But walking around with tight hips from sitting down all day can reduce your mobility over time—affecting your workouts and movement in general—and even set you up for injury and back pain.
Fortunately, squeezing in a few 60-second increments of stretching throughout the day can give you the same benefits as devoting one larger chunk of time to mobility, says Kelly Starrett, author of Becoming a Supple Leopard and creator of MobilityWOD.com.
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Starrett challenges the athletes he works with to play what he calls “the pigeon game:” See how many 60-second increments of the elevated pigeon stretch you can fit in throughout the day.
The elevated pigeon stretch opens up your hips, which can help fix lower back pain and improve your performance on exercises like squats and deadlifts. You can do this stretch almost anywhere, using a table, a bench, or even your desk to elevate your leg. Here's how to do it:
When you break up your mobility work into the manageable one-minute chunks, you may be surprised to find that you really do have plenty of time to stretch.
“You can actually improve your deadlift while at work reading emails,” Starrett says.
This article originally appeared on Women's Health.
