Mobility exercises: eight minutes for your whole body.

You bend down to tie your shoes and halfway there your body says no. That's what mobility exercises are for, and a few minutes in the morning will do.

I see it often in the managers I work with: a bit of stretching when something feels tight, and that's it. Joints want wide movement, every day.

How you know you need mobility

It usually doesn't hurt. It shows in how you move.

• Getting up is the worst part. Then it eases.
• Reversing the car, you turn your whole body.
• Squatting down, your heels lift off the floor.
• Reaching up, you arch your back. Your arms won't go straight overhead.

Is mobility the same as stretching?

No. Mobility takes a joint through its full range using your own muscles, under control. Stretching holds a muscle at length while you keep still.

Mornings are when you're stiffest. Joints are lubricated by a fluid they make as they move, and when they're still they make little. After a night without moving, it takes thirty seconds to a minute of repeated movement for them to glide well. Mobility peaks between four and six in the afternoon.

Your upper back is built to turn. Your lower back rotates about five degrees, your upper back about thirty-five. If desk hours have locked up your upper back, your lower back tends to do its work when you twist.

A stiff ankle costs the knee. If it barely bends, you get less out of squats and lunges, and the knee tends to wear out sooner.

Ligaments lose elasticity with age. And strength training without mobility tends to shorten your muscles. On the plus side, weights done through the full range can improve mobility as much as stretching does.

The morning routine: eight minutes, four areas

Do it every day with warm muscles: after a hot shower or, if you finish yours cold, after some marching on the spot. Ten slow reps per exercise, a little wider each time. Stop at tension, and don't bounce.

Ankles. In a lunge, hands on the wall. Drive the knee forward and back without lifting the heel. Five times with the knee over your second toe, five over the little toe, then swap feet.

Hips. The simplest of the hip mobility exercises. Standing, pull one knee to your chest with your hands, standing leg long. Then lift it out to the side, holding the ankle. The hip bends while the back stays long.

Upper back. On all fours, hips eased back towards your heels, one hand behind your head. Bring the elbow under your chest, then open it up to the ceiling, following it with your eyes. Five or six per side.

Shoulders. A broom handle, hands wide, arms straight. Lift it slowly from your thighs to overhead and, if it goes without effort, behind. If one side lags, the stiffness is there, so go slowly.

Save stretching for the evening. Wherever you feel tension, hold the position for thirty seconds to a minute, breathing slowly. The first six seconds do little, because the muscle only lets go after that. Skip it before weights, since a long stretch can sap strength for about ten minutes.

Tomorrow morning, start with your ankles. I cover the lower back and neck in the articles on back pain from sitting and on a stiff neck from stress.