The Bright Side Blog

3 Stretches to Increase Flexibility

3 Stretches to Increase Flexibility

Improve Leg Flexibility in Just Six Minutes

By Erika Shannon-Hathaway, Director of Fitness - MYX Fitness

Whether you love to ride the bike, work with weights, or shake it out to cardio dance, exercise can take its toll and give you tight muscles, especially in your legs and glutes. 

At MYX, we believe that recovery is essential to overall health, and offer lots of 10-minute stretching and foam rolling sessions that provide relief, quick. 

But if you’re REALLY strapped for time, or you haven’t purchased your MYX home studio yet, these three leg and hip stretches will get the job done in just six minutes:

 

Warm up

(1 minute)

Begin your stretching session by warming up your body with some moderate cardiovascular exercise (jogging, taking the stairs, jumping jacks, etc.), and a few sets of squats and lunges to activate the legs and get the blood flowing. 

 

Stretch #1

Wide-legged forward fold
(1 minute)

Coach demonstrating wide legged forward fold

Get those hamstrings, inner thighs, and hip stretched out with this move.

Stand with your feet apart, wider than your hips, with your toes pointed forward. Put your hands on your waist and roll your shoulders down your back. Tighten your abs, and while keeping knees straight, bend at the hips and bring the top of your head toward the floor. Place your hands between your feet or on a stool/yoga block if you don’t reach the ground (yet!). Hold for 30-60 seconds before slowly returning to stand.

 

Stretch #2

Hip-opening lunge
(1 minute each side)

Coach demonstrating hip opening lunge

Wake up your hip flexors, inner thighs, and quads with this low lunge.

Come into a low lunge with the right leg bent at a 90-degree angle to the floor, knee over ankle, with the left leg extended long behind you. Lower your left knee to the floor and relax the left foot. (You may want to place a mat or towel under that left knee if you have an injury or sensitivity.

Take both hands to the inside of the right foot and lower down so your elbows and forearms are on the ground. Drop your hips as close to the ground as they’ll go and hold for 30-60 seconds. Slowly return to standing, and repeat on the other side.

 

Stretch #3

Seated figure 4 stretch
(1 minute each side)

Coach demonstrating seated figure 4 stretch

Release tension in the glutes.

Sit on the ground with your legs straight out in front of you. Cross the ankle of one leg over the other leg, just above the knee, and sit up as straight as you can. Slowly hinge forward at the hips, keeping the back as straight as you can. You’ll feel a hamstring stretch in the straight leg and a glute stretch in the bent leg! Hold for one minute, then switch sides.

You can cycle through this stretch workout in just six minutes, or choose to hold each stretch even longer. We hope you enjoy how it makes you feel. And if you have a favorite stretch or foam roll session in the MYX App, we’d love to know what it is!

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