Hip/thigh stretches for runners? Or exercises?

I’ll try to describe one of my faves (always difficult without a picture or video!).

If you have a box or high bench (or use some dining chairs together), lie on your back and shuffle until your bum is hanging off the bench, but your back and head are on it. Bring both knees into your chest, then keep hold of one whilst you slowly allow the other leg to straighten down off the bench. You need to be far enough hanging over so that your leg can fall down (hope that makes sense). You also need to be high enough that your leg doesn’t touch the ground. If you find yourself sliding then use one hand to hold the bench.

It stretches the hip flexors and I find my range of mobility increases a lot by holding the stretch. I hold for c30-60 seconds on each side and I have seen people weight their hips or legs, but I’ve never tried that.

Lietchi wrote: »

Any particular stretches you recommend as a fellow runner or someone who has/had similar issues as me?
Or perhaps I need some strengthening exercises to complement my running?

I am another person who ran for years without sufficient stretching, and I too got myself into trouble. In my case, it was my calves, especially after I started doing a high impact step class at the gym recently.

My favorites are the standard hamstring and quad stretches, as well as figure 4, hip flexor, runners, and Achilles stretches.

But I will throw in a quick plug for yoga - what *really* helped with recovery, flexibility, and mobility was tacking on a short yoga session to the end of my runs. Yoga has helped tremendously with my overall flexibility and range of motion, as well as improving balance and unilateral stability. My favorite yoga poses for running are pigeon, lizard, triangle, forward folds, happy baby, and downward dog (and probably lots I'm forgetting). I follow Yoga by Adriene videos on YouTube - she has videos specifically for running or for hips, hamstrings, etc, but I have found full body yoga workouts to be more beneficial. I don't know about you, but my back can get tight from running as well.

But also, yes, strength training! As with regular yoga, unilateral work in lifting has helped me address imbalances in strength and has strengthened tendons and connective tissue as well as the more obvious benefits. Plus I am better about stretching after lifting than after running, so that helps.

Ill be the voice of strength work. Since I've added regular lifting focusing on quads calves and hamstrings I'm more resilient. Then I'll echo the others in terms of pigeon, Happy baby, low lunges, some supine twists, cobra and downward dog