Top 7 exercises when you are travelling

It is that time of year when many of us are jetting off for the annual holiday and this invariably involves spending a prolonged period of time on a plane or in a car. Particularly on long-haul flights, it is important to keep stretching and moving your muscles. Not just to remain more comfortable but to ensure healthy blood flow to avoid DVT. I am currently writing this whilst travelling on a plane, so am practicing my top 7 stretches – so far, so good! 😉

1. Pencil stretch, top half – lifting your arms above your head and clasping your hands together, push your arms up as high to the top of the cabin as you can. You can also scissor your arms up and down to get more of a specific shoulder stretch. Repeat 4 times.
2. Pencil stretch, bottom half – Leg room allowing, stretch both legs out in front of you and point your toes, then flex your feet. Keep repeating this for 20 seconds.
3. Shoulder stretch – without annoying the people either side of you, push your arms at 90 degrees away from you then curve your arms slightly, as if holding a little Swiss ball. Repeat 3-4 times.
4. Calf stretch – when seated, place both feet on the ground. Lift onto the balls of your feet and hold for 2 seconds, then flex your feet by pushing back onto heals heals, then hold for 2 seconds. Repeat 10 times.
5. Neck stretch – sitting up with a straight back, take your head to the left side and stretch your right arm down towards the seat, creating more of a gap between your shoulder and your jaw bone. Do the same thing on the other side. Repeat 5 times each side.
6. When you get up to frequent the on-board facilities, whilst you are waiting in the (inevitable) queue, do a few quad and hamstring stretches.
7. Without taking up too much time in the loo, as that is just annoying, do a few squats from standing to the loo seat. Remember to squeeze your glutes at the top of each squat and keep your abs pulled in.

Have a good flight!