Aikido Hip & Hamstring Stretches

Video Transcript

"The next on the stretching series, what you want to do is get comfortable, lay back, and get your back nice and flat on the floor. Go ahead, pull that leg up, so you want to create a "T" position. So, leg, figure 4, leg down. So, from here, relatively simple, reach through, grab the thigh, pull back on it, you'll feel it very, very deep in your hip and up into your quadricep as well. This one's really good if you have tight hips or if you have a little bit of a pelvic imbalance of any sort, or if you've got a little hitch in your gitty-up. And again, try to actively push down with the leg that's being stretched against the leg that's supporting it. Let it push down, relax, and pull a bit further. So what you're doing is you're trying to create some nerve confusion, and over-stimulate the nerve to where it lets go of the muscle. The other side, reach through, grab, you can even use your arm on the inside for a little bit of extra push, so relax, breathe into your hip and quadricep, pull back, tighten, relax."