Staying in Better Shape: 5 Exercises To Do Daily in 2024
New Year. New Goals. A Focus on Fitness.
At Elite Chiropractic and Sport, we hear from a lot of our clients that their focus is better daily health and fitness. It doesn’t matter if you’re starting on the new year, three months in, or right before the holidays hit. Our priority is helping patients feel healthier, move more, and have a stable and reliable body that they can count on.
If you’re looking for simple daily exercises for your 2024 fitness goals, we’ve got the list – and videos – for you. Check out our compilation of 5 easy exercises you can do every day for better health and wellness. Start today and feel the difference.
Benefits of Our Daily Exercises
While each workout we recommend has its pros and cons, the resounding focus is on mobility for anyone of any age group and any athletic experience to create a stable foundation in the body.
We focus on exercises that can be adapted for seniors, athletes, sedentary workers, manual labor jobs, and teens. Whether you’re new to wellness and fitness or you’re looking for some tried-and-true staples to help with your foundation, these 5 easy exercises have you covered.
Get the benefit of:
- No equipment needed (except for #1)
- Can be done in 5 minutes or less
- Adaptable for all skill levels
- Appropriate for all ages
- Reduce back pain
- Improve mobility
- Create a stable body foundation
5 Easy Exercises for Every Day Wellness
1) Foam Rolling
Not exactly an exercise but we’re starting out light to help with general body wellness in 2024. Foam rolling is our top tip to help your body feel better on a daily basis. It’s easy to do, great for anyone of any age, and can be done in less than 15 minutes if you’re pressed for time.
The Benefits of Foam Rolling include help with back pain, tension release, better posture, improved muscle recovery, reduced inflammation, and better blood flow. Whether you foam roll right in the morning or before you go to bed, foam rolling can release all the knots and tension you carry with you throughout the day.
Foam Rolling is great for sedentary workers, blue collar workers, athletes, and those who are just seeking more mobility.
To Foam Roll, purchase a foam roller from your local store or online. You can choose thickness, circumference, and material which can vary the intensity of your foam rolling workout. Then place the foam roller on the muscle that is sore – most recommended are back, legs, or upper back and shoulders. Leaning into the roller, you will apply pressure to the sore muscles. You can apply even pressure and hold or you can rock over the sore area.
You can foam roll as frequently as you need – one to three times a day is not uncommon, based on your level of muscle soreness. While you can foam for as long as you need to release tension, remember to increase hydration the longer you foam roll to compensate.
2) Commando Core Exercises
The core is the most critical part of body wellness. Whether you’re looking for 2024 fitness goals for athleticism, pain management, cross-training, sedentary wellness, or general flexibility, the core is the most critical focus for a strong foundation.
The benefits of the commando core exercise include training both arm and shoulder strength and core stability. Commandos are recommended as a daily exercise to help with balance, blood flow, and heart rate. Regular training commandoes will help strengthen your arms, shoulders, back, and core.
Commandos are done from a plank position. You will lower to your elbow on one arm, creating a 90-degree angle with your palm flat on the ground. Then you will lower your second arm to the same position. You will then gently raise back up on one side, and then the other, to your full plank. You will repeat these repetitions to complete the exercise.
Commandos are a great exercise to warm up with or to do as a daily heart increase in the morning or mid-day. You will increase your reps and sets as you get more comfortable in the exercise. These are a great beginner exercise to do daily because you can modify your sets and reps to your ability of the day.
3) Bird Dog Core Exercises
Another stabilizing core exercise you can do every day is the bird dog exercise. Bird dogs are great for anyone of any age because of their easy modifications. Bird dogs help with mobility, flexibility, core strength, back pain, and overall body stability. This is a must-have daily exercise to put into your regular routine.
Bird dogs are recommended by our Maryland Chiropractors because they help work on total body control. This is critical for athletes, seniors, and those recovering from injuries. For general athletes, sedentary workers, and blue collar workers, bird dogs help reduce pain in the low back while building core and hip strength. Your overall coordination will improve along with your posture.
To do bird dog exercises, you will come into a tabletop position: knees under hips and palms flat on the ground, directly under the shoulders. Looking straight ahead or directly down with a neutral neck, you will raise your right arm out in front of you. Holding your arm out, you will raise your left leg straight, directly back behind you. You will then lower both back to your tabletop position and repeat with your left arm and right leg.
By using opposing arms and legs, you are helping to stabilize your body and create more control through balance, core, and back muscles. You will continue to move between these sets and reps as is comfortable for your body.
4) Cat Cow for Back Pain
Daily exercises aren’t just about general fitness but about removing common sources of pain or fatigue. For many chiropractor clients, this includes back pain and shoulder pain. Back pain flares up from manual labor, sedentary work, or muscle soreness. If you have a long commute, hold positions for a long time, or strain your shoulders, cat cow could be the pain solution you’ve been looking for.
Cat cow is an exercise that helps all users with back pain, body stability, flexibility, hip mobility, posture, and body coordination. It’s recommended for anyone of any age and is highly encouraged to do at least once if not twice a day – we recommend once in the morning and once in the evening to continue to loosen tight muscles or sore spots causing pain.
Cat cow is done from the tabletop position – knees under hips and palms flat on the ground under your shoulders. You then arch your back down, pushing your belly button to the floor and raising your eyes up. Then you invert, rounding the shoulders and back and pulling your belly button up and away to the ceiling.
You continue to breathe through each stretch, holding each pose for two to five seconds depending on your comfort level and smoothly going back to your former position. This helps release tension and introduce movement into the body that otherwise may remain stiff for long periods of time.
5) Glute Bridges for Stability
A final daily exercise to round out your new workout routine or mobility set is glute bridges. Glute bridges help with everything you need in a workout: stability, core strength, hip mobility, and reducing stiffness throughout the back.
Glute bridges are recommended by our chiropractors because they’re simple for anyone of any age or athletic background while posing numerous benefits. They’re easy enough on the body to do daily, with the rest of our recommended exercises, and can help create movement into an otherwise stiff body.
To do a glute bridge, you lie on your back and then plant your feet flat on the floor, about hip-width apart. Gently raise your hips to the ceiling, pulling on your glute muscles instead of your legs to raise you up. Then, gently lower with control and slow movements back to the floor. Repeat.
Glute bridges are fast and easy and can be done anywhere. We recommended introducing them into your daily fitness routine to round out your workout for even stability throughout the body.
Getting Started with Fitness in 2024 Is Simple and Easy
Fitness and wellness goals don’t need to be overwhelming. You don’t need to train for a marathon, work on lifting weights, or bulking up. By introducing these 5 easy daily workouts into your routine, you can strengthen your body, improve posture and back pain, and mobilize stiff and sore muscles.
At Elite Chiropractic and Sport, our focus is wellness and pain-free living for every body. You can experience the difference of working with a sport-focused team today in Columbia, MD. Set up your first appointment to get more pain-free living treatments and take-home exercises.
About the Author
Dr. Bross is the owner of Elite Chiropractic and Sport. He serves as a Certified Chiropractic Sports Practitioner (CCSP) and Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. His unique approach to individualized patient care is based on the evaluation and treatment of the “whole” person.
Dr. Bross is a leader in the promotion of health and wellness. He has accumulated an extensive knowledge of the musculoskeletal and nutritional components of the human body. He is skilled in the Graston Technique, Active Release Technique, and Sports Medicine.
