5 Thigh Stretches for Increased Flexibility and Better Mobility

Aggressive runners and Olympic weightlifters aren’t the one individuals who want thigh stretches. No, sofa potatoes want thigh stretches simply as a lot as their extra lively friends. The rationale? Sitting for prolonged intervals locations the hip flexors in a shortened place, which results in ache and tightness within the higher thighs in addition to inactive glutes and overcompensating hamstrings.

So, whether or not you’re coaching to your subsequent marathon or clocking your fifth consecutive hour in entrance of the TV, it’s best to know easy methods to stretch your thighs. Use the next record of static and dynamic thigh stretches to stretch your interior thighs, hamstrings, quadriceps, and hip flexors.

1. Butt Kicks

A Butt Kick is a dynamic thigh stretch that targets the quadriceps, the muscle group positioned on the entrance of the thigh, and the hip flexors. When carried out shortly, butt kicks additionally enhance your coronary heart fee and heat up your physique’s tissues, priming you for a exercise.

“Butt kicks can typically worsen folks’s knees, because the transfer is hyperflexion finished at an accelerated tempo,” says Dr. Theresa Marko, PT, DPT, MS, OCS, board-certified orthopedic medical specialist in bodily remedy and proprietor of Marko Physical Therapy, PLLC, in New York Metropolis.

Should you really feel any knee ache whereas doing butt kicks, Marko suggests slowing down your tempo and lowering your vary of movement. (i.e., not kicking your butt).

• Stand together with your ft hip-width aside.
• Switch your weight to your left foot and, conserving your proper knee pointed down towards the bottom, shortly snap the fitting heel up and behind you in order that it faucets your butt.
• Deliver your proper heel down and hop onto your proper foot. Concurrently elevate your left foot up and behind you in order that your left heel faucets your butt.
• Proceed to hop from foot to foot, tapping your butt with alternating heels, till all reps are full.

2. Toy Soldier

Additionally, a dynamic thigh stretch, the toy soldier stretches the hamstring, the muscle discovered on the again of the thigh under the glutes. Marko notes that, if carried out too shortly, the toy soldier stretch might result in unintended pulling and straining of the muscle tissues.

“My recommendation is to ease into them and carry out them at a reasonable tempo,” she says. “Don’t attempt to get your leg up as excessive as you probably can!”

• Stand together with your ft hip-width aside.
• Preserving your again and knees straight, swing the fitting leg ahead and elevate up till you are feeling a deep stretch behind the thighs. Hold the fitting foot flexed.
• Deliver the fitting foot down, step ahead, and swing the left leg ahead and up. Once more, hold the knee straight and the foot flexed.
• Proceed to stroll ahead like a toy soldier, swinging alternate legs, till all reps are full.

3. Aspect Lunge

“Aspect lunges are an effective way to stretch the interior thigh,” Marko says. Nevertheless, in the event you cope with knee ache or accidents, transfer slowly and proceed with warning, as this interior thigh stretch can put plenty of stress on the ligaments positioned on the interior portion of the knee.

• Stand with the ft collectively.
• Preserving the left foot planted, take a sizeable sideways step with the fitting foot.
• Hold your chest up as you bend your proper knee, hinge at your hips, and push your butt again. Hold your proper knee stacked over your ankle and consistent with your second toe.
• Decrease your hips till you are feeling a deep stretch within the interior left thigh.
• Maintain for 30 seconds earlier than returning to a standing place.
• Repeat on the other aspect.

4. Crossed-Leg Ahead Bend

Along with stretching the hamstring, this thigh stretch additionally targets the highest of the iliotibial (IT) band.

• Stand with the ft collectively and cross the fitting leg over the left (like an X).
• Bend ahead on the waist, permitting your higher physique to hold. To extend the depth of the thigh stretch, seize maintain of your calves or ankles and pull your chest towards your legs.
• Maintain the thigh stretch for 30 seconds and return to a standing place.
• Cross the left leg over the fitting and repeat the thigh stretch.

5. Kneeling Lunge

Marko loves the kneeling lunge thigh stretch for folks with tight quadriceps and hip flexors, but it surely’s simple to do incorrectly.

“One enormous mistake everybody makes is that they arch their again. You actually have to be kneeling in a lunged place together with your knees at 90 levels, after which you need to carry out a pelvic tilt and drop your tailbone down. It will pull on the hip flexor on the highest portion of the fibers,” Marko says. “In any other case, if you don’t do the pelvic tilt, all you’re actually doing is arching your again and compressing your lumbar backbone.”

• Stand together with your ft hip-width aside.
• Take a big step ahead together with your proper foot. Plant your proper foot and are available up on the ball of your left foot.
• Decrease your left knee in order that it’s resting on the ground. (Chances are you’ll need to place a mat or towel beneath your knee.) Each knees ought to type proper angles.
• Tip your pelvis ahead to tuck in your tailbone. Be certain the entrance knee is stacked instantly above your ankle and consistent with your second toe.
• Should you’re ready, attain your left arm again and seize the highest of the left foot. Balancing on the left knee and the fitting foot, pull your left heel towards your butt. Should you’re unable to achieve or maintain the left foot, merely maintain the kneeling lunge place.
• Maintain for 30 seconds earlier than releasing the thigh stretch and repeating on the other aspect.

You must really feel this stretch on the entrance of your again thigh, which targets your psoas and quads.