Stretching at home plays a very important role in pre-empting muscle imbalance and associated problems with proper posture. Stretching exercises avoid injuries and add efficiency to regular workouts. However, it must be borne in mind that overly active stretching exercises can cause injuries. These exercises must be approached with extreme caution. Perform the complex better with a moderate number of repetitions and every other day. At the same time, to get tangible results, you need to train regularly, without skipping classes.
How to do leg stretching at home, experts will best tell. But it is possible, relying on appropriate literature, to develop a set of exercises by ourselves.
At the very beginning of classes you need to warm up well. Easy jogging and walking at a fast pace (about 10 minutes) not only train the heart muscle, but also “warm” the body. Blood begins to circulate more intensively through the vessels, while warming up the body and limbs. Without this preliminary preparation, it will be difficult to perform exercises with the necessary amplitude. The best time for stretching at home is evening. It is at this time of day that the body more calmly perceives such a load and the muscles become supple.
Stretching at home is effective when a certain number of conditions are met:
- the ability to exercise control over the magnitude of the load on the muscles during each stretching;
- Paying special attention to the position of the head, lower back, shoulders and legs during exercise;
- regulation of the load in accordance with the general state of health, as the human body feels differently every day.
It must be remembered that proper stretching of the legs at home requires a lot of time and attention to your well-being. Here you should definitely listen to your feelings.
So, here are a few exercises to achieve the flexibility of your body.
Stretched groin in a sitting position . It is necessary to sit on the floor, bring the feet together so that the soles of the feet look at each other, and clasp the connected soles with their palms. Gently lean forward, starting to move from the hips until you feel a slight stretch in the groin. When tilting, you need to slightly strain the abdominal muscles and exhale. Remain in a slightly stretched position for up to 45 seconds, while breathing slowly, rhythmically. It is necessary to try so that the slope goes from the hips, without straining the lower back by bending the neck and shoulders. The loin should be held straight and look forward. The longer a person can stay in the stretching position, the more effective the lesson. However, one must remember that there should not be any sense of discomfort.
Stretching the left side of the lower back and the back of the thigh . Sit on the floor, right leg in an upright position, left foot should touch the inner surface of the right thigh. In this case, the knee of the right elongated leg should be in a relaxed state. While exhaling, begin to slowly bend to the foot of the elongated leg from the hip joint to a feeling of light stretching. The chin should be kept slightly extended forward, the shoulders and arms are relaxed. Keep in this position for about 45 seconds, while breathing slowly and rhythmically. Similarly, perform this exercise on the other leg.
When performing this exercise, you need to make sure that the quadriceps of the right thigh is relaxed, and you do not need to bend very low to the knee. However, it is necessary to control the location of the foot of the extended leg vertically, and the muscles of the ankle and toes should be in a relaxed state.
Stretching the quadriceps femoris in the sitting position . You need to sit on the floor, bend your right leg in position so that the heel touches the outside of the right thigh. In this case, the left leg is bent at the knee, and the left foot touches the inside of the thigh of the right leg. The foot of the right leg must be stretched back, and the ankle joint should be bent in the same direction. If you feel unpleasant pressure on the ankle in this position, you can move the leg slightly to the side. Slowly lean straight back until slightly stretched. To maintain balance, you can rest your hands on the floor. Hold in this position for up to 45 seconds and then do the same exercise with the other leg. You can not deviate too far, as this allows the knee to lift off the floor and then the main load goes to the knee, and not to the thigh.
When performing regularly and correctly the whole complex of exercises, stretching at home will strengthen the muscles and ligaments, make them more dense and elastic.