Advanced Quad and Hip Flexor Stretches for Contortion
Advanced Quad and Hip Flexor Stretches for Contortion
If you’ve got relatively flexible hip flexors and quads (ex. you can easily pull your heel to your butt in a standing quad stretch, and/or you have flat splits) - it may be time to up your hip work for those muscle groups.
These are all deep anterior (front of the) hip stretches that may make you feel your quads like you’ve never felt them before!
Suggested prerequisites:
Able to pull your heel to your butt in a standing quad stretch
Comfortable kneeling in a low lunge
Lunge Rocks with Deep Quad Stretch
The first time I did this drill (courtesy of an online class with the fabulous MP Letourneau) I felt my quads in a way I have never felt before. Hopefully you will feel the same!
Start in a kneeling lunge (feel free to add some padding under your back knee if you have sensitive knees). Tuck your tailbone so you start to feel a stretch in the front of your back leg hip (hip flexors)
Grab your back foot and pull it toward your butt - how far you can pull it in will depend on your quad flexibility, so start with just a small pull if this feels intense! Remember to keep your tailbone tucked (tilting your pelvis forwards makes the stretch easier, but it “cheats” the exercise)
Keep pulling your foot toward your butt as you start to lean your hips forwards. Keep your torso lifted (avoid leaning forwards) - you should feel the stretch get more intense in the front of your hip
Continue to rock forwards and backwards 8-10 times, then switch legs
Active Lunge Rocks with Block Smoosh
I’ll warn you ahead of time - this is probably the hardest drill (in my opinion) out of this whole bunch. But it is a great active flexibility challenge that works to strengthen your hamstrings to help open up your hip flexors and quads. For folks looking for more hip opening in backbends like king pigeon, king cobra, or other toes-to-head contortion shapes, this would be a great addition to your training!
Start in a low lunge with your torso lifted, tailbone slightly tucked
Lightly squeeze a yoga block between your back foot/ankle and “thutt” (where your thigh meets your butt. This requires quite a bit of a hamstring squeeze! Start with the block on the “long” setting, and as you get stronger you can rotate your block to a shorter width for a new challenge
Keep squeezing your back heel to your butt to hold the block in place as you rock your hips forwards and backwards (all the while maintaining your neutral pelvis and lifted torso). Start with small rocks just an inch forward and backward, and as they get more comfortable you can make them bigger
Aim for 5-10 rocks, then switch legs
Note: this one can get a bit cramp-y in the hamstrings, so take it slow and start with fewer reps!
Active Lunge Rocks with a Mini Band
For a similar-but-different take to the block drill above, we can make these lunge rocks more active by engaging our quads. This would be an example of strengthening our quads while they’re in a lengthened/stretched position, helping our body get stronger in that position over time.
Start in a low lunge with a mini band looped around your back leg between your ankle and the upper part of your thigh. You can also use a high-resistance TheraBand or other stretchy strap tied into a narrow loop, but you’ll want it to be something strong
Engage your quads by slightly kicking your back ankle into the strap (this will also help hold it in place so it doesn’t fall down your leg)
Keep that quad engagement (keep kicking the back ankle into the strap) as you shift your hips forwards and backwards. As with the other exercises, try to keep your torso lifted and tailbone slightly tucked throughout
Repeat for 5-10 rocks, then switch legs
Pigeon Pose Contract-Relax
For those of you who’ve taken classes with me (or done any of the class recordings) know I love contract-relax style stretching. It’s both a great way to strengthen your muscles at their end range (for long-term flexibility gains), as well as communicate to your nervous system that this end range is a safe position where we’re still strong enough to do work (for short-term flexibility gains within a training session).
For this exercise, I like to do it in a pigeon pose because that’s the most comfortable for me to be in for a long(ish) time, but you could absolutely do this in a low lunge if you really were digging the lunge variations in the exercises above.
Start in a pigeon pose with your hips square to the front of the mat (you can sit on a yoga block if needed) and torso lifted. Keep the front foot snug in toward your midline so that we can focus on the back leg hip flexors without worrying about also adding a challenging glute stretch in the front hip
Bend your back knee and pull your back foot toward your butt to find your quad stretch
Continue pulling that foot toward your butt as you resist the stretch by kicking your back ankle into your hand for 10 seconds
Then relax the back leg, pull the foot in more (if you can), and hold the passive stretch for 10-20 seconds
Repeat for 2 more rounds of contracting-then-relaxing your quads, seeing how much farther you might be able to pull that foot in!
