Stretching Exercises

• 1). Jolie Bookspan, M.Ed, PhD, FAWM, on Healthline.com advises this achilles tendon stretch: Stand facing a wall at about arm's length away. Stand with both feet parallel and facing straight ahead; not turned out, even a small amount. Put one foot on the wall at knee height. Press that heel toward the wall. Look down and see if the foot you are standing on is facing directly ahead. Make that standing foot straight, not turned out. Do not lean toward the wall. Lift your chest until you are standing straight. Don't let your hip curl under or your standing knee or hip bend. Smile, relax shoulders, and breathe. Hold a few seconds and switch legs.
  
  
• 2). Tendons attached to knees and muscles in the legs. The gastrocnemius muscle and tendon (above the knee) is best stretched when the knee is straight and the soleus muscle and tendon (below the knee) is best stretched with a bent knee, according to "How to Work With Your Stretch Reflex: The Calf Muscles" by David Holt. He says a fully stretched pair of calf muscles is your first line of defense against damage to the Achilles tendon, the muscles, or to that important muscle-tendon unit.
  
  He suggests the lunge is suitable for stretching both. He describes the proper way to perform a lunge: Start by keeping the heel of the back leg on the ground. The front leg goes well forward. Keep your balance and stay tall. In this upright position, lean forward until the stretch is felt on the straight back leg.
  
  Do some lunges with the back knee straight and some with the knee bent.
  
  
• 3). The quadriceps is the muscle in the front of the thigh, important for lifting your knees and increasing your speed when running. To do this exercise while standing, simply grab hold of a stationary object for balance with one hand and use the opposite hand to grasp the leg around the ankle, lifting it toward your buttocks, according to "Five Fantastic Stretching Exercises" from Debbie Pitchford. Pitchford points out several form faults such as allowing the knee to drift forward ahead of the stance leg. She notes that "a lot of runners slouch forward, which effectively negates the stretch's effectiveness."
  
  
• 4). Pitchford says most runners do this hamstring stretch exercise by putting their foot on a waist-high stationary object like a chair and slowly leaning forward, reaching down the shin until they feel a stretch in the hamstring. Then you hold and repeat this several times. The hamstring is the muscle that runs from just below the knee up into the buttocks. It is the muscle that lifts the lower leg and bends the knee.