STRETCHES I have put this document together for you to learn and understand the important stretches that you should be doing regularly as part of your fitness programme so I hope it helps you. Hold each stretch for 20-30 seconds and remember to breathe, always move into stretches slowly and don t bounce. Ideally stretch every day and after exercise is the perfect time as muscles are warm. You can repeat a stretch 3 times for an even greater benefit, especially if you have a particular tightness. HIP FLEXOR These muscles are super important to stretch due to the fact that we spend so much time seated so everyone needs to do them whether you exercise or not. Kneel on floor with your left knee on the ground and your right leg bent, foot on the floor. Make sure your front foot is far enough infront of you, then tucking your pelvis underneath you with your belly button in, lean forward to increase the stretch whilst pushing your back shin into the ground, keep that tailbone tucked under. If you are stretching your left hip (as shown) you can raise your arms up and lean to the right (over towards the knee that is infront of you). HAMSTRINGS From the kneeling hip flexor stretch above you are in a perfect position to do a hamstring stretch. Straighten the front leg in order to stretch the back of the leg (right in the photo), place your hands behind your back and hinge forward until you feel the stretch and keeping your back straight and both hips facing forward. Imagine you have a steel pole going from the back of your head to the base of your spine so you can t round your back. You can flex your foot to bring your toes towards your knee to increase the stretch in the calf too. Another way to stretch your hamstrings if you are standing up is to put your heel onto a step or chair and hinge forward with a straight back. Always make sure your hips are lined up e.g. if you are stretching your right hamstring then pull your right hip back in line with left and you should feel the stretch increase.
THIGHS You can stretch your quads standing up or lying on your side but I like this one. (If you find this version too hard then just do the regular standing up version that most people know of.) Lie face down and grab your left foot or ankle whilst keeping your knees together and squeezing your bottom to feel the stretch in the front of your leg more - breathe. On either version be sure to keep your knees together for a maximum stretch. CALF STRETCH Both feet facing forward with back heel down making sure heel is in line with toe, ie if stretching your right calf (as shown) make sure your right heel isn t pointing towards middle, it needs to be lined up to increase the stretch in the calf. Keeping your leg straight stretches the more superficial calf muscle that crossed behind our knee. This stretch is best to do without shoes when possible as the heel raise of a trainer will reduce the benefit. It s also important to stretch the deeper calf muscle that is closer to the achilles so you do this by bending the knee in this position. Another good calf stretch (no photo), that can be more powerful so go in and out of it carefully, is letting your heel drop off a low step (best to do with shoes on) with a straight leg and then gently with a bent knee to stretch the deeper calf muscle.
GLUTES There are a few ways to stretch your glutes including lying on your back (or sitting on a chair as also shown). Sit on the floor with your right ankle crossed over your left knee, hands close to your bottom, sitting up tall and bring your left heel towards you bottom as much as possible, whilst dropping the right knee outwards in order to stretch the right hip/glute. Keep the back straight and chest lifted to get a good stretch. You can also lie on your back as shown to stretch the glutes but I find the other versions more effective so have a play around with what works best for you. PIGEON STRETCH (hips & glutes) This can be a stronger stretch than the glute ones above so be sure to include this one too. Start in plank position on hands and bring left knee forward in middle on hands then drop to floor with left foot in line with right hand, then keeping back straight sit back, keeping back leg straight and both hips in line (ie don t let right hip lift if stretching left glue). You can rest on hands or elbows if you are more flexible and aim is to feel bottom and hip of left side stretch. Repeat on the other side.
INNER THIGHS (short adductors) Kneel, feet inline with knees so feet are not touching, elbows on floor. Sit backwards so feel the inner thighs stretch keeping back straight. You can also emphasise each side by leaning some of your bodyweight over to left and then to right slowly. Remember to breath and take knees wider apart if you don t feel the stretch enough. INNER THIGHS (long adductors) & SIDES Sit tall with feet wide apart - you might feel hamstrings as well as inner thighs, sit tall and lean forward to increase the stretch (without rounding you back). If you have very tight hamstrings you may feel more comfortable by sitting on a folded up towel or block. Then to add in another great stretch for the lats (sides) you can lean over to one side as shown, trying to keep the bicep lined up with your ear (rather than letting the arm drop in front). Keep breathing and try to increase the stretch on each out breath. Repeat on the other side - you will likely notice one side is tighter. DOWNDOG STRETCH Start on all 4s, hands under shoulders with fingers spread, knees under hips then tuck toes under and lift hips up into the air, straighten arms and then take weight backwards to straighten legs. Aim to get your heels towards the floor even if they don t touch, whilst keeping legs as straight as possible. You can move your feet wider than hip distance if you have very tight hamstrings. Keep lifting your hips up high, keeping your arms as straight as possible, breathing deeply and aiming to get the heels to the floor.
CHEST STRETCH Place left elbow and forearm on a wall or door frame - elbow inline or slightly higher than your left shoulder and rotate towards the right so your body twists slightly AWAY from the left shoulder in order to feel the stretch in your left armpit/chest area. Go in and out of this stretch carefully as it can be quite powerful. Repeat on the other side. SIDE (lats) STRETCH Kneel on all 4s and walk hands off mat to right side, sit backwards whilst keeping arms straight and stretched. Keep the left hip back away from the left hand so you feel the stretch on the left side of your body. Come to middle walk hands to left and repeat to stretch right hand side of body. LAT STRETCH Grab right wrist with left hand and lean over to left keeping bicep by ear (ie not letting arm drop forwards). Keep breathing and pulling gently. Repeat on other side. Another good Lat stretch (not shown) is to grab a door frame or anything sturdy with your right hand and then sit backwards (so you are hanging off the arm) and look under the right armpit as you hold the stretch.
NECK STRETCH Keeping your shoulders level and without moving anything else, drop your left ear to your left shoulder and stretch your right hand away from your right shoulder in order to stretch the right side of your neck. Hold the head with the left hand gently to increase the stretch. Hold the stretches for about 3 natural slow breathes and perform daily, ideally several times a day to start with if you are very tight. CHEST/FRONT OF SHOULDERS STRETCH Stand upright, belly button in, and place your palms face down on your lower back and squeeze your elbows towards each other whilst keeping your ribcage lifted. To increase this stretch you can ask a friend to gently push your elbows towards each other. UPPER BACK Clasp hands infront of chest like hugging a big ball, widening between the shoulder blades. From here you can also take hands over to left (no photo) and look under your right armpit to emphasise your lat muscles (behind/below your armpits). Repeat on the other side. SHOULDER STRETCH Keeping shoulders down away from ears, bring right arm across infront of body and hold either wrist or above elbow to stretch the shoulder of that arm - be sure not to rotate body by keeping everything else still. Repeat other side.