Loosen Up Those Legs with These 4 Exercises

No matter what today's workout calls for, you should always take a few minutes to prep your body for whatever activity you're planning on doing.

Warming up helps you:

1. Gradually rev up your cardiovascular system, which causes less stress on your heart to get pumping.
2. Increase your body temperature to help increase the elasticity in your muscles and avoid muscle strains and tears.
3. Mentally prepare for your workout and identify areas that will need more attention during your workout.

So if you're planning to go on a run, hit a heavy leg day lift, or just need to loosen your leg muscles up a little from your last leg day, give these exercises a try for a quick and easy warm-up!

Kang Squats

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart.
2. Keeping your back straight, hinge at the hips to lower your torso forward until it's parallel to the floor. This is also called a "good morning" position.
3. Maintaining a straight spine, sit back by bending your knees and dropping your hips until your thighs are parallel to the floor.
4. Extend your knees and raise your hips until your torso is parallel to the floor, returning to the good morning position.
5. Raise your torso and bring your hips back underneath you.

Hip Controlled Articular Rotations (CARs)

1. Start in a quadruped position (on all fours) with your hands directly under your shoulders and knees directly under your hips.
2. Engage your core, and keep your back straight and flat from your hips to the top of your head.
3. Shift your weight to one side, keeping your torso stable and without rotating your hips or shoulders as you shift.
4. Keeping the opposite knee at a 90-degree angle, raise the leg back and then out to the side, away from the body to open the hip.
5. Gently return the leg back to the starting position and repeat 5-10 times on each side.

Abductor Rocks

1. Start in a quadruped position with your hands directly under your shoulders and knees under your hips.
2. Shift the weight onto one side of your body and extend your leg on the opposite side straight out to the side.
3. Use your shoulders to shift your weight forward and back to achieve a deeper stretch in your hip abductors.

Half Kneeling Ankle Dorsiflexion

1. Kneel on the floor or on a mat with both knees. Place one foot forward so that your hip and knee are at a 90-degree angle.
2. Keeping your torso upright, slowly lean forward until you feel a comfortable stretch through your groin and the top of the thigh on your back leg. (You can place your hands on your front knee for additional support.)
3. Move slowly, back and forth about 5-10 times on each side or hold for 30 seconds.