Kneeling Lunge Quads Contract-Relax (PNF)

All-Levels
Written By Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

Flexopedia > Hip Flexors

Kneeling Lunge Quads Contract-Relax (PNF)

Muscle Group Stretched: Hip Flexors

Muscle Group Strengthened: Quads

Type of Stretch: Active Static

Difficulty: All Levels

Suggested Prerequisites: none

This drill helps us stretch (and strengthen) our quads to support deeper lunges and hip extension. Similar to hip flexor engaged PNF in a lunge, this exercise alternates contracting and relaxing our quadriceps to sink into a deeper stretch.

How To

Note: there are lots of different variations of doing contract-relax style stretching, varying contraction intensity, duration, etc. This happens to be my preferred method, but feel free to experiment!

Step 1

Start in a kneeling lunge: front knee stacked on top of the front ankle, both hip bones pointing forwards (“square” hips), and torso lifted (shoulders stacked on top of your hips).

  • If you find balance challenging/awkward: place your hands on something for balance, like a chair or the wall

  • If your back knee hurts: add some padding under the knee - roll up your yoga mat, fold up a towel or a blanket, or throw a pillow under there. This is actually a pretty common complaint I hear from students, so I wrote a whole blog post on this topic. If you can’t find a solution to keep your knee happy, don’t push through the pain! Opt for a different stretch (like a standing lunge)

Tuck your tailbone down toward the floor (tilting your hip bones up and back slightly, aka posterior pelvic tilt) to ensure you’re getting a good stretch through the front of the back leg’s hip (hip flexors).

Step 2

Keeping your tailbone tucked and torso upright (our goal is to keep the hip flexors in the stretched position the whole time, so don’t lose that stretch!), engage your quads by pressing the back foot down into the floor. If this is uncomfortable on your ankle, you can tuck your toes and press the ball of your foot into the floor instead of the top of the foot.

Hold this contraction for 10 seconds - you should be feeling a strong squeeze in the front of your back leg’s thigh.

Step 3

After 10 seconds of squeezing, relax the back leg, and relax into your passive stretch, sinking the hips a little lower if you can. Hold the passive stretch for 20 seconds.

Step 4

Repeat for another 2-3 rounds of contracting for 10 seconds, then relaxing for 20 seconds, and trying to sink deeper.

Modifications

Need to make it easier?

Keep the initial “big step forwards” small, so that both knees are bent 90 degrees.

Want to make it harder?

Bend the back knee to intensify the quad stretch, either grabbing the back ankle with your hand, or using a strap. Every time you relax after contracting, you can try to pull the heel in closer to your butt.

Do your contract-relax in a standing lunge. In a standing lunge our quads need to stay engaged the whole time to prevent our back leg from bending, making this drill more difficult.

 
 
Danielle Enos (Dani Winks)

Dani is a Minneapolis-based flexibility coach and professional contortionist who loves sharing her enthusiasm for flexibility training with the world.

https://www.daniwinksflexibility.com
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Kneeling Lunge Hip Flexor Contract-Relax (PNF)