How To Give Your Muscles Relief At 37,000 Feet

Pilates stretching exercises are the answer to flight fatigue. When time doesn’t allow travelers to workout before or in between their flight schedules, why not exercise on the plane! Relief starts with some simple stretching exercises you can do while flying. You can keep your muscles loose without ever leaving your seat.

Physical inactivity, especially on long flights, can cause an imbalance to muscle groups. Pilates stretching exercises help restore balance by keeping muscles relaxed and reducing soreness and stiffness.

Because of cramped seating on some flights, leg stretching exercises are the first one fliers should do. No matter how long your legs are or how long the flight is, your legs always seem to cramp before the flight is over.

Here are a few gentle leg stretching exercises:

Take your ankle off the ground and do complete circles to the left and then to the right. Sets of 10 are usually sufficient to loosen the lower muscles of your leg.

Now flex your foot by drawing the toes towards your shin and stretch your leg as long in front of you as possible. Feel a stretch in the calf muscle. Hold for a moment and repeat three times before repeating on the other leg.

Let’s not forget lower back pain, as well as neck and shoulder stiffnes. With the help of Pilates stretching exercise you can greatly reduce these aches and pains from occurring.

Take your arms above your head and clasp the hands together. Flip your palms up to face the ceiling and stretch your arms as high as you can. Pull your shoulders away from your ears. This loosens your shoulders and quickly relieves any tension resting in your upper back. Inhale and exhale three or four times to allow the muscles to really relax.

Raise one hand straight up over your head. With the other hand, grasp the bent elbow of the opposite arm and gently pull. Hold for 15 seconds and repeat with the other arm. This stretches the triceps.

Seated in your seat, exhale and pull your belly towards your spine. Feel a deep contraction in the lower abdominal region. Hold for a moment and release. Repeat three to five times. Engaging the abdominal muscles in this way works to support your lower back and may ease fatigue.

Still seated, rotate your body as far to the right as you can . Hold for a moment and repeat to the other side. Do this spine twist three times each side.

Next walk to the rear of the plane and find an open space. Take a deep breath, lower your chin towards your chest and roll your spine down until you are slightly bent forward. Inhale and stay for a moment feeling tension drain from the upper back and neck. Exhale and roll yourself back up to your starting position. Repeat three times.

These are just a few examples of the kind of Pilates stretches you can do when flying. Some airlines are even putting together their own in-flight exercise workout and playing it on their television screens. I experienced this first hand on a recent flight to China. These Pilates stretching exercises are an excellent way to keep travelers comfortable especially in longer flights of 6 hours or more. If nothing else, just make sure you move around every hour to keep your blood moving.

Now you can do something about being crammed into that dreaded middle seat. Whether you are a frequent or occasional traveler, try some of these easy Pilates stretching exercises the next time you’re at 37,000 feet. Reducing flight fatigue will keep you fresh and alert upon arrival. Happy travels!

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