Are you recovering from a leg muscle injury? Are you a runner? An MMA fighter? A Gymnast? Or are you just looking to improve your leg dexterity for general comfort and mobility? In any case, you can benefit greatly from leg stretches.
Take a look at the following benefits of leg stretches:
Not a bad list of benefits, right?
Today we’re going to discuss the two main types of leg stretches you can do to tick all those beneficial boxes; dynamic stretches and static stretches.
Dynamic stretches involve stretching your muscle through dynamic movements for 30-60 seconds without holding a position at the end.
Static stretches involve holding a position for between 10-30 seconds.
Most people do static stretching pre-exercising, but it should be the other way around. Why?
Studies have demonstrated that people who stretched dynamically before exercise decreased their chances of injury and physically outperformed their static stretching counterparts. You should do dynamic leg stretches pre-exercise and static ones post-exercise.
Aim for 6-12 minutes of dynamic stretching pre-exercise. And aim for 5-10 minutes of static stretching post-exercise. Let’s take a look at the best dynamic and static leg stretches you can do for each muscle group.
Quads stand for quadriceps. They’re a group of four large muscles at the front of your thighs.
The four muscles in your quads are:
Walking lunges are great stretches for your glutes, hamstrings, and quads. But you can adjust the movement slightly to target one muscle group over the other.
In this example, we’re going to go through the variation that prioritizes your quads.
How to perform walking lunges:
Take a look at the video below to see a walking lunge in action:
You won’t need to use a barbell (like the guy in the video) but pay attention to his posture. It’s important for you to keep a neutral spine as you perform the motion.
The vastus lateralis stretch is a dynamic stretch that targets the vastus lateralis part of your quad, as well as your glutes and hip.
How to Perform:
Have a look at an example in the video below:
Are you an athlete? Heel drops are a very important stretch for you because they can help strengthen the muscles around your knees for exercises like running. You’ll need a box to perform this stretch.
How to Perform:
You can see an example of this stretch below:
Okay, so we’ve gone through 3 dynamic leg stretches for your quads post-exercise, now let’s take a look at the best static quad stretches for post-exercise.
It’s actually quite difficult to focus on each part of your quads with individual static stretches. For this reason, I like to do the kneeling quad stretch because even though it mainly targets the rectus femoris part of your quad, it does involve the other parts as well.
Most people perform this stretch standing (the simple quad stretch) but it’s actually better to do it kneeling against a wall.
Why?
Your rectus femoris hooks into your hip so you need to involve your hip in this stretch as well as your quads. It’s more effective to involve your hip and quads from a kneeling position, and it also puts less pressure on your lumbar.
How to Perform a Kneeling Quad Stretch:
Check out the video below to see how it’s done:
Let’s finish this section off by answering some of the most common questions about quad stretching.
This question gets asked a lot and dynamic leg stretches are usually the answer.
Why?
It depends on your type of knee injury but in a lot of cases, people need to strengthen the muscles around their knee for support. Heel drops and lunges are great exercises for reducing knee pain.
You can start with bodyweight and then hold free-weights with both these exercises to progressively build strength. Add more free-weight each week (if it feels comfortable) to increase strength.
Just make sure your technique is 100% perfect before you add free-weights because you can actually cause knee pain if your technique is incorrect.
The answer to this question is somewhat subjective to the part of your quad that feels sore. But we’ve covered stretches for all parts of your quads today so take your pick! A better question is; why are your quads sore?
The most common answer to that question would probably be; “because I don’t do pre and post-workout leg stretches”. The solution? Make sure you spend at least 5 or 6 minutes stretching pre and post-workout!
Stretching might not be fun but it pays off in the long run.
I made the mistake of running a half-marathon without stretching before it started (I was late to the event). That half-marathon was probably the most painful and testing experience of my life because my leg muscles burnt out within 1 mile. The next 12 miles were agony.
Your leg muscles will let you down very quickly if you’re not fully stretched out before you start – whether you run 3 miles, 5 miles, or 13 miles. My point is; invest a good 10-20 minutes into stretching before you run.
I like to do walking lunges, the vastus lateralis stretch, and heel drops before I run. You might want to do those 3 dynamic leg stretches, run for 5 minutes at a slow pace, and repeat the stretches again before you start your main run.
Let’s move on and look at the different types of dynamic and static stretches you can do for your hamstrings.
Your hamstring is made up of the following 3 posterior thigh muscles:
Your 3 hamstring muscles are grouped closer together than your quad muscles so it’s harder to target them individually. We’re going to categorize the stretches as upper hamstring and lower hamstring stretches instead.
Floor bridge’s are a very simple way to target your upper hamstrings. All you need is a yoga mat and floor space.
How to perform a floor bridge:
You can check out an example of this stretch below:
Good mornings are more of a free-weight exercise that’s great for upper hamstring and lower back building. But we’re going to go for very low weight/no weight and turn it into a dynamic stretch for 20-30 reps.
You’ll need to use a barbell for this stretch (ideally at a squat rack).
How to perform good mornings:
I want to stress how important it is to keep your head up and chest puffed out for this stretch because your lower back will curve if you don’t, and it could result in injury.
Start with very low weight and only increase if you can very easily perform 30 reps. Remember, this is a warm-up stretch, not a muscle-building exercise.
You can see an example of good mornings below:
This is probably the most common hamstring stretch so I’m sure you already know how it’s done! But let’s go through it just in case!
How to perform a forward fold:
Try not to lead with your finger to the floor as it can take the stretch away from your hamstrings. Let your hips take you down and only touch the floor if you can.
You can see an example of this stretch below:
You can also perform this stretch from a seated position if you prefer. See the video below as an example:
Let’s move on to the lower part of your hamstrings.
Don’t worry, you don’t need to be Bruce Lee to pull this stretch off, it’s fairly straightforward!
How to perform lying supine kicks:
You can see an example in the video below:
The bicep femoris stretch is actually very similar to supine kicks. Let’s take a look.
How to perform a bicep femoris stretch:
Take a look at an example below:
Let’s finish this section off by answering some of the most common hamstring stretching questions.
It’s actually quite common for tight hamstrings to cause lower back pain, so regularly stretching them can ease your pain. The forward fold stretch is one of the best stretches to ease lower back pain.
If you suffer from lower back pain you’re likely to have very tight hamstrings, so do I expect you to touch your fingertips to the floor on the first go? Of course not!
Perform the technique we talked about and if you can’t touch your fingertips to the floor, try to progress week-on-week and you should increase your dexterity. It would also benefit you to include a dynamic stretch like good mornings to build your back strength.
Make sure you start at a very low weight though and stop if you feel any back pain. It goes without saying that if you suffer from severe back pain you should speak to your doctor!
I used to have tendonitis in my lower hamstring muscle but I didn’t fix it for a long time because I thought it was ligament damage. I can’t express how I elated I was when I finally cured my “knee” pain after 2 years because it had affected me a lot.
How did I cure it?
I performed the bicep femoris stretch 3 times a week for 2-3 months and I didn’t experience pain in the back of my knee again!
If you experience pain or discomfort in the back of your knee there’s a strong chance you could have tendonitis or a tight bicep femoris tendon. Make sure you do plenty of lower hamstring stretching if this applies to you.
Let’s move on and look at the different types of dynamic and static stretches you can do for your adductor (inner thigh).
This is a really simple stretch, but trust me, you’re going to feel it!
How to perform the adductor stretch:
Take a look at an example below:
So this is going to be exactly the same as what we just went through but we’re going to take out the dynamic movement.
How to perform a static adductor stretch:
Check out the example below:
Your calf muscles can be separated into two categories; gastrocnemius (upper calf) and soleus (lower calf).
Let’s finish off today by looking at some dynamic and static leg stretches for the upper and lower parts of your calf.
You will need a box or step to perform this stretch and you’ll ideally be near a wall or have something to lean on.
How to perform:
Do this stretch with both legs at the same time if you struggle with one leg.
You can see an example below:
This a very common stretch that I’m sure most of you already do! Let’s go through it just in case.
How to perform a calf stretch:
You can see an example of this stretch below:
How to perform:
See an example of this stretch below:
You’re going to do exactly the same for this stretch but without the dynamic movement.
How to perform:
Okay so there we have it, 15 leg stretches you should know!
Remember those stretching benefits we talked about at the start of the article? After regularly performing these 15 leg stretches you can:
Thanks for reading!
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