On your horse-drawn buggy to the west, your high-speed train to Paris, even your wild and crazy spaceship flight to Mars with grandma, MOD has you covered. One of the beautiful aspects of MOD is it can travel with you anywhere you go. And in someways it is even more important during times of travel. How many of us have gotten out of the car on a long drive to Monkey Town, KY(?) and thought, "I literally feel like my spine/hips/shoulders/etc. is trying to crawl out of my body"? How many times have you been on a flight to Beijing(?) and thought, "It may be possible for my legs to physically fall off from sitting too long"?
The exercises listed below are in the MOD deck as stretches to do mostly in the comfort of your home/gym/office, but as you will see, I have paired them with slight variations to do when traveling in the car (or reindeer-drawn sled etc.). With a little creativity (and flexibility!) these mobility exercises can be done virtually anywhere. Sooo awesome!
PIGEON STRETCH
Pigeon is a great stretch for your hips, quads, and hamstrings. As seen in the MOD card, pigeon can be done on the ground by bringing one knee forward and extending the other leg straight back. Work to keep the hips squared forward and the front shin as parallel as possible. To do this stretch on the road, bring a bent knee onto the hood of the car, line your front leg up so that your shin is parallel with the windshield. Hold each leg for 30sec-2min.
DOWN DOG ON THE WALL/TRUNK OF CAR
Down dog can be done on the wall as shown in the MOD card but can easily transfer to any flat surface, like the back end of your car! Place palms down on the trunk and with slightly bent knees, let your chest move towards the ground. Keep your abdominals lightly engaged so as to not over stretch your thoracic spine in-between your shoulder blades. You should be bending from your hips, not your low back. Hold 2x for 30sec-2min.
FLOOR/SEATED TWIST
Twists are great for your spine and waking you up a bit when the long straight roads between Texas and New Mexico drag on and on and on and on... I like this one especially because you don't even need to get out of your car.
In the MOD card the model is in a supine position on the ground, arms extended into a "T", with knees dropped to one side and head turned to the other. To replicate this stretch in the car (or any seat) keep your knees pointing forward as you twist your body so that your chest and belly are facing to the side. Use the steering wheel, back of the passenger seat, center console, and window to grasp onto for leverage. Let your gaze follow in the direction you are twisting. Hold each side for 1-3 minutes (3 minutes if you are lying on the ground) or make it more dynamic and switch sides every time you exhale. [I cannot guarantee success of this posture when done in a supine position on the roof of the car, although it might be fun to try.]
So there you have it wandering travelers, mobility on the road. These are only three of many stretches adaptable for travel in the MOD deck. Shuffle through them and get creative. What kinds of exercises do you do when traveling? How do you prevent the oh so dangerous spine eruption and the dreaded leg-falling-off phenomenon?
And a disclaimer: MOD deck does not come with the model OR the Prius.