10 Top Fitness Pros Share the One Stretch They Slot Into Every Cooldown

Thank you Self.com for featuring me in your article about the one stretch you should slot into every cooldown.

If there’s any tenet in the fitness world that’s gone unchallenged, it’s the importance of a solid warm-up before your workout. These warm-ups, which usually involve dynamic stretching, or the kind that’s done with easy movement that mimics the exercises you’re about to do later, are essential to ward off injury, help improve performance, and simply make your routine feel better.

One that tends to fall by the wayside? The importance of a cooldown, when you gradually reduce workout intensity and pace to let your breathing and heart rate return back to normal, and ideally add some stretching into the mix along the way.

“Quad and hip flexor stretches are important for the flexibility and range of motion of the quadriceps and iliopsoas muscles (the large, compound muscle in the inner hip). Good quad and hip flexibility allow for unrestricted, pain-free movement of the hip and upper leg. As a variation of this stretch, you can also remain standing rather than putting your back knee down, giving it an element of balance and core stability.” —Jessica Schatz, RYT, certified master Pilates instructor at The Core Expert in Los Angeles

• Kneel on your left knee. Place your right foot flat on the floor in front of you, knee bent.

• Lean forward, stretching your left hip toward the floor.

• Squeeze your butt; this will allow you to stretch your hip flexor even more.

• Hold for 15 to 60 seconds.

• Switch sides and repeat.

You can read the full article here.