Stretches for getting out of the saddle

I saw an adult beginner struggle to get out of the saddle after a lesson and man, could I sympathize! Sometimes I find my self doing a little leg flapping to loosen up before swinging my leg out. It’s partly to blame on the desk job, but the running stiffens me up, too.

I studied public health in grad school and can't help but break down these types of problems. So, here it is:

The muscles that are tight are likely the right quadricep and the right iliopsoa (one of the major hip flexors) because swinging your leg out requires swinging to the side (hip flexors) and back (quadriceps). It might also make sense to have a looser left hamstring. Obviously, you wouldn't just do stretches on one side! You should repeat each stretch for each leg.

To stretch the quadriceps, start with the standard "stand on one leg, bend at the knee and hold your foot" stretch. To make this stretch meaningful, I've found it helpful to focus on dropping your weight into the knee of the bent leg. It may help to hold onto something with your other hand to really do this. Focusing too much on balancing can distract from getting a good stretch. If you want to take it a step further, you can get in a lunge position, drop the knee to the ground and grab the foot. This will allow you to also stretch your hip flexors. After sitting in that stretch, you can grab opposite knee with opposite hand and twist for added hip flexor stretch (see picture below).

Photo credit: www.popsugar.com

My personal favorite way to stretch the hip flexors is leg swings. Holding onto the top of a chair, you can swing each leg left to right to get things loose and warm.

Leg swings. Photo credit: Www.womenshealthmag.com

To stretch the hamstrings (along with your hip flexors), sitting down and sitting down and spreading your legs out and reaching for your right toes, middle, left toes works well. You can loop a theraband around your foot and lie down, and pull your foot up, too.

 Photo credit: www.athletiek.com

Photo credit: www.brighton90210.com

If you’re like me, you don’t have time to do these stretches before the lesson, but doing them in the morning is worth your time. Definitely, doing these stretches after a run is also important so you don’t get sore and stiff!