Stretching your muscles is always important, but it becomes especially essential as you age and naturally lose some of your flexibility. If you’re looking to stay limber in middle age, stretching each morning is one fantastic way to achieve that. As certified trainer and founder of Runstreet Marnie Kunz tells us, “it’s important to stretch when you’re over 40 because it helps you stay mobile and improve your joint range of motion. Our muscles get tight and lose range of motion when we are sitting or standing in the same position for too long, and, combined with past injuries that make muscles tight and limit the range of motion, this can impede our movement and ability to do daily activities as we get older.”
We spoke to Kunz to learn more about the importance of stretching and discover her top choices to try each morning. Below are three of the best stretches to boost flexibility and reduce your risk of injury as you age: shoulder rolls, trunk twists, and quad stretches.