Unwind

30 minutes that undo the desk — neck to hips, cue-rich and unhurried

Strength & conditioning
All levels
30 min
Works for 6–25
Effort 1/5
Any studio or meeting-room-sized space
mobility
stretching
recovery
low-impact
joint-friendly

The ClassPlans programming teamLevel 3 group-fitness qualified · 10+ yrs teaching

Kit: Mats. A folded towel per member helps knees and heads. No other kit.

Warm-up5 min

Arrive & Loosen

RPE 2

Setup: Mats in staggered rows with generous gaps — reaching arms should never touch. Lights soft if you have the switch. Members often arrive rushed; your voice sets the speed limit from the first sentence.

How it works: Standing to begin. Thirty seconds of slow shoulder rolls backwards, then gentle head turns — look left, centre, right, chin to chest, never forced. Move into slow standing side reaches, one arm over at a time, breathing out on each reach. Finish with a minute of loose marching with floppy arms and two big sigh-breaths to signal that the day outside this room is now on pause.

What to say

“There's nowhere to get to in this class — slow is the whole method.”
“Roll the shoulders back like you're shrugging off a heavy coat.”
“Let the exhale be longer than the inhale — that's the unwinding switch.”

Easier

Smaller ranges everywhere; hands on hips for the side reaches.

Harder

Add a gentle standing backbend, hands supporting the lower back.

Workout7 min

Neck, Shoulders & the Screen Hunch

RPE 2–3

Setup: Standing, then kneeling or seated on the mat — offer both and mean it. Towel under the knees for anyone kneeling.

How it works: Work down from the ears: 45 seconds each side of ear-to-shoulder holds with the opposite arm reaching long towards the floor. Then thread the chest open — hands laced behind the back, knuckles reaching down and away, gaze lifting slightly, two rounds of 30 seconds. Onto all fours for slow cat-cow, six rounds, moving only as fast as the breath. Close with thread-the-needle each side, 45 seconds, cheek resting on the mat or towel. Cue where the stretch should live every time — members who feel it in the wrong place quietly give up.

What to say

“You should feel this along the side of the neck — if it pinches, back off a centimetre.”
“Knuckles reach for the floor behind you, heart drifts forward — that's the desk undone.”
“In the thread, let the shoulder be heavy — the floor is doing the work, not you.”

Easier

All of it seated on a chair-height step; halve every hold.

Harder

Add 15 seconds to each hold; deepen cat-cow with a longer pause at each end.

Workout7 min

Hips That Sat All Day

RPE 3

Setup: On mats. Demo the low lunge with the back knee down before the block starts, and show the towel under the knee without being asked.

How it works: Low lunge on the right, hands on the front thigh, 60 seconds of gentle sinking with the tail tucked — cue that the stretch belongs in the front of the trailing hip. Swap sides. Then seated figure-four each side, 60 seconds, foot flexed, leaning forward only to the first honest edge. Finish with 60 seconds of slow hip circles on all fours, both directions, big and unhurried. Walk the room the whole block with volume-two adjustments — a hand gesture and a whisper beat stopping the class.

What to say

“Tuck the tail slightly and the stretch arrives on its own — no shoving.”
“Find the edge where you could stay for a phone call — that's the depth we want.”
“Breathe into the hip — every exhale buys you a little more room.”

Easier

Lunge shallower with hands on a block or step; figure-four lying on the back instead of seated.

Harder

Lunge with the back foot lifted to a hand for a quad line; add 20 seconds per side.

The rest of this class plan is free — along with 3 more this week.

House plan.

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