Why they help: If you spend many hours a day sitting, your glutes—the large muscles in your rear end—can become weak, while the hip flexor muscles on the front of your hips get extra tight (or, technically, short) from being in a shortened position. When you stand, those tight hip flexors may start to scream, and without powerful glutes, muscles in your back may compensate to help you walk, causing pain and imbalance. It all happens because most people sit with their lower back slumped, says Dixie Stanforth, PhD, a senior lecturer in the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education at the University of Texas at Austin. “Your lower back should have a slight curve or arch in it, but with most people, gravity takes over and their chair sucks them in,” she says. “That puts a tremendous load on the lower back and hips.” A glute bridge strengthens the gluteus maximus and hamstrings, which helps counter this imbalance, take some of the load off of your hips and back, and provides a nice opening for tight hip flexors. Here’s a tip: When you get up from your desk to stretch, reach your chest toward the ceiling rather than folding down to touch your toes. That will help your spine find its natural alignment again. Why they help: Burpees are the exercise everyone loves to hate. But there are plenty of reasons to love them: They challenge your whole body, strengthening everything from your quads, glutes, and hamstrings to your arms and chest, which might make you a little more eager to spring out of bed and leap over tall buildings. Practically speaking, burpees mimic the get-down-on-the-ground and get-up-again movements you use in everyday life. “Learning how to get down and get back up is a good functional pattern,” says Stanforth. Just do burpees carefully—no need to jump if you don’t feel confident doing so (yet)—and maintain good alignment in your spine even as you crouch. RELATED: You Can Do This Stairs Workout in 15 Minutes—at Home Why they help: Our shoulders are among the most commonly injured parts of our bodies. One reason: Because of habitually poor posture, we often have a tight chest with weak, overstretched muscles around our shoulder blades. These are the muscles that should be pulling our shoulders back and down into the proper, safe position, says Kelsey Graham, an associate professor in the Exercise Science Department and director of personal training at San Diego Mesa College. “Those I’s, T’s, Y’s, and W’s help strengthen the back of the shoulder and the muscles around the shoulder blade, reducing risk of injury,” she says. The movements might feel insignificant at first, but you’ll feel the burn after engaging these key muscles. Why they help: Back pain and discomfort can stem from anything—past sports injuries, poor posture, or inactivity. Strengthening the back’s most important muscles can help you recover from old injuries, improve your posture, and keep your spinal cord healthy. And rows, which can be performed with dumbbells, cables, kettlebells, or elastic tubing, do just that. “Most people are really good at pushing and doing things in the front but need to spend more time pulling and doing stuff behind them,” says Stanforth. Bonus: You might also feel your glutes and hamstrings working to keep you in proper row position—another great-for-your-back effect. Why they help: Push-ups use nearly every muscle in your body—the arms, shoulders, and chest for lowering and lifting, and the core and lower body for stabilizing. You even get a bit of cardio, since the heart has to work hard to deliver blood to all those muscles at once. The key is to do push-ups properly, which many of us don’t, says Stanforth. To push up like a pro, keep your shoulders stable (squeeze the blades back and downward), engage your core as if you were bracing for a punch, and avoid letting your rear end lift or “rolling” your body up and down rather than moving in a solid line. If you find yourself doing something wacky, that’s a sign you need to modify—rest assured that push-ups are still incredibly effective when done elevated or on your knees, as long as they’re performed correctly, says Graham. Why they help: Kinesiologists call squatting a “primal movement pattern”—one that, if you can continue doing it throughout your life, will help you maintain mobility and independence. “You need to be able to sit down in and get up from a chair well. You need to be able to go up and down stairs. You need to be able to bend down and pick something up off the ground,” Graham says. Adding squats to your routine can keep you doing all those things—and ultimately help you maintain your independence in the bathroom, get in and out of bed on your own, and get down on the ground to play with your grandkids or pets as you grow older. “Every able-bodied person on the planet should be doing squats,” says Stanforth. If you aren’t able to reach parallel or lower down without your knees bothering you or caving in, work your way up by doing chair squats—squat down toward a chair and let your butt tap the seat (or even sit down if needed), and then stand back up. Or hold on to a countertop, a railing, or the back of a sturdy chair lightly with one or both hands for support on your way down and back up. RELATED: If You Get Knee Pain Doing Squats, Here Are 8 Smart Modifications to Try
