Thigh Stretches

Adding a few thigh stretches to your flexibility routine is a great idea because of the fact that the muscles that make up your thighs, hips and butt are some of the biggest muscle groups in your entire body.  When people begin to stretch the muscle sin their lower body on a regular basis, they often times notice an immediate improvement in everyday activities like walking and jogging.

photo credit: lululemon athletica

Because the muscles in your thighs are in use so often for day to day activities, regular thigh stretches will have an impact on how your body moves. When performed regularly thigh stretches, just like any other form of flexibility exercise will help you…

• Improve your thighs and hips range of motion.
• Decrease You chances of incurring a hip or thigh muscle injury
• Decrease your chances of incurring a joint or ligament injury to your hips or thighs
• Decrease stiffness and pian in your thihgs and hips

A Few Popular Thigh Stretches…

Standing Quadriceps Stretch

In order to perform the standing quadriceps stretch:

Grasp the top of your foot with your hand as you lift your foot towards the back of your body.

2.) gently lift your foot towards your body as you begin to feel your quadriceps muscles stretch.

3.) Hold the stretch for a count of 5 – 10 seconds, then release your leg and perform this stretch with your opposite leg.

*Do not stretch to the point of major muscle discomfort or pain -this can lead to a muscle or joint injury.

Seated Quad Stretch

In order to preform he seated quad stretch…

1.) Sit on the floor with your legs straight in front of you.

2.) Tuck one of your legs back so that you are sitting on it. The top of your foot should be in contact with the floor.

3.) Gently lean back and allow your quadriceps muscle to stretch to a comfortable position.  Hold the stretch for a 5 – 10 seconds. repeat with the opposite leg.

These are two of the most common thigh stretches for loosening up the muscles of your thighs.  At a minimum, I would recommend performing these stretches after a 5 -1 0 minute cardio warm up prior to training your legs.  This simple routine will go a  long way to prevent any type of unnecessary muscular injury.