How to Stretch before a Hike

Video Transcript

"Hi, today I'm going to show you a few basic stretches. Stretching is really important because if you get all stretched out you'll be way more happy when you're hiking because you're going to feel a lot looser, a lot better. So, I'm going to show you a few basic stretches. Before you stretch you should warm up a little bit. Walk around the parking lot, your yard, whatever. If you've been driving for a couple of hours you're pretty tense from driving down the highway or whatever. So, let's just start with a few basic stretches. You're warmed up, now let's stretch. A good stretch to do is stretch to each leg like so, try to pull your head in towards your knee like that. Go to each leg, and you can go to both, stretching. While you're still standing, find something, a partner or a tree in my case to keep you upright, but nice and sturdy. Keep your back straight, pull your leg back, what this is doing is it's going to stretch the top of your leg which is really important when you're going down hill as well. So, stretch both legs and after you're done with that have a seat because you're gonna do some hamstring stretches. Just pull one leg in so it's parallel with your knee and stretch, try to push your head toward your knee. Get the other leg, stretch, oh yeah, put your head to your knee again. Those are just a few basic stretches. You can also do some other stretches, you can pull your arms across, it's not as necessary because you don't use your arms as much when you're hiking, but you know, you can pull your arms across like this, pull them up like this. You can stretch any muscles you want but I really recommend stretching your legs out, it'll make you a lot more comfortable while you're hiking throughout your day."