ATHLEAN-X founder Jeff Cavaliere’s approach to fitness and longevity goes beyond typical workouts. On April 21, 2025, he broke down his top five stretches for improved mobility and flexibility.
Jeff Cavaliere is one of the most reputable names in the fitness industry. He’s led an extremely active lifestyle for most of his life. He’s absorbed insights from bodybuilding greats like Arnold Schwarzenegger and continues to offer his fans science-based advice for improving their training. Below, he detailed how incorporating a stretching routine could undo years of damage and make you more flexible.
“I’m going to show you here today five stretches that literally everybody can start with to start to improve their flexibility, and then you can take off from there.”
Jeff Cavaliere’s Top 5 Stretches for Improved Flexibility
These were the five stretches Cavaliere featured in his YouTube video:
- Door Splat (Standing)
- Kneeling Door Splat
- Hamstring Hinge and Reach
- Thoracic Reach Through
- Kneeling Sweep and Reach
Exercise 1 – Door Splat
Cavaliere demonstrated the ‘door splat,’ which involves sliding the body through the doorway while placing your hands up against the door frame.
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“Put one foot through the door, then what you’re going to do is leave the other one outside, take your hands, put them up against the door frame, try to reach up as far as you can. The idea is to slide your body through and at the same time, try to get your chest into the door.”
He said this stretch is useful for the hip flexors and thoracic spine, an essential component for maintaining mobility.
“You should feel a stretch right up through here [hip flexor]. The second thing is through the upper back there’s an area of the spine we call the thoracic spine, which I believe is the most important area of the spine to maintain our mobility.”
Exercise 2 – Kneeling Door Splat
The kneeling door splat appears similar to the door splat, but helps stretch the quads and shoulders in addition to the hip flexors.
“Still have one foot through the door. That leg is still here down on the ground, but when I do this from a lunging position, I start to feel it even more through that hip flexor and now even more into that quad,” he adds.
It’s important to keep the arms above your head and place the hands at around chest level.
“This time, instead of having your arms up overhead, this is something we called the kneeling door splat. Now you take your hands right around at chest level and lean through that way. What’s happening now is you’re getting something called an external rotation stretch on your shoulders.”
Exercise 3 – Hamstring Hinge and Reach
The hamstring hinge and reach stretch the hamstrings with the help of an anterior pelvic tilt, causing the lower back to arch more than usual.
“It’s a hamstring hinge and reach. It’s very important that you learn how to hinge. It’s going to happen all at the hip joint,” he shared. “To get a good hamstring stretch, you have to be what’s called an anterior pelvic tilt. The easiest way to do that, if you’re a beginner, is to spread the feet out and take away some of the requirement of hamstring flexibility.”
Exercise 4 – Thoracic Reach Through
Using the forearms for stability, assume an all fours position and slide one arm behind the opposing forearm. This allows for functional rotation and helps promote back flexibility.
“It’s not just into extension, but it’s through rotation because this is where we get all of our functional rotation. What I want you to do is come down to the ground on your forearms, and on your knees, sort of in this basic all fours position, then you take one forearm and slide it behind that elbow and try to land on the back of your shoulder.”
Exercise 5 – Kneeling Sweep and Reach
In a kneeling position, he extends his arms up and rests his forehead on the ground before sweeping outward with his hands.
“Open the feet up a little bit and slide yourself back as far as you can. Sit back for however much motion you are allowed, what your body is giving you right now, from here, I’m going to extend my arms up and try to just let my forehead rest on the ground. This is somewhat of a child’s pose position if my arms were back, but what we do is, we sweep through the position.”
For a maximum stretch, he shared that focusing on the distance and length to which your arms sweep outward is crucial.
“I’m going to take my arms reach and sweep [outward], pushing out as far as I can. Go for the distance and the length and sweep.”
This wasn’t Cavaliere’s first longevity-inspired fitness routine. He recently walked through five key exercises for improving strength and achieving a better quality of life. In addition, his list of movements was also aimed at boosting cardiovascular health.
Cavaliere believes stretching can lead to a wide range of health benefits. He credits these five with offering the most bang for your buck in the long run, making them the perfect addition for anyone developing a longevity-inspired training plan.
RELATED: Jeff Cavaliere Discusses If You Can Build Muscle Over the Age of 40 Without TRT
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