36 Pictures To See Which Muscle You’re Stretching
7. Lateral Side Flexion of the Neck
Muscles emphasized: sternocleidomastoid “SCM”. Prolong your neck as much as possible and slowly drop your ear to your shoulder, ensuring that you are not collapsing your cervical spine. This stretch can be further developed and advanced by sitting on a chair and holding onto the bottom of the seat. This is going to make the tension down your arm and neck consistent, and thus it will let you target the upper traps.
8. Neck Rotation Stretch
Muscles emphasized: sternocleidomastoid “SCM”. Begin by rotating your neck in a slow manner, while keeping your chin a bit elevated to isolate the SCM. For a deeper stretch, you will need to put pressure with the opposite hand from the direction that you are rotating.
9. Neck Extension Stretch
Muscles emphasized: sternocleidomastoid “SCM”. Begin by putting your hands on your hips, and in meantime, keep your spine long start to tilt your head back, ensuring that you are not collapsing your cervical spine.
10. Lateral Side Flexion of the Neck with Hand Assistance
Muscles emphasized: sternocleidomastoid “SCM” and upper trapezius. Prolong your neck as much as possible while you slowly drop your ear to your shoulder. While you do this, make sure you are not collapsing your cervical spine. Advance this stretch by sitting on a chair and grabbing the bottom of its seat. In this way, you will create consistent tension down the arm and the neck, and it will let you target the upper traps.
11. Half Kneeling Quad / Hip Flexor Stretch
Muscles emphasized: psoas and quadriceps. Begin in the position of half-kneeling. Then you should bring forward the right hip, and you should also start feeling a stretch in the front of your hip while you do that. Take your back foot and squeeze your back glute in order to add to the stretch on your hip flexors.
12. Forearm Extensor Stretch
Muscles emphasized: forearm extensor. Begin by packing your shoulder and your back down. Next, rotate your shoulder towards outside to get into the optimal position to stretch the forearm muscle. When you have come into this position put pressure on your opposing hand to start the stretch. You can advance this stretch by touching the tips of your fingers together in the shape of a tea cup.
13. Lateral Shoulder Stretch
Muscles emphasized: side deltoid. With your arms across your body, put pressure on your arm to add to the stretch on your shoulder.
14. Standing Assisted Neck Flexion Stretch
Muscles emphasized: trapezius muscle. Stand on the ground with your feet together. Make sure your spine is prolonged and slowly sit your hips back and round your upper back, pushing your chin to your chest at the same time.
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