Stretching quads – same hand or opposite?

Been meaning to ask this for a while…when (if) you stretch your quads by grabbing your foot behind your arse, do you use your right hand or your left hand to hold your right foot?

Everyone seems to use the same hand except me – a trainer told me, quite a few years ago, that it was safer fo your back to use opposite hands.

??

Same side of hand and foot for me.

The position you hold your foot determines which part of the quad you stretch. Straight behind for overall stretch, heel to opposite arse cheek for outer quad and heel away from body for inner (I think!)

You’re apparently not supposed to do that – it’s bad for your knees.

I was taught that you should use opposite hands. AND you should do it whilst laid on your front – to protect the knees. Not very practical if warming up outside mind you.

I was shown by my physio to do it laying down, using the same side arm as your leg that’s being stretched and push your pelvis into the ground/ tuck your bum in, if needs be realese the tension on your arm, but it’s pushing the pelvis in that brings the stretch on, if standing up, natural tendency is to bend forwards to counteract which is counterproductive

The point about the knee is that the lower part of the quads join on to the top part of the tibia. The rectus femoris in particular goes right over the front of the patella so stretching strongly will apply quite a bit of pressure.

If you do have knee problems then you should be careful when doing quad stretches. The lying down version will still use the same functional movement so also apply pressure. If you don’t have knee problems then you should be ok.

As for doing the stretch the important thing to remember is that you are aiming to lengthen the entire quads. People often focus on pulling their heel up to their bum but doing that places more pressure than necessary over the top of the knee.

A slightly better focus for the stretch is to concentrate on standing tall and gently pulling the foot up and back while pushing the hips forward. This helps in particular with the rectus femoris as that starts on the pelvic girdle (rather than the femur which is the origin for the other quad muscles).

Also when doing the quad stretch in this way you will additionally be able to stretch out your iliacus and psoas major – which is always nice 🙂

You can also stretch your quads by going on one knee with the knee on the floor as far behind you as you can manage – then push your pelvis forwards – stretches the whole side of your body and the quad. Again, hard to do whilst warming up for a run/ride tho.

Personally when I stretch quads I use my hand to hold up my foot and then push my thigh backwards with its own muscles – not fully squishing the knee. Seems to be a decent halfway house.

Having said that, I recently read that static stretching is the worst thing you can do to warm up before exercise…. It’s much better to jog/ride gently etc.

I’ve read that streching before cycling has no benefit, it’s afterwards that you need to do it.

I certainly feel the benefit of stretching afterwards, but not beforehand. I use the same hand FWIW

opposite

It’s after exercise in the gym that I do my stretches and find it helps loads. I always forget to do them when I’m out on a proper ride and I feel it the next day. I don’t bother with anything beforehand – just building up gently-ish seems to be enough.

my physio told me to do both; one after the other obviously!

I always used to pull my lower back if I didnt stretch before riding.

My old running coach used to tell me the quad stretching move was bad for knees and so never to do it. Quads were never a problem for me though, always lower back.

Stretching has no benefits whatsover in terms of injury prevention according to studies. (quoted in Lore of running, Noakes 2003) It was noted that those who stretched before exercise and after suffered more injuries than those that stretched only afterwards.
Its not an open and shut case however and their have been conflicting studies more recently on mice that show some benefits to pre exercise stretching. (Mc Gregor)

Always stretch warm muscles and as above use the first few minutes of exercise to warm up.

I was under the impression that stretching was pointless and even risking injury if done before warming up. A warm up should consist of low impact and exertion for at least 10 mins. So a flat or slight incline before icreasing to full riding speed.
Think of it like a car engine warning up before using the full range of revs. Stretching should be done after exercising and before you fully cool down.

I’m not a pro athlete (lol, if only) but it seems to me that most pro athletes appear to stretch before a race. If your ride can include a warmup then fair enough, but often people just have to dive right into a ride (think llandegla, hill right out of the car park).

Opposite hands, with knees as close together as possible and you heel into the crack of your arse.

Or so I have been told.

Apparently it mimics the way that the knee would naturally move.

Lying on your front propped up on an elbow with your knees together get hold of your ankle with the same side hand – do not pull the foot towards your buttocks. Push the bone at the front of your pelvis into the ground by flattening your low back. Extend your knee up and away from the pelvis in an arc. If you have your knee more than a couple of inches off the ground without feeling much stretch then (& only then) pull the heel towards the buttock. This will stretch your quads and hip flexors. Don’t do it if it causes low back pain.