Lymphatic Arm & Leg Drainage

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​Nobody is Talking About Lymphatic Arm Drainage ☝️☝️

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Swollen Hands, Arms and Fingers???

Have you ever woken up and you can barely take your rings off? That’s water retention.

The fat at the sides of your armpits? That’s often made worse by your water retention.
And that’s why you should take care of your lymphatic system.

Try These Exercises:

• Open Lymphatic Pathway: Reach your arms overhead, curl your fingers in, then spread them apart.

 

• Standing Swimmers: Reach one hand back past your shoulder, switch sides right away. Try not to arch your lower back while doing it (remember: ribs over pelvis).

 

• Open your arms at a 90-degree angle with your elbows in line with your shoulders. Exhale as you extend your arms overhead, inhale, bend them.

 

• Hold the goal post arms, rotate your forearms forward, then come back with your hands over your elbows.

 

• Reach your arms forward, inhale as you bring your shoulder blades together; exhale, spread them apart.

Don’t Lift Your Shoulders Towards Your Ears

• Bend our arms so that your elbows are close to your torso; exhale, reach your arms up, inhale, bend them.

 

• ​Open your arms out to a T and draw circles in both directions.

 

• For the final push, make fists, then quickly release them.

‼️The wrist arm weights are not necessary! The light weights just add a little extra resistance. You can still do all the exercises without them and get great results.

​Try it in the morning and you will both tone your back and drain Lymphatic fluids!

1. Question: What are you doing with your arms in #5?

Answer:  Extend your arms forward. Inhale as you gently draw your shoulder blades together, opening through the chest. Exhale as you separate the shoulder blades and reach forward. Keep your shoulders relaxed and away from your ears throughout the movement.
Look at the caption, every move is explained there.

2. Question: Any movements you have women with double mastectomy and full axilla removal that need exercises to move lymphatic fluid but can't lift arms over our heads?

Answer:  In that case, I would strongly recommend working with a Lymphedema Therapist who can guide you safely.

With a double mastectomy and full axillary removal, doing exercises on your own without professional guidance might not be safe. You can absolutely support your lymphatic system, but you need the right person to show you how to do it safely...especially early on after surgery.

Regular Exercise vs Lymphatic Drainage Exercise

Make Every Exercise a Lymphatic Drainage Exercise ☝🏻

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This is exactly what they do in Pilates Linfodrenante. It’s always better to open the lymphatic stations before a Pilates Linfodrenante session.

Tweaking standard exercises to keep them effective for toning your muscles, but improving their ability to drain and reduce water retention.

Try These Swaps:
Instead of a regular glute bridge, do a shoulder bridge pointing and flexing your top foot. Reach one leg long; inhale, flex the foot, lower your leg as you lower your hips (check your hips: they should be square as you lower the leg); exhale, lift your hips high, as you lift the leg and point the foot

Instead of a glute bridge hold with toe taps, try a glute bridge thread the needle: inhale, send the top leg under the standing leg (your hips will naturally shift), exhale, press the foot of the standing leg into the mat and lift the top leg up.

Instead of regular static lunges, try a reverse lunge with stabilization. Inhale, step one leg back as you bend both knees; exhale, lift the back leg up as you find your balance.

Instead of doing regular supine toe taps, do them with long legs. Gravity will help the drainage. And if you point the foot to lower and flex to lift, the drainage will be even greater.
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Just small adjustments for big results! Give it a try!

The Exercises That Drain HIM Won’t Necessarily Drain YOU.

​Here’s Why👇🏻

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The Lymphatic Drainage Pilates Method (Pilates Linfodrenante) is designed specifically for women. And there’s a reason.

Men and women don’t need the same exercises to drain. Why? Because our bodies are different!

In women, fat concentrates on the thighs, lower belly and glutes. Exactly where lymph nodes struggle the most. Estrogen increases tissue permeability every month during your cycle, so more fluid leaks into the tissues causing swelling.

And the axillary lymph nodes that drain the breast are chronically compressed by tight bras, closed posture and poor shoulder mobility.

In men, fat is mostly visceral. It sits around organs and compressed the intestinal lymph nodes. Cervical stiffness is also one of the main blocks to drainage towards the thoracic duct. And men have more muscle mass with almost no water retention in the legs.

Does exercise benefit everyone? Of course.

Can these exercises help both men and women? Of course.

But if you want to maximize results, these are the differences that matters.

​Did you know that men and women need different exercises to drain?

9 Signs Your Lymphatic System is Struggling 👇👇

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Bloated, tired, puffy? It could be your lymphatic system speaking to you.

​But sometimes the signs are even harder to read. Maybe you’re not puffy at all. Maybe you wake up tired and stiff. Your joints hurt. Your hands and feet are always cold, even during summer. Or you have a runny nose all year round.

Again, it could be your lymphatic system.

What to do then? Start with the Big 6: every morning open your main lymphatic stations (above your collar bones, under your ears, along both sides of the groin, under your armpits and behind the knees). Gently tap for 10 seconds, then move to the next one.

Every session of my lymphatic drainage Pilates (my Method, Pilates Linfodrenante that I created in 2024 for my Italian community) starts by opening the lymphatic stations.

And it truly is a game changer!

Which of these symptoms are you experiencing?

Swollen and Heavy Legs by the End of the Day? It Starts in Your Feet👇👇

Your feet and calves have a powerful pump that pushes up to 40% of your blood and lymph back towards your heart.

When the pump isn’t activated, either from sitting or standing for too long in static positions, fluids are subject to gravity and swelling builds up.

A few easy exercises help you restore your blood and lymph circulation.

You can try them before sleeping, while working or studying or whenever you feel heavy and stiff.
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Save this and try it tonight. 💕

Reduce Leg Swelling With These 5 Exercises

​Tone your legs and glutes, improve your circulation, and reduce swelling with these 5 exercises.

Pilates for lymphatic drainage is truly your best friend: it combines Pilates exercises with lymphatic drainage principles to give you strong, toned legs while reducing bloating and heaviness.

Do them barefoot to activate your foot and calf pump - the muscles in your feet and calves work as a natural pump that pushes blood and lymph back up toward your heart.

Barefoot sessions make this pump work harder.

Repeat with both legs.
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Save for your next session ✨

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​Thank you Carlotta Gagna: 
​https://www.facebook.com/reel/943993138474900

Pilates Linfodrenante® is her proprietary method that combines Pilates with lymphatic drainage principles — designed to reduce water retention, improve circulation, and tone the body without inflammation.

The workouts are available on her app Traininpink, where you can find structured programs at different levels, from 15 to 45 minutes per session.

You can start with a free trial and then subscribe to access the full library.