Stress can leave your muscles feeling tight and needing a stretch. Challenging workouts can, too. Long, hard runs? Yep. Heck, just sitting at your desk or driving for a long time can leave you tight! Since so many activities can leave your muscles tight, you need to give them a little extra TLC and relieve that tension with some stretching exercises. Regular stretching both feels good and is good for you as it can help prevent joint pain and muscle damage. Stretching also supports mobility, so you can continue to move your body without aches or limitations.
To support you on your stretching journey, ahead is a list of 40 stretches you can pick from, depending on what needs a release. Plus, they're organized by body part — there are stretches for your hips, hamstrings, back, shoulders, neck, and more — so you can easily find the ones your body needs. Or you can do one from each category to get a solid full-body stretch that'll leave you feeling loosened up from head to toe. One heads up: you'll get more out of these stretching exercises by doing them when your body and muscles are warm, so save them for after a walk, hike, bike ride, run, or these do-anywhere cardio moves.
— Additional reporting by Angelica Wilson
This basic stretch is perfect for stretching one leg at a time and great for those with really tight hamstrings.
This stretch is good for stretching both your hamstrings and tight shoulders.
Similar to Pyramid Pose in yoga, this hamstring stretch is great if you're really tight.
If the previous stretch isn't deep enough for you, then try this variation. It's perfect for doing on a bench after a run in the park.
During this stretching exercise, keeping your back straight, rather than rounding toward your legs, makes sure you're lengthening your hamstrings and not your back muscles.
This classic glute stretch is a modification of the Seated Spinal Twist yoga pose. With less emphasis on twisting the spine, you can really focus on the glute muscles.
This stretching exercise is a modified version of a seated yoga pose known as Cow Face. When lying on your back, you can better control the amount of pressure and stretch you want.
This stretch targets the piriformis — it technically isn't part of the muscle group known as the glutes, but it is in the same area and tends to get tight.
If your hips are tight, this stretch will start to loosen up your glutes and smaller muscles around the back of the hip. For a deeper stretch, try the full version of yoga's Pigeon.
If your glutes are super tight or sore, this position will feel like a stretch for those muscles. If not, it might just feel like a gentle stretch for your lower back.
This is a great lower-back stretch, but the configuration of the legs also creates a nice stretch for your glutes.
This kneeling quad stretch loosens the muscles right above your knee and your hip flexor especially well.
This arm stretch lengthens your triceps, the muscles on the back of your upper arm.
To stretch the muscles on the back of your shoulders, try this crossbody shoulder stretch.
You can do this gentle neck stretch while standing, too.
You can do this stretch by itself, or sequence it with the following hip-flexors stretch.
This is a passive, relaxing stretch that lengthens your psoas, one of the deep hip flexors.
This is a deep, passive stretch that targets the inner thighs and is great after a long, hard workout.
This stretch is a great multitasking stretch that opens the shoulders as well as the calves.