Welcome to our weekly Move of the Week series. Every Monday, we’ll be sharing with you one of our favourite exercises – how to do them, what muscles they work and why they should be a regular part of your workout regime. This week: happy baby pose.
Our bodies know about it when we’re stressed – our shoulders end up by our ears and our stomachs become tensed. But our hips can also take on a lot of that tension. That isn’t helped by the fact that our desk-bound work is often the cause of our stress, leaving us sitting down and shortening our hip flexors for even longer. Happy baby pose is the antidote – improving hip flexibility and mobility to melt the stress away.
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What is happy baby pose?
The happy baby pose is done lying on your back, opening your legs and placing your feet into your hands – just like a newborn does when they’re rolling around the floor.
This exercise is great because:
It works into the hips: mobilising and stretching the front, side and back of the joint
It’s good for your back: this pose allows for a stretch of the lower back
It can be done morning or night: make it dynamic to mobilise in the morning or hold still for a deep, relaxing stretch
What muscles does happy baby pose work?
The happy baby pose mainly targets the lower body, including:
- Hip flexor
- Hip adductor
- Hip abductor
- Glutes
- Quads
- Hamstrings
- Lower back
- Obliques
- Spinal erectors
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How to do a happy baby
- Lie on your back with your feet on the floor
- Pick your feet off the floor and let your legs open so your knees are wide
- Lift your neck and shoulders off the ground and reach your arms forward to grab your thighs, calves, ankles or feet, depending on flexibility
- Roll your head and neck down towards the ground
- Push your heels towards the ceiling to stretch further into the hips. Stay still for a deep stretch or roll gently side to side for a more dynamic stretch
Images: Stylist
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