Hard To Reach Muscles Need To Be Massaged Like This

Your muscles are like a piece of fabric that you’re holding in front of you, if you were to pull that fabric in opposite directions, it would stretch up to a certain point. If continued to pull, some of the fibres would start to break. Given enough force, the fabric would eventually rip right in half. Your muscles are no different to the fabric.

Taking this into consideration, it proves the importance of stretching and trying to reach the muscles you wouldn’t naturally think of.

So to know if the pain is a strain or general fatigue, be sure to stretch before exercising, after and also with these examples, for those hard to reach muscles!

1. The Blackburn

Targets:

Shoulders
Lats

Start by lying face down on the floor, place your arms at your sides, elevated above the glutes with your palms facing up.
Swing your arms towards the top of your head, rotating your palms so that at the top of the movement, they’re facing down towards the floor.
Return to the starting position for one rep.
Repeat for 4 sets of 12 reps.

2. A Calf Massage

Targets:

Calves

Start in a tabletop position with your wrists under your shoulders and knees under your hips.
Place your left knee on top of your right calf.
Starting in a clockwise direction, press your knee gently into your calf muscle and make small circles to massage.
Change direction.
Repeat for 3 sets of 30 seconds on each leg.

3. A Dynamic Side Lunge

Targets:

Hips
Hamstrings

Start in a wide stance position with your toes angled out.
Shift your hips back and shift all of your weight to the right side, lowering into a side lunge.
Allow your left toes to come off the ground and point up.
Push through your right heel to shift your weight to the left side, then repeat on the opposite side for one rep.
Complete 3 sets of 30 seconds with continuous movement.

4. Cross-Legged Stretch

Targets:

Hip Flexors
Inner Thighs

Start by lying face up.
Draw your knees to your chest then cross your legs over one another whilst simultaneously grabbing your ankles with the opposite hands.
Pull both of your legs towards your chest and back out until you feel the stretch in your hips and legs.
Hold for 30 seconds.
Repeat for 3 sets.

5. The Frog Stretch

Targets:

Hips

Start on all fours on a cushioned surface, with wrists under your shoulders and knees under your hips.
Spread your knees wider than hip-width apart, turning your toes out.
Slowly move your hips back between your feet to feel a stretch deep in your hips.

If it’s too intense, support more of your body weight with your hands and upper body, and ease back slowly until you gain more flexibility.
Hold for 30 seconds.
Repeat for 3 sets.