7 Best Stretch Workouts to Help You Live a Healthier Life

Stretching plays an important role in keeping your body healthy and fit. It keeps your muscles limber, reduces pain, improves range of motion, and increases your flexibility. Whether you’re an athlete or a weightlifter or just someone who wants to make sure they remain active into old age, stretching exercises can help you achieve those goals. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at seven of the best stretch workouts you can do to improve your physical health and quality of life in general.

Standing Hip Flexor Stretch

This stretch is great for fitness beginners and experts alike. It helps improve flexibility in the muscles around your hips, which can lead to better overall mobility. Plus, it can help reduce pain in the lower back and hips. To do this stretch, place your hands on your hips and stand with your feet hip-width apart. Slowly lift your left leg up and back, keeping your pelvis level. Hold for 30 seconds, then repeat on the other side.

Hip flexor stretching is one of three important components of physical activity that improves flexibility, along with aerobic exercise and strength training. This is because it helps increase your range of motion by increasing muscle length. For those who spend most of their time sitting down—like office workers—hip flexor stretches can help improve your overall flexibility so you’re better able to move around when exercising or playing sports. While any standing stretch will do for a quick hip flexor stretch, there are certain stretches you can do from an aerobics step or platform that will target these muscles more specifically. These include: Straight Leg Down Dog, Standing Split Jump Stretch and Side-Lying Inner Thigh Stretch.

Alternating Quad Stretch

Start in a standing position. Bend your left knee and grab your left ankle with your left hand. Gently pull your heel up towards your butt, feeling the stretch in your quad. Hold for 30 seconds, then release and repeat on the other side.

The quadriceps, or quads, are located on your upper thigh and consist of four separate muscles: vastus lateralis, vastus medialis, vastus intermedius and rectus femoris. Together these muscles help extend your knee and flex your hip. Because of their location and dual actions, it’s important that you perform both straight-leg (hip extension) and bent-knee (hip flexion) stretches to fully stretch these muscles. The alternating quad stretch targets both actions at once by stretching one muscle group while contracting its opposing muscle group at full strength. Studies show that targeting opposing muscle groups leads to greater flexibility gains than static stretching alone.

Seated Hamstring Stretch

This stretch is great for people who sit at desks all day long and need to release some tension in their hamstrings. Sit on the ground with your legs extending out in front of you. Place your hands on the back of your thighs and slowly lean forward, keeping your back straight. You should feel a stretch in the back of your legs. Hold this position for 30 seconds and then release. Repeat three times.

Another great stretch for your hamstrings is seated calf stretches. Seated calf stretches are especially good if you have sore calves. To perform these, sit on a chair with both feet flat on floor and extend one leg out in front of you while keeping it straight and bending your other knee so that your foot is resting on top of your other thigh. Hold that position for 30 seconds and then repeat with your other leg. Perform three repetitions of each stretch with each leg.

Wide-Legged Forward Fold

This is a great stretch for the hamstrings and lower back. Start by standing with your feet about four feet apart. Bend forward at the hips, keeping your back straight, and lower your torso toward the ground. Place your hands on the ground or on blocks if they don’t reach. Walk your hands out until they’re in line with your feet, then let your head hang and relax your whole body. Hold for at least 30 seconds before coming back up to standing.

Supine Piriformis

 

 

Lying on your back with both legs extended, cross your right ankle over your left knee. Use your left hand to grab hold of your right thigh and pull it toward your chest. You should feel a stretch in your right buttock. Hold for 30 seconds, then repeat on the other side. This stretch is great for relieving lower back pain and sciatica.

The gluteal muscles of your buttocks are responsible for stabilizing your hips, pelvis and lower back. When they’re tight, you could experience pain or discomfort in any one of these areas, particularly if there’s any weakness in other parts of your lower body. To help prevent further pain and injury, regularly performing stretches such as those mentioned above can keep these muscles flexible and strong. This can be particularly helpful for cyclists who often experience tightness in their piriformis muscle due to prolonged periods of sitting on their saddle.

Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch

This is a great stretch for the muscles in your hips and thighs. Start by kneeling on the ground with your right leg forward and your left leg back. Put your left hand on your left hip and your right hand on your right knee. Gently push your hips forward until you feel a stretch in the front of your left thigh. Hold this position for 30 seconds, then switch sides and repeat.

People are always looking for better ways to stay fit and healthy. Your body’s flexibility is just as important as its strength, because too much flexibility leads to injuries like pulled muscles, sprains, and cramps. Maintaining good overall fitness helps you avoid injuries and enjoy your workout sessions. What’s more, regular stretching can help prevent back pain.

Supine Spinal Twist

Lying on your back with your knees bent, let your knees fall to one side while keeping your shoulders and head on the ground. Make your way down to the floor using your non-dominant hand to grab your knees as you descend. Make your way down to the floor using your non-dominant hand to grab your knees as you descend. Hold for 20-30 seconds, then repeat on the other side. This stretch is great for relieving lower back pain and improving flexibility in your spine.
While it’s easy to forget about flexibility training as a regular part of your routine, it can help you reduce your risk of injury and increase your mobility. When done properly, stretching also decreases stress levels and improves sleep quality. A common problem that people have when trying to stretch is that they stretch only their muscles—if you really want full benefits, you need to focus on loosening up everything from your shoulders to your feet. Also remember that stretching needs a warm-up and cooldown period in order for best results. Aim for ten minutes per day of stretches at least three times per week.