Today we'll address stretching one of the major muscle groups of the leg, the Quadriceps (or Quads). This group of 4 muscles is located on the front of you thigh and is responsible for knee extension or straightening. These are some of the main workhorses that allow you to stand from a chair, jump, kick, and so on. Theya re some of the most powerful muscles in the body because they are constantly working to hold our bodies up against the effects of gravity whenever we are performing any typs of standing activity.
All 4 of these powerful muscles (vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, vastus medialis and rectus femoris) merge together into one major tendon, the patellar tendon. This is the tendon on the front of your knee in which your knee cap (patella) is supended as a lever and attached to the front of you lower leg just below the knee joint.
Because of the powerful nature of these muscles and the fact that they exert all their pressure on one spot, it is a common injury, if proper stretching and warm-up is not performed before activity, to develop a tendonitis or inflamation injury in the front of the knee as a result. So depending on your fitness and activity level, you will probably want to incorporate one of the stretches below as a preventative measure. (I'll address the treatment of tendonitis at a later time).
Basic Side Quad Stretch
Intermediate Quad Stretching
Advanced Quadriceps Stretches
Intermediate Quad Stretch
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