Good job! I hope you feel nice and stretched out and maybe a little bit looser than when you walked in here. And like I said, just take time to slow down. You can practice this anytime, you know, anytime you're sore or maybe if you just need a little break for a 5 minutes. You can incorporate it to your day. So I hope you liked it, and I'll see you next time.
