Body Weight Exercises: IT Band Stretches

Video Transcript

"The IT band which stands for the Ilio-tibial band. Where is that? Starts kind of up in here runs way down. If it's tight, boy, well you have problems or can you in your back and in your knees. So it's an important area to focus on especially after a hard workout. Alright, so how do we do this. Well, I'm going to show you two different angles. I'm going to hold on first, if your balance is not that great, hold on to something. From the side, I'm going to bring my foot up and my ankle is right above the knee, right, and I'm anchoring here now. Notice this position, I'm not really in it yet 'cause I'm kind of bent forward. I'm going to try to sit into it and open up my chest. If you're not real flexible, you won't get as low in this. Gently press the knee if you want for more of a stretch. Boy, you're really going to feel this. Let me show you what it looks like from the front if I don't hold on. And you don't have to get super deep in this. The key is that you start to feel it and that you're not bent it over too much. Take the same leg, bring it up. I'm going to sit into it, I'm going to try to open up my chest and I'm going to gently press my knee down, hold the position. "Whooh". I can really feel this. What else can I do for this? I can also do a dancer's stretch. Cross the foot over, press the hip out, you're not going to feel it probably as much, but, it's a good stretch. I like it too because we're still standing. However, having said that, we can also take it down and if you've done yoga, or even if you've seen anything in fitness, you probably seen a cross over stretch. So what is this look like? I'm simply going to take, let me move over here, I'm simply going to take my leg here, watch this from the front, press and turn to the side. And if I do it from the side, what does it look like, pretty similar here, cross it over, and I'm definitely going to feel a stretch. However, you want to do it, make sure you get it in. My recommendation if you've been doing heat training, body weight exercises, you're already standing, your heart rate is up, better off try to do it standing."