Video Transcription
Hi everybody, Dr. Ryan here. Today we’ll be covering your first series of lower body exercises. We’re going to be doing leg swings, psoas stretches, and hamstring stretches.
Let’s get into it.
Leg Swings
In this first video, we will be covering how to warm up the lower body. I like to do this best with leg swings, and we’ll use the wall for support. Hand on the wall here, and we are going to go forwards and backward, and then we’ll go side to side. Forward, backward. Perfect. And side to sides. And with the other leg, of course. That’s how we do our warm-up hip exercises for the lower body.
PSOAS Stretches
The next stretch that we’re going to do here is a psoas lunge stretch. It’s a little bit complicated, so we’ll go step by step here with Caitlin. Caitlin, get into that lunge position. Toes are going to be facing forward. Next, we’re going to lean forward into that lunge. Don’t let that front knee get over the toes. Now we’re going to kind of sit back and lean a little bit. The hand’s going to come up over the head, and then she is going to tilt away from the side that she is stretching. She’ll feel a very good stretch along the front side of that hip there. That’s our psoas lunge stretch.
Hamstring Stretches
The next exercise Caitlin is going to demonstrate is for our hamstrings. I like to do it this way so we’re not leaning over and really compromising the low back. Caitlin here is going to use a stool, but you can use a chair or an ottoman at home, and that will be just as good. Caitlin, let’s have you bring that leg up. The heel is going to go on the chair. Now from this point, we want to make sure she keeps a very good posture, and then she’s just going to lean from the hip forward. She’ll feel a really nice stretch on the backside of the leg, and that’s what we’re looking for. That is your hamstring stretch using an ottoman or a stool.
