Parkour stretch 1 by Awsa; hip flexor/iliopsoas

This is part of a blog for Parkour Generations www.parkourgenerations.com and the first in the series of stretches that I, and Tim Galliver of 6 Physio, think are imperative stretches for Parkour practitioners. Hope it helps. Hip flexor/iliopsoas stretch for Parkour practitioners. Pointers to be aware of; Start on both knees, bring one leg in front of you. The leg in front should have the knee over, or just behind, your heel, NOT knee over toes. The knee you are resting on needs to be straight underneath the hip, your shoulders over the hips. Tuck your pelvis under as you stretch your spine to the ceiling. Both are EQUALLY as important. Try to avoid the pelvic tilt to pull your spine into a curve. Tuck pelvis under, stretch up. Imagine you are pushing your bum through your hip flexor on the leg you are resting on. Hold for 40 seconds, breathing slowly. You can increase the stretch by leaning forward slightly. Don’t go too far as it may go into your quads (thigh muscles) instead. Then raise the arm that is on the side you are stretching, and stretch up to the ceiling. Press the other arm against the inside of the leg in front of you to help the stretch out WHILE you are still tucking under. Hold for an other 40 seconds. Oh, and the Saturday Night ‘dance move’ was a reference to John Travolta’s Saturday Night FEVER moves. There were just too many instructions in my head and the ‘FEVER’ part got lost… Happy stretching