ABSOLUTE ASCENDANCY

Overview

The groin stretch. This is another stretching exercise I like to unleash on unsuspecting students during a warm-up when I feel like torturing them. It is excellent for not only loosening your groin area but also to stretch out your calf muscles and hamstrings; which are all too commonly tight, especially for men. The advanced version will also help strengthen and mobilise your knees. For martial artists, this stretch will help promote the range of motion required to facilitate crescent kicks and linear kicks (teeps) effectively.

Application

Start by taking a wide stance. Your feet should roughly be twice shoulder-width apart. Then perform a half squat by bending one of your knees; your other leg should extend outwards and straighten out. You can then reach towards your extended leg and if you can do so, lower your head so that it touches your extended knee. To switch sides, initially, you can retract your extended leg and then extend the other. Once comfortable with this, you can consider placing your hands on the ground in front of you and shifting your weight across. The advanced version, the one I use to inflict unimaginable torment to my students with, requires you to shift your weight without support from your hands. So you keep your hands off the ground and use only your knee strength to move across. I usually do ten shifts, so you stretch each side five times.

Conclusion

There you have it. Probably my favourite stretch for the groin area. I suggest working your way towards the advanced variant and start with placing your hands on the floor for shifting across until it is comfortable. Only then should you attempt to shift without your hands, if you’re up for the challenge.