Quick & fit: must-do stretches for runners
Many runners suffer injuries because they don't pay enough attention to flexibility, says fitness expert Donovan Green. He shows you simple stretches you should do every day if you're a runner.
Transcript
When you're running, you're working so many different muscles in your lower extremities. And you'd be surprised at how many people actually
tear the hamstrings and, of course, the inner thigh because they're not stretching enough. [MUSIC PLAYING]
We're going to do two types of stretches. We're going to do dynamic stretching. And we're going to do static stretching. Static stretching is when you stay in one place
and you hold a stretch, where dynamic is when you're actually moving and pulling the body, and you're activating different muscle fibers through movements.
All right, so here we go. Let's get the legs out. We're going to start with a static stretch first, bringing it straight down.
Try to relax your body. One of the goals about stretching and one of the things about stretching is you don't want your stretch to actually hurt you.
You want to feel a slight discomfort but not where it's uncomfortable and extremely painful.
If you want to go a little wider, you can. Come on, breathe, inhale, exhale. Try to avoid walking your hands forward like this.
Come on, really push it back. Inhale and exhale. Every time you exhale, you go a little deeper
into your stretch. Here we go. We have five more seconds. This is working the inner thigh. So we're going to add a little bit of dynamic movements to it
and also a little bit of ballistic movements. We're going to bend the right knee. And then bend the left knee. So you're going to rock back and forth.
And really add some rhythm to it. Remember, if it's too hard, bring your feet in a little closer to take away too much tension
if you feel like it's hurting you way too much. Here we go. Inhale and exhale.
Five more seconds. 4, 3, 2, and 1.
Hold it back to the center. Now you're going to bring the toes in and heels in until you get to a point to where
you can sit down and use your elbows to open up your thighs.
Keep everything locked, everything tight. Everything is together. Inhale, exhale.
Breathe. Here we go. You got this.
You want to feel that stretch running right through the hips. Remember, when you're running, your hips are being utilized. So if you're not stretching those hips properly,
it's going to cause a lot of problems in your back. It's going to keep everything tight. So you want to be loose, limber. And make sure that everything is moving the way it should.
If it's not, you're going to knock your body off of alignment. Five more seconds. 4, 3, 2, and 1.
Keep your hands to the ground. And push the butt up to the ceiling or the sky.
Straighten out those knees. Drop your head. Feel the stretch running through the back of the legs.
Now you're opening up the hamstrings. Count it out for 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.
Roll it up slow, one vertebrae at a time. There we go. Shake it off a little bit.
Now we're going to do that same stretch with our feet together. You ready? Arms straight down.
Come all the way down. Keep your back straight. Back straight, nice and strong.
You want to feel that deep stretch running right through the back of your legs. I'm going to turn to an angle so you can get
an idea of what it looks like. Back straight. If you cannot touch your toes, that's OK.
Go as far as you can to where you feel the pull right below the buttocks, all the way down through your hamstrings.
You're going to hold that for five more seconds. Remember, when you're stretching, I don't want you to just stretch and hold something for five seconds.
You want to hold it a little longer. And come up. See, that was a little longer than five seconds. Now let's add a little bit of dynamics to it.
Take the left leg. Pull it up to your chest. Now switch, and get the other one up. There we go.
Beautiful. Nice and strong. Pull them up. Get them up. Keep on pulling. Keep your head up.
Keep your mind focused. Everything is together. You want to pull that muscle. Pull the knee towards your chest.
You're going to open up your hip flexors, right? Keep everything together. Everything is tight. Good.
Can you feel that? Every time you come up, you're going a little higher. You're almost there. Five more seconds.
4, 3, 2, and 1. Great work. Now for your front quad, you're going to take that right leg.
Bring the heels up towards your butt, and grab. If you find it hard to grab, then grab the back of your sneaker, and pull it up.
But if you're able to grab your ankle, grab the ankle. Look straight ahead. I know you always see people doing stuff like this,
but that's not a good stretch really. What you want to do is focus on your hips. You want to push your hips forward, and pull the leg back
to where you can feel the stretch running right down the quads. Here we go.
Stay strong. Stay in your spot. Try to stay in that one space. We have five more seconds. 4, 3, 2, and 1.
Come down slow. Great work. Now let's go to the other side. Get the left leg. Grab and pull.
Push the hips forward. Feel that stretch running down the quads.
You want to feel your body relaxing. You want to feel everything engaged. That's what we're looking for, right? We're looking to activate these muscles, getting ready to work.
Whether you're running or if you're resting on these days, you have to make sure you're stretching your body.
Your body has to be limber. It has to be loose. Five more seconds. 4, 3, 2, and 1.
We're almost there. The next place for you to stretch a lot of is your calf muscles, right? It's known as your gastrocnemius.
That's the scientific term. But it's your calf muscle. So we're going to take the left leg and bring it forward.
You're going to reach forward and grab the bottom of your sole of your feet with the ball of the foot. Grab and pull it all the way towards your shin
to where you're going to feel that deep stretch running all the way through the back of your legs. Can you feel that?
Beautiful. Use your right hand to rest on that right knee to keep the tension off of your knee.
You have five more seconds. 4, 3, 2, and 1.
Gently come up. Switch across to the other side. Right leg forward. Right hand grabs.
Pull. So remember, as a runner, you're activating these muscles when you're running, right?
So to avoid these injuries, I repeat it again. You want to make sure that your body is properly stretched.
Not five minutes, not two minutes, but try to get at least 10 minutes or more if you can.
You can do 10 minutes in the beginning of your stretching before you work out and 10 minutes after, which
totals about 20 minutes total. You have five more seconds. 4, 3, 2, and 1.
Come up slowly. Now, here's something. This stretch is going to look like the same exact stretch. But we're going to use the opposite side. Coming up to the end, left leg forward.
Now instead of your left hand, you're going to use your right hand to come across the body. It's a totally different feel.
You might feel a little tighter by doing this. But it's quite all right. That's normal.
5,000 hours. That's how long. I want you to hold this stretch for.
I'm just playing around. 10 seconds.
Five seconds. 2 and 1. Come up slow. Don't rush out of it.
Bring the right leg forward. Left hand comes down. Now, remember, everyone is tighter on one side versus the other.
I think I can feel mine more tighter on the left side versus the right side. Take those deep breaths in, deep breaths out.
Inhale. Exhale. Deep breaths in. Deep breaths out.
Every time you breathe out, you go a little deeper into your stretch. Come on five more seconds. 4, 3, 2, and 1.
Bring it up slowly. We're going to go back to where we started. Legs out. You're going to come down, back to where we started.
Try to go a little further than you did. Beautiful. You can feel your body saying thank you.
OK, drop the head. Look through the legs. Feel your body becoming more loose, more limber,
more relaxed. Now, the last stretch for the day, go into your runner's lunge. Walk your hands across towards the right side.
Readjust your foot. Push forward. Get that hip forward. This is great for your hip flexors.
Good to open up your hips. If this is too complex for you, you can put your hands on top of your knees. And you can sit up like this, or you
can rest your elbows like that. OK? So you have different variations for this stretch. If this is still too hard, you can actually
go down to your knee and take that knee and rest on the ground. Let's shift across towards the right side in 5,
4, 3, 2, and 1. Did I say right side? I meant to say left side. Shift across.
Readjust that body. Get into your position. Remember, once again, if it's too difficult this way, bring
that knee down to the ground. And do that same exact stretch until you are able to advance yourself and start coming off the knees.
You can also put that hand here. Ah, that feels great. Have 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.
Beautiful. Bring it forward, and stand it up. Toes in, toes out. Toes in, toes out.
Toes in, toes out. That's it. So remember, when you're stretching, give yourself enough time dedicated to your stretching.
Stay focused. Don't overdo it. And don't underdo it. You should stretch every day. There should not be a day that goes without you actually
stretching. Enjoy it. This is Donovan. Talk to you soon. [AUDIO LOGO]
stretching
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