maratoolWorld's Greatest Stretch
How to do the world's greatest stretch
- This is a three-part stretch. Begin by lunging forward, with your front foot flat on the ground and on the toes of your back foot. With your knees bent, squat down until your knee is almost touching the ground. Keep your torso erect, and hold this position for 10-20 seconds.
- Now, place the arm on the same side as your front leg on the ground, with the elbow next to the foot. Your other hand should be placed on the ground, parallel to your lead leg, to help support you during this portion of the stretch.
- After 10-20 seconds, place your hands on either side of your front foot. Raise the toes of the front foot off of the ground, and straighten your leg. You may need to reposition your rear leg to do so. Hold for 10-20 seconds, and then repeat the entire sequence for the other side.
Muscles worked
The muscles under tension are the hamstrings, which extend the hip and bend the knee, frequently at both joints in the same repetition.
A stretch loads them at the far end of the range they normally work in, so the position you hold is itself the resistance.
Nothing travels, but holding the position is not the target muscle’s job alone: the calves control the ankle and hold the heel position; the glutes finish hip extension; the quadriceps straighten the knee and take load on the descent.
Every exercise for:HamstringsCalvesGlutesQuadriceps
How this movement works
Nothing travels once you are in position. The muscle holds a length under tension instead of working through a range, so effort is measured in seconds rather than repetitions — and the honest progression is more time in a good position, not a deeper one forced early.
It is filed under stretching, so the target is range of motion rather than force — a position you can settle into and breathe in, held long enough for the tissue to give.
What you need
These train the hamstrings too, using equipment this one does not:
- 90/90 Hamstringbody only
- Alternating Hang Cleankettlebell
- Ball Leg Curlexercise ball
- Band Good Morningband
- Barbell Lungesbarbell
Difficulty
Listed at intermediate level. It assumes you already own the underlying pattern and can hold position under load — if the position breaks before the target muscle tires, drop back to a beginner variation until it does not.
Of the 86 hamstrings exercises in this database, 35 are listed at intermediate level.
Photos: free-exercise-db — public domain (Unlicense) Full attribution →
ⓘ Informational only — not a substitute for professional fitness or medical advice.