Inchworm Exercise

The inchworm is a bodyweight movement that travels through two positions in a single repetition: a forward fold that lengthens the hamstrings and calves, and a plank that loads the shoulders and the core. You hinge forward, walk your hands out until your body is in a straight line, then walk them back to your feet and stand up. Combining mobility and stability in one continuous motion is what makes it such an efficient warm-up. In the time a static stretch would hold one position, the inchworm has taken the posterior chain through its range, woken up the shoulders and asked the core to hold a plank under moving load. Keep the legs as straight as your flexibility allows, since bending the knees to reach further removes the hamstring work that gives the exercise half its purpose.