Exercise library
Exercises, explained properly
Every exercise our articles prescribe, given its own full guide: how to do it, which muscles it works, how much to do, the mistakes that quietly undo it, and how to progress. Each one is designed and reviewed by Dr. Shyyada Banu, BPT, MPT, MIAP License No. 69386.
Start with a set
6 routines · sequenced, dosed and ready to follow
Single exercises rarely fix anything on their own. These routines group the right movements in the right order for a specific situation, with the dose for each.
Neck, shoulders and upper back
The Desk Worker's Neck and Shoulder Set
Five movements that undo a day at a screen: wake the deep neck muscles, open the upper back and get the shoulder blades working again.
6 to 8 minutes5 exercisesView the setLower back
The Lower Back Pain Starter Set
Five gentle movements for a back that has recently flared: restore movement first, then wake the hips and trunk that protect it.
8 to 10 minutes5 exercisesView the setTrunk and deep core
The Core Foundations Set
Four exercises that build a trunk that holds up under load: dead bugs, bird dogs, side planks and bridges, progressed honestly.
10 to 12 minutes4 exercisesView the setBalance and leg strength
The Balance and Falls Prevention Set
Four exercises that widen the margin between a wobble and a fall: leg strength, ankle speed and balance practised safely at a counter.
12 to 15 minutes4 exercisesView the setKnees and legs
The Knee Strength Set
Five exercises that build the strength that protects a knee: squat patterns, step ups and calf work, dosed so a sore knee can tolerate them.
12 to 15 minutes5 exercisesView the setCore, pelvic floor and breath
The Postnatal Foundations Set
Five gentle exercises that reconnect breath, deep core and glutes after birth, the base layer before any return to impact.
10 to 12 minutes5 exercisesView the set
Or look up a single exercise
27 guides
Full technique guides for each movement, including what it works, the common mistakes, and how to make it harder or easier.
Neck & Posture
Chin Tuck
Deep neck flexors (longus colli, longus capitis)
A small backward glide of the head that trains the deep neck flexors, the muscles that hold your head over your shoulders rather than in front of them.
How to do itScapular Squeeze
Middle and lower trapezius · Rhomboids
Drawing the shoulder blades down and together to wake the mid back muscles that should be sharing the load of desk posture. The direction is the detail: down and together, never up.
How to do itSeated Thoracic Rotation
Thoracic spine rotators (multifidus, semispinalis)
A seated rotation that restores movement to the mid back so the neck no longer has to do its turning for it. The chair is part of the exercise: it anchors your hips so the rotation comes from the right place.
How to do itUpper Trapezius Stretch
Upper trapezius
A gentle side stretch for the muscle that burns along the top of your shoulders by mid afternoon. Real relief, but temporary unless you also change what made the muscle overwork.
How to do it
Shoulder
Wall Slide
Serratus anterior · Lower trapezius
An overhead reaching pattern trained against a wall, which carries some of the arm's weight while the shoulder blades learn to move properly. One of the safest ways to rebuild overhead movement.
How to do itShoulder Pendulum
None by design: gravity and body sway move the arm, not muscle
A relaxed, gravity driven swing of the arm that keeps a painful shoulder moving without asking any of the sore structures to work. The looser you let the arm hang, the better it does its job.
How to do itBanded External Rotation
Infraspinatus · Teres minor
The workhorse rotator cuff exercise: elbow pinned to your side, forearm rotating outward against a light band. A small movement, and it is meant to be.
How to do it
Elbow, Wrist & Hand
Wrist Extensions
Wrist extensors (extensor carpi radialis brevis and longus)
The main loading exercise for tennis elbow: a light weight lifted and lowered slowly, three seconds each way. The tempo is the treatment, not the weight.
How to do itMedian Nerve Glide
None: this is nerve mobilisation rather than muscle work
A sequence of hand and arm positions that helps the median nerve slide freely rather than becoming tethered. A useful adjunct alongside a night splint, not a replacement for one.
How to do it
Back & Core
Diaphragmatic Breathing
Diaphragm
Slow breathing directed into the lower ribs so they expand sideways. The foundation of postnatal recovery and most back programmes, because the diaphragm, deep abdominals and pelvic floor work as one pressure system.
How to do itPelvic Tilt
Lower abdominals, rolling the pelvis backwards · Lumbar erectors, arching it forwards
A small, slow rocking of the pelvis that moves the lower back between gently flattened and gently arched. Usually the first exercise we give in a back pain episode.
How to do itCat Cow
Spinal erectors and deep abdominals, curving the spine each way
On hands and knees, curling the spine up towards the ceiling and then letting it sink the other way. Gentle full-spine movement that reminds a stiff or guarded back that it is built to bend.
How to do itLumbar Rotation Stretch
Lumbar rotators and obliques
Lying with knees bent and letting both knees rock gently from side to side. With pelvic tilts and short walks, one of the first movements we give a painful back.
How to do itProne Press Up
Arms and shoulders, which do the lifting
Lying on your front and pressing the chest up while the hips stay down, taking the lower back into extension. Excellent for some backs, wrong for others: the leg symptoms tell you which.
How to do itBird Dog
Lumbar multifidus and erector spinae · Gluteus maximus, on the lifting leg
From hands and knees, reaching one arm and the opposite leg out while the trunk stays perfectly still. Builds the back and hip endurance that stops episodes from returning.
How to do itDead Bug
Transversus abdominis and obliques · Rectus abdominis, working as a brake
Lying on your back with arms and knees in the air, lowering an opposite arm and leg while the trunk stays quiet. The standard way to load the deep abdominals without straining a back or a healing midline.
How to do itSide Plank
Obliques and quadratus lumborum · Gluteus medius, on the supporting side
Holding the body in one straight line on the forearm, loading the trunk muscles down one side. The standard exercise for side trunk endurance, started from the knees and progressed gradually.
How to do it
Hips & Glutes
Glute Bridge
Gluteus maximus · Hamstrings
Lifting the hips from the floor until shoulders, hips and knees form one line. The foundation exercise for the gluteus maximus, and the starting point of most hip and back programmes.
How to do itClamshell
Gluteus medius, particularly the posterior fibres · Deep hip external rotators
Lying on your side with the knees bent and lifting the top knee while the pelvis stays perfectly still. The usual first strengthening exercise for the gluteus medius, and one of the few an irritable gluteal tendon tolerates early.
How to do itSide Lying Hip Abduction
Gluteus medius · Gluteus minimus
Lying on your side and lifting the whole top leg, straight and in line with the body. The main strengthening exercise for the gluteus medius, and the step up from the clamshell.
How to do it
Knee & Ankle
Sit to Stand
Quadriceps · Gluteus maximus
Standing up from a chair and lowering back down with control, ideally without pushing off with your hands. The most transferable strength exercise there is, and the single most valuable movement in a falls prevention programme.
How to do itWall Squat
Quadriceps
Leaning back against a wall and sliding down into a held squat position. An isometric that loads the quadriceps hard while asking very little of the knee joint, which is why it suits an irritable knee.
How to do itStep Up
Quadriceps · Gluteus maximus
Stepping up onto a low step and lowering back down under control. It trains the exact pattern stairs demand, and the controlled descent is where most of the value sits.
How to do itStraight Leg Raise
Quadriceps, holding the knee locked out straight
Lying on your back and lifting one straight leg while the knee stays locked out. The quadriceps exercise for a knee that cannot yet tolerate bending under load, and a standard early step after knee surgery.
How to do itCalf Raise
Gastrocnemius, with the knee straight · Soleus, with the knee bent
Rising onto the balls of the feet and lowering with control, done with the knee straight and again with it bent. The main strengthening exercise for the calf and Achilles, and the treatment that actually resolves plantar heel pain.
How to do itCalf Stretch
Gastrocnemius, with the back knee straight · Soleus, with the back knee bent
The wall stretch for the calf, done twice on each side: once with the back knee straight and once with it bent. Straight reaches the gastrocnemius, bent reaches the soleus and the Achilles below it.
How to do it
An exercise is not a prescription
These guides teach movements safely and correctly. Which movements your problem actually needs, at what dose, is an assessment question. If you are exercising around pain rather than past it, book in and leave with a programme built for your specific problem.