the correct way to stretch quads

the correct way to stretch quads

Post by yesma » Tue, 29 Sep 1998 04:00:00


when i was at school our sports teacher always used to tell us to
stretch the quad holding left hand to right leg and vice versa because
it was the natural way the muscle fell and not to stretch it right to
right and left to left because it wasn't pulling the muscle
straight(or something like that)...any truth to this??
 
 
 

the correct way to stretch quads

Post by Ben Y » Tue, 29 Sep 1998 04:00:00

my $.02

that is the natural way for the legs to move.  if you
watch anyone doing squats (er..correctly) you will notice the
toes will slightly point out.  when people stand usually the
toes will be slightly pointing out.

now try this. do a deep knee bend.  it's most comfortable with
toes pointing out and you shoudl also notice that you will
feel  it more on the inside quad then the outside quad.

when you stretch with opposite hands (right hand to left foot)
you will notice that the stretch will be on the inner quad.

right hand to right foot and you stretch more the inner quad..
but if you pull it too far to the side, your leg won't be happy.
Since this is not the "natural" way for the leg to move (imagine
walking with your toes pointed in and knees touching all the time)
you may end up  stressing the knee in a way it doesn't want to be
stressed ..

 if you do right hand/right
foot then try not to wrentch it too much to the side but try
to do a straight back motion .  since it is a good idea to
try to stretch both sides of the quad there are times and places
to stretch right hand/right foot but do so with extreme care
lest you wrecnch your knee to the side. .. the reason why it
may be good to stretch the outside quad esp for runners is
because running form usually uses the outside quads more than
the inside quads.

Quote:

>when i was at school our sports teacher always used to tell us to
>stretch the quad holding left hand to right leg and vice versa because
>it was the natural way the muscle fell and not to stretch it right to
>right and left to left because it wasn't pulling the muscle
>straight(or something like that)...any truth to this??