How do I stretch my leg?

The quadriceps are a group of four muscles :

Vastus intermedius, rectus femoris, vastus lateralis and vastus medialis. 

Stretching this group is general. You need to bend your foot, bringing it as close to your bottom as possible.  try not to let your back curve inwards. You can do this by resting your foot on something behind you; or grabbing your foot and pulling it behind you, as shown on the picture above. 

This may make you feel a stretch across the front of the hip. This will indicate your hip flexors are also tight , (look at the other section too). 

The hamstrings are a group of 3 muscles: biceps femoris, semitendinosus and semimembranosus. 

To stretch the hamstrings you need to straighten the knee, pull it up as har as you can. Try not to let your back bend round into a slump. You can use your hand to hold your leg, as shown above., or a band/ rope around the foot, pull up. 

You could feel the stretch up the whole back of your leg or in certain spots, this depends on any knots and where your tightness is. 

The calf/ lower leg has a few muscles - the most common; the gastrocnemius, another major muscle is the soleus. 

The stretch shown in the mage above is actually for the soleus - lifting a tow with no need at the knee, leaning forward until you feel a stretch. 

For the gastrocnemius, you need to have a bent leg - like the back leg - then lean forward. 

You may find it harder to stretch the gastrocnemius - another way is to start with a bend leg, toes pointing up then slowly straighten the leg. 

The gluteal group is made up of three muscles - gluteus maximus, gluteus Medius, glutes minimums. 

To stretch the gluteal group- you can use the 'pigeon' type stretch. This will hit all three muscles.  You can complete this stretch in a few steps. 

1. start with both feet flat on the floor, knees bent. 

2. Put one ankle over the other knee.                 

3. lift the leg that was still on the floor. you        should end up looking like the picture above.  

You can put the leg that is not being stretched on the floor - put the leg that is being stretched on a ledge like a sofa arm then squat into the stretch.      

There a few muscles which aid hip flexion. The stretch will get all muscles however some more than others. We are going to think about two of the hip flexors which will be responsible for the majority of the movement; Psoas and Iliacus. 

These muscles go over the front of the hip - so we want to push through the front of that hip. We will do the stretch in steps: 

1. Get into an upright position on both knees. 

2. lift one leg forward so one foot is flat on the floor Infront of you. 

3. lean forward, stretching the hip on the leg   that still has a knee on the floor. 

Don't let your back curve inwards!