Many of the wintertime activities we engage in require a significant amount of work out of the quad muscles. (I’m looking at you, skiing.) But even winter sports activities aside, the quads are often put to work. In order to keep your upper legs happy with you and responding to your fitness demands, make this quad stretch part of your daily routine.
Reclining Quad Stretch
Lie down on your right side. Your left leg should be stacked on top of your right. Take your right arm behind your head in order to support it and also take tension off of your neck.
Now bend your left leg so that you bring your left heel toward your left hand. Grab your left leg by the ankle and use your left arm to pull it further backwards toward your rear. At this point, you should feel a nice stretch through your quad.
Remain in this position for 30 to 45 seconds. Be sure not to yank too hard on your left leg and over-stretch it.
If you’d like to incorporate a bit of hip flexor loosening into this stretch, allow your knees to separate a little bit and take your left knee out fifteen degrees or so. You should now feel the upper inner part of the leg along the groin speaking to you.
Now switch sides, and repeat the maneuver.
In five minutes or less, you’ve just loosened up some of the hardest working muscles in the business. Nice job!
i should stretch more when i exercise. thanks for the tip!
i prefer to stretch my quads while standing.