The 24 Best Stretching Exercises for Better Flexibility

• Start by standing with your feet together.
• Take a big step forward with your left foot, so that you are in a staggered stance.
• Bend your left knee and drop into a lunge, keeping your right leg straight behind you with your toes on the ground, so you feel a stretch at the front of your right thigh.
• Place your right hand on the floor and twist your upper body to the left as you extend your left arm toward the ceiling.
• Hold for at least 30 seconds.
• Repeat on the other side.

Atkins notes that this stretch is commonly referred to as the world’s greatest stretch (WGS) in the fitness community. And for good reason: “It’s essential to help with posture-related pain or for people who sit for prolonged periods of time,” Dan Giordano, DPT, CSCS, cofounder of Bespoke Treatments Physical Therapy in New York City and Seattle, tells SELF. “It helps open your hips and improve thoracic (mid-back) mobility,” he says.