Monday Stretching – Hip Flexor
After any workout, long and hard or quick and easy, don’t skip the stretching. What many don’t realize is how important stretching is for your body through increasing flexibility and ultimately helping to prevent injury. Stretching also helps with the proper execution of your exercises as it increases joint range of motion and crucial to warming up and cooling down on either side of exercise.
Stretching may seem inconvenient at the end of a workout or activity but it is what will make you perform better and longer! It can also slow your mind making you calmer and more controlled as you take on the rest of your day.
Every Monday I will go over a few stretches that you can do after a workout to cool down and help your body recover. This week we are focusing on the lower body:
Hip Flexors
Hip flexors are great to stretch to relieve any tension in the lower back and to open up your hips. They also help keep your hips in the right alignment. This stretch is simple and doing it consistently can really help with your lower body flexibility.
Place your left knee down on a mat or towel. Your right foot will be on the ground at the top of the mat at a 90 degree angle. Slowly lean forward into the front foot and sink into the left hip flexor. Keep your back long and straight and your hips level with each other to keep alignment and to intensify the stretch. Engage the core and lengthen through the lower back to keep the spine long keeping the core nice and tight. You will feel it in the front of the left hip. Switch to the right knee on the mat and repeat the exercise on the opposite side. Hold for about 30-40 seconds each side.
Check back next Monday where I will share a quad stretch.
