Welcome to our Keep it Simple exercise video vault where Dr. Ron Wagner shares his favourite and most common exercises focused on mobility and strength for target muscle groups. Each exercise is simple, designed to do in the comfort of your home.

Whether Dr. Ron shared a specific exercise to try, or if you are looking for ways to get more flexible and gain strength, you’ve come to the right place! Just remember to do exercises in pain-free motion. If pain does occur, stop and ask your health professional for advice.

Improve Your Posture

Who wants to gain an inch or two?! By simply stretching and releasing the built-up tension in the spine, you’ll stand taller than ever before.

4 Shoulder Mobility Exercises

The rhomboids, help stabilize the shoulder area which is involved in keeping an upright posture. Give these a try to strengthen and mobilize the shoulder muscles.

Breathwork

You will be amazed at how doing this exercise first thing in the morning can transform your energy levels!

Improve Your Neck Alignment

Are you struggling with a neck hump or rounding of the shoulders? This exercise and many others will help improve that neck position.

Total Body Relaxation

After a long day of standing or sitting, blood tends to build up in your legs, which can cause muscle tightness or soreness. By doing this exercise, the blood flows back to your heart and redistributes, so that the muscles in your hamstrings and spine can relax.

Spinal Twist Exercise

Try this exercise twice a day, first thing in the morning and at the end of the day, to increase your flexibility in your entire spine.

Child’s Pose Exercise

This is a popular spinal stretch you can do on the floor. Hold the child’s pose for upwards of 20 seconds, deepening the stretch as the time goes on.

Cat Camel Exercise

The cat camel is great for flexibility in the spine. Just remember to keep the neck in a neutral position at all times.

Cobra Pose Stretch

Grab a mat and try this cobra stretch, it’s simply getting you out of that forward flex posture. Just remember to do this stretch in pain-free motion, you can modify this as shown in the video.

Nerve Flossing Stretch

This is a great stretch to stretch the sciatic nerve, the largest nerve in the human body. Grab a chair and follow along!

‘Hug Yourself’ Thoracic Stretch

As cheesy as it sounds, this stretch is just hugging yourself! Bend at the hips and rotate from side to side, stretching out the back of your shoulders.

Full-Body Stretch

Try this full body stretch, that literally stretches from your arms down to your legs. It’s simple, convenient and can be done anywhere!

Increase Thoracic Mobility

This is a great exercise to help take the curve out of your upper back and mobilize those shoulder blades!

Latissimus Dorsi Strengthening Exercise

This is a quick, simple, incredible stretch for the muscles in your back that help stabilize you and keep you in an upright posture!

Upper Thoracic Stretch

This exercise is great to strengthen up the muscles between the shoulder blades, increase range of motion in the shoulders and stretch the upper thoracic on the anterior side.

2 Simple Spinal Stretches You Need to Try

You’re going to want to lay down for these, which is perfect because they are great to do at the end of your day. So grab a yoga mat or simply try these on the bed.

Upper Torso Stretch

This is a great stretch for the upper torso, simply stand about 2 feet away from the wall and torque from side to side with intention. Watch the video for a simple demonstration.

Pelvic Tilt Exercise

This exercise has a beginner and advanced part to it targeting your abdominal and paraspinal muscles. Just remember to push your belly button to the floor.

Bird Dog Exercise

The bird dog exercise is another popularly known exercise that strengthens the abdominal and paraspinal muscles. Try it out, 15 reps each side.

Neck and Shoulder Relief

Do you find yourself sitting at a desk all day looking down? You probably have a lot of built up tension in the back of your neck, so pull up a chair and try this stretch.

Chin Tuck Exercise

This is a great exercise to strengthen your neck muscles to reposition your head back over top of your shoulders, rather than hunched forward due to our phone, iPad’s or computers.

Superman Extension Stretch

Want to tackle that annoying neck hump? The superman stretch is incredibly easy and straightforward giving your neck and whole body a stretch! Give it a try!

A Super Simple Neck and Shoulder Stretch

Our neck and shoulders hold a ton of tension from the day, so they often get tight and sore, this exercise is a super simple stretch you can do to alleviate some of that tension at home.

Shoulder Rolls

This might be the easiest exercise as you can literally do it anywhere. Shoulder rolls increase mobility, loosen up your neck and shoulder muscles and increase the fluid in your joints.

Static Shoulder Stretch Part 1

This is a sequence of 3 static stretches for your shoulders each designed to stretch out the surrounding muscles and joints. Try it out, holding for 20-30 seconds each.

Static Shoulder Stretch Part 2

This is a great exercise to get your shoulders back in position! Simply hold your hands behind your back, stretching up and holding for 20-30 seconds.

Pendulum/Figure Eight Shoulder Stretch

These two simple exercises are going to help you mobilize and strengthen those shoulders. Relax those shoulders and try each exercise for about 15 reps each.

Scapular Protraction Stretch

This is a great exercise to strengthen and stabilize those scapular muscles, so surrounding muscles have a good base to work from!

Internal/External Shoulder Rotation

This is the first of many shoulder exercises we will do with a stretch cord. First up, internal and external rotation! Remember the 2-2-4 count while doing these stretches.

Arm Raises Prone

Grab a 3-5 inch roll, place it underneath your hips while laying down on the floor, and extend your arms contracting your scapular muscles.

Shoulder Extension with Resistance Band

Tie your resistance band to a secure spot and pull your arm behind you to extend your shoulder muscles. Remember the 2-2-4 count while doing this exercise.

Shoulder Flexion with Resistance Band

This stretch is the opposite of the ‘extension’ one, instead of pulling your arm back, you’re going to punch it forward. Hold it for a 2 count and release for 4.

Scapular Retraction

In order to have a strong base for your shoulders, you need to strengthen those scapular muscles. Grab a 3-5 inch roll, placing it underneath your hip and try it out!

Wall Slides

Grab a chair and position yourself in front of a wall facing forward, make a goal post with your arms and slowly move up while keeping the muscles engaged.

5 Shoulder Mobility Exercises

This is a compilation of 5 easy and simple shoulder mobility exercises you can do to improve shoulder range of motion. Grab a chair (or stand up) and give it a try!

2 Exercises to Strengthen Back Muscles

This is a strength exercise, so you’ll want to grab some kettlebells to make this a bit more advanced, grab what weight you can comfortably do. Dr. Ron used 5lb kettlebells.

Shoulder Mobility – Improving Range of Motion

This is a great, easy shoulder mobility exercise that will help you improve your range of motion. Bonus Points: You can do it anywhere, anytime!

Quadricep Stretch

This quad stretch will help prevent you from shortening your muscles during those long hours of sitting down. Just remember to keep your back straight! Find a wall and try it out.

Touch Your Toes Stretch

Did you know that touching your toes is a great calf and hamstring stretch? If you’re not quite at touching your toes or the floor, try placing your arms at your shins.

Calf/Hamstring Corner Stretch

Find yourself a doorway and try this calf/hamstring/quad stretch. Make sure you do this in pain-free motion, don’t overextend!

Gluteal/Piriformis Stretch

While we’re sitting down at work, our gluteal and piriformis muscles are getting tighter. So here’s two great exercises you can try to relieve tension in both muscles.

Psoas Chair Stretch

Here’s another way to prevent or help with that stooped over posture. Grab a chair and follow along!

Standing Psoas Stretch

A great exercise to stretch out that psoas muscle. Simply stand in a lunge position, flexing the knee comfortably forward, hold for 30s and then stretch to the side.

Figure 4 Strengthening Stretch

This is the lower body stretch that you need to ensure your muscles don’t stay tight after a long day of work. We’re talking glute muscles, piriformis and your Q/L muscles.

6 Easy Hip Mobility Exercises

Sitting for prolonged periods of time, tighten our hips so it’s a good reminder to stretch and strengthen our hip muscles and joint for better movement!

3 Simple Quad Strengthening Exercises

These 3 simple quad exercises will help strengthen the quads and surrounding muscles, so you can show up as your best mobile self even after a long workday.

Modified Quad Stretch

Here is a modified version of the popular quad stretch! Complete the following exercise on the floor laying on your side.

Ankle Strengthening Exercises

Here are two strengthening exercises that support and strengthen the ankle. Hold each exercise for a 10 count, repeating 15 times.

Calf and Hamstring Stretch with Board

Have you seen this board in the office? Well it’s meant to stretch out your calf and hamstrings, so next time you’re waiting for your appointment give it a try!

Knee Lift – a Total Body Exercise

This knee lift exercise is going to be the easiest one you will do, but none the less super effective in strengthening your lower body. Give it a try!

Anatomy 101: The Ankle

The ankle joint is considered a hinge joint, which is a type of joint that allows for movement in one plane, think of a door hinge.

Anatomy 101: The Knee

The knee is the most common injury, as it relies on the surrounding muscles and ligaments to give it support.

Anatomy 101: Bi’s and Tri’s

The biceps and triceps, also known as the bi’s and tri’s, are your key muscles involved in lifting and carrying.

Anatomy 101: The Spine

The spine is made up of three sections, the cervical, thoracic and lumbar. Take a peak at the video to go more in depth.

Anatomy 101: The Trapezius

Think of the trapezius as a long T that starts at the base of your skull and goes all the way to our shoulders and down in between our shoulder blades.

Anatomy 101: The Shoulder Girdle

There are 4 muscles that make up the shoulder girdle and all of them work together to stabilize the shoulder and allow for movement.

Anatomy 101: The Calf Muscle

The calf actually consists of 3 muscles, the gastrocnemius, soleus and peroneus, which attach from just above the knee all the way down to your ankle.

Anatomy 101: The Paraspinal Muscles

The paraspinal muscles are a group of muscles that run from the base of the skull to the base of the spine, right in between the groove of the shoulder blades

Anatomy 101: Quadriceps and Psoas Muscle

Both muscle groups are important in the contribution of hip flexion. The quadriceps (or quads) help bring your leg straight up and when your feet are planted they help you to bend over.

Anatomy 101: the Skull

The anatomy of the skull is super cool because it affects our entire body. To break it down the skull is divided into multiple parts, so here’s the basics.

4 Exercises to do at Your Desk Part 1

Ever sit at a desk working for several hours and your shoulders and neck start to hurt? That actually occurs because of a lack of movement, so here’s my recommendation!

4 Exercises to do at Your Desk Part 2

I recommend taking a 5 minute break for every 60 minutes of work. It’ll keep you productive for longer and help with muscle soreness and stiffness after a long work day.

Chin Tuck with Resistance Band Exercise

This is one of many great exercises you can do to revert or prevent text neck from occurring, simply grab a resistance band and give it a try.

Text Neck Stretch

This is a great text neck exercise to strengthen the muscles around the neck and upper back. Grab a chair and give it a go!

End of Day Stretch and Relaxation

This neck exercise is great to promote relaxation for your neck and upper back muscles, after a long day of looking at your screen.

Strengthen Upper Back Muscles

Grab a yoga mat and a stick and give this text neck exercise a try! We are targeting the upper back muscles in this strengthening exercise and of course the core muscles.

Stretching the Upper Back and Shoulders

As text neck is such a common struggle among my clients, I’m giving you yet another exercise to stretch out the muscles that hold a lot of tension when we look down at our screens.