How do you stretch adductors?

[lordcenturion]

I can't seem to find a good video about.

[ChrisScott]

Master the pancake is a good place to start. There really is a lot of info out there on adductor stretching.

The tailor pose is a good stretch for the short adductor muscles too.

[lordcenturion]

What I did is simply widen the legs as far apart as I could while standing and doing contract relax in that position.

What do you think about that, can you get to a full split that way?

[bankeinanin]

This "butterfly" stretch as I grew up calling it in karate, has never been a stretch for me. Does that mean I have naturally flexible adductors?

[Craig]

The adductors are a group of muscles that work across many vectors. The tailors pose hits some of these vectors, pancake will hit others, side splits will hit again other vectors. If you can do all 3 of these positions, it's likely the entire adductor group is loose.

[Matt]

Hello Ladies & Gentlemen

At the the risk of hijacking a thread I've been having a bit of a problem with Tailor Pose. As a quick bit of background I am basically the most inflexible person in in the galaxy. I have been working on the above video with some success. Although my knees are nowhere near the ground they are no longer doubling as earmuffs,which they were when I started. The excitement comes when I exit the pose. My left hip pretty much seizes up and it's usually a slow profanity filled couple of minutes before I can even stand (sorry Kit I promise not to swear in the next workshop in Adelaide). The main tightness and pain is in the hip flexor and abductor. About another ten minutes of limping and swearing returns the left hip to reasonable normalcy. Pre rolling and stretching doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

Any help or solutions will result in hugs if we ever meet in real life.

Cheers Matt

[oliviaa]

Hi Matt

 

Reduce the apprehension ... that's the key for you in the tailor pose. If your legs are nowhere near the floor – so, none of the lateral part of the thighs or lower legs are in contact with anything ('ear muffs') – then the part of your brain that calibrates and controls the amount of tension held in the muscles that will potentially be strongly stretched in this position  – adductors (via hip abduction) and hip flexors (via external rotation of the femurs) – will protectively (to not over-stretch) maintain some contraction of these same muscles. That is likely why your hips 'seize up': you're trying to relax into the stretch, however the same muscles are contracting to stop this.

 

What to do? Put some cushions or rolled-up mats between the floor and the outer thighs, ones that will deform somewhat as you relax into the position (allow the stretch, in other words). As soon as the brain knows that the weight of the legs is supported and that you can't over-stretch, the adductors and hip flexors will relax into the stretch. To come out of the position, use the hands to lift the knees – don't use the adductors to do this – until the stretch has completely come away, and then stretch the legs out to the front and stand up and walk around.

 

Re. the abductor pain, either all the muscles of the hip joint are holding tension in the tailor pose position, or the external rotation is causing the abductor(s) to cramp: do a gentle piriformis stretch as a counter pose and this will calm down.

 

Cheers

Olivia

[Jim Pickles]

In relation to the original query, doing it with the knees bent as with the tailor pose wont stretch all the muscles (in particular it wont stretch the gracilis muscle which crosses the knee joint). As well as routinely using the tailor pose, I have recently been using the horse stance (as used in martial arts) with great effect.

 

Jim.

[Matt]

Hi Olivia

Thank you so much for your help.

The good news- your advice worked brilliantly.

The bad news - you're going to get lined up for a hug.... I recommend running at the first opportunity

Once again thanks

Matt

[CharlieG]

Hi - I'm trying the tailor pose and can't get into it with my back flat against the wall without my body gradually moving away to give my back more room to round (and my knees are super high) but all good. I've used the pillows under the knees and sitting higher on a few pillows has really helped to straighten the back but not sure if that's still useful. Might have to just keep at the standing piriformis stretches and the squashed frog one for now and hopefully the tailor pose will become available to me in time.

[Kit_L]

6 hours ago, CharlieG said:

without my body gradually moving away to give my back more room to round

Try sitting on a sticky Yoga mat or similar: that will stop the hips moving forwards. And in my experience, cushions are just way too soft for Support – try a couple of yoga blocks or something like that on top of this the sticky mat and that should hold you in position way more effectively. And these devices can be bought incredibly cheaply now, so don't buy high-quality ones to try this idea out. Anything like these will do.

[CharlieG]

I will give this a go, thank you Kit!