How to Do Stretching Exercises for the Groin Area While Standing

Stretching both before and after your exercise routine should be regular practice to help increase flexibility, improve performance and reduce the risk of injury. The groin is one of the most painful areas to pull or strain muscles; however, it is often overlooked in warm-up and cool-down. Particularly important for runners who have a tendency to hyper-extend the muscles of the groin, a standing stretch can help prevent painful injury.

Instructions

1. Stand with your legs about 3 feet apart and allow your hands to rest on your hips. Your feet should be pointing straight ahead and your neck and shoulders should be relaxed. Lift your body, making your spine long and straight.

2. Bend your right knee and slowly and carefully lean your body out to the side, over your knee, only leaning as far as is comfortable. If at any point you feel pain or strain in your knee, you have gone too far. Make sure that your knee does not bend out past your toes. If you feel you would like a deeper stretch, simply open your stance a bit wider.

3. Hold the position for about 15 seconds, feeling the stretch in the groin area, before pushing yourself up to standing position and repeating on the opposite side. Perform the stretch at least 3 times on each side.

4. Perform these standing groin stretches both before and after your workout. If these standing stretches become easy, you can open your stance and turn your toes out slightly to deepen the stretch of the groin area.