Tight Quads? Hip Opener: 10-Min Recovery Flow (Recovery #4)

So we're not doing this, we're doing the opposite. So scooping the hips under and you'll feel that stretch straight away come on and just two or three breaths with that first. And then driving the right foot, so the top of the right foot down into the mat, trying to straighten that right leg and just breathing whilst we're here. It doesn't need to be super intense.

Good and then back down to both knees here, just two or three of those cat and cows just to get some movement going in the lower back, after that always feels nice. Okay now let's look at sitting back, okay so sitting back onto the heels can be really hard if you're tightening the hips and in the quads. So what we're going to do is we're going to half that by bringing the right foot forwards and just stretching one side and then super slowly bring your hands back and just start to work on sitting back here. I haven't dropped my hips on my heel yet so if you struggle to do that you're fine coming back here as long as you take your time and move slowly.

But what I'm doing right now is I'm engaging my glutes and I'm driving my hips up, I'm not trying to sit down onto that heel. Right now I'm just driving my hips up and I'm going to take a couple of breaths here. Then when you're ready let's just relax slightly and start to drop the hips down onto the heel here and just take a couple of breaths. You'll feel that kind of bit of a passive stretch here just in the quad whereas when we're driving the hips up I can feel that stretch more in the front of the left hip.

This time it's just in the quad which feels really good. And then we'll start to creep forwards again. Switch that so drop the right knee, lift the left foot and again I'm going to walk back, not dropping my hips on the heel yet so I'm lifting my hips nice and high and breathing here. And sitting back onto your heel, nice and passive, just stretching the quads.

And then we'll start to take a few breaths here. Good, then bring yourself forwards and let's lay down onto the front. Just laying my front down. Now what we're going to think to do is just lift the right heel, so bend the right knee and lift the right heel off the mat.

We're going to extend the arms out nice and wide and now I'm thinking about my right heel going over to the side to touch the mat here. If we've not bent as much and we're just back here that's fine too but try and creep that heel nice and high. And now what I'm thinking to do is bridge and lift my hips in this direction and you'll feel that stretch on the front of the right hip come back on. If you've got your left hand out nice and wide you'll feel a nice stretch down the left side of the chest as well and from here you can rest your head down on the mat and just keep lifting your hips in this direction and you'll feel a nice stretch in the front of the hip and down the leg here.

And we'll take one more breath here, one more exhale and at the end of that exhale let's bring that right knee back down, flatten out the right leg and then let's go over the other side. So lift the left heel, come onto your right side, toes in the mat or down here and just sending the hips over as we breathe. And again two, three breaths here just nice and slow, feel that stretch in the hips. And then we're going to come back down here, last inhale, last exhale and come all the way back down.

Now we'll turn over onto our backs with our knees up towards the ceiling. So knees bent, back flat on the mat, again tuck your chin so your neck is in line with your spine and now we're going to do some bridging. But when we bridge I want you to think about the bony bits of your hips here. So at the moment they're pointing up towards the ceiling, what I want you to do is lift your lower back off the mat so that the bony bits of your hips turn towards the direction of your head.

So again this scoop of your hips so your lower back lifts first and then we'll start peeling the rest of the back off the mat. So I'm going from lower back to the middle of the back to just behind my shoulders and I'm lifting that up off the mat and now we have to lower down so I'm rolling that back down. So now just behind my shoulders is going to drive down to the mat, then the centre of my back, then my lower back and that last point is just behind the back of my shorts is going to come down and then lift again. So peel that up and keep lifting, keep driving up and breathing and then back down.

So let's do a few of these and keep your knees apart here, you don't want your knees kind of falling in together, keep them apart and back up. So tuck the hips, lift that lower part of the back, keep driving the hips up and peeling the back off the mat. Then let's roll the back down. Good.

One more. And then the last one, let's lift the hips up and then lift the hips and then we'll spend two breaths just really thinking about using the glutes and driving the hips up nice and high here, stretching out the front of the hips and using the quads as well. Good, let's lower the hips down, knees over to the left, knees over to the right. One more time to your left and send the hips in that direction by driving the right foot down in the mat, keep that for a breath, ease that off then over to the right, send your hips in that direction again for a breath and ease back off.

Good. And bring yourself back up. So I really hope you enjoyed that video, it's often neglected area but feels really good when we stretch it so make sure you do these videos a few times and I will see you in the next one.