Towel Exercises: Side Stretch

Series Summary

We all know that we should be exercising at least three times a week. So many of us have trouble finding time in our busy schedules. Others do not want to spend the money on exercise equipment or membership at a fitness center or gym. Is there a solution? In this free exercise video series, a professional fitness instructor will teach you how to do exercises and stretches with a towel. You will learn how to do side stretches, standing twists, front shoulder raises and static triceps extensions. She will show you proper form for squats, hamstring stretches and straddle stretches. Find out how to do quad stretches, chest stretches and upper back stretches.

Video Transcript

"This towel exercise is called side stretches. And you can grab any towel in your house, whether it's a bath towel or a hand towel, but just something that you can really pull and get a good stretch on. Alright, for side stretches grab your towel, and you're about shoulder width apart with your grip. Bring the towel up overhead, pull your abdominal muscles in and just stretch side to side. Now, what we're doing here is called a lateral flexion move of the spine. And really you can avoid any type of injury as long as you're really keeping that spine nice and flexible and supple. So you want to pull on the ends of your towel as you stretch side to side. Keep your abdominals pulled in. Keep your knees soft, and you're really going to stretch those obliques and just really feel that nice stretch. You can go side to side, or you can hold to each side for about 15 to 30 seconds, and then hold to the other side. And those are your side stretches using a towel."