Target Areas: Hamstrings, IT band, lower back
Practical Benefits: Greatly reduce the risk of injury in your knee by stretching the IT band, and significantly improve your hamstring strength and flexibility to improve lifts such as dead-lift while reducing the risk of injury to your hamstrings from sports involving sprinting.
Technique:
1. Front foot faces forward. Keep a slight bend to the knee at at all times.
2. Back foot points forty five degrees outside the front foot and is planted one and a half to two feet behind the front heel. (Similar to Warrior 1.)
3. Press into the outside of the back foot to keep the entire sole of the foot on the ground and back leg straight.
4. Front hip pulls up and back and back hip pulls down and forward so that hips and shoulders face straight forward.
5. Reach chest as far forward as possible to maintain a flat back.
6. Plant fingertips on the ground and pull your chest forward to create length in the spine and deepen the stretch in the hamstrings.
7. Hold for 30 – 60 seconds.
Tips: Bend your front knee if you find yourself unable to keep your back flat.
