How to Stretch the Five Major Muscles of Your Body

A tightly wielded ball of rubber bands is rolling down the street and as it runs off the curve all the bands snap at once causing a major disaster. This scenario explains how the human muscular system can sometimes be so tightly spun that one move can cause everything to come crashing down. Stretching all five major muscle groups--arms and shoulders, legs, back, chest and abdominals--can help prevent muscle soreness as well as injury.

Things You'll Need

  • Chair
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Instructions

    • 1

      Stretch the shoulders and the arms with the chair upper-body stretch. Sit on a chair and grab the back of the chair with your hands. Slowly edge toward the end of the seat while allowing your arms to remain planted on the chair.

    • 2

      Target the abdominals with an overhead stretch. Stand erect with your feet shoulder-length apart and start to raise you hands over head. Stretch your hands all the way up while remaining as erect as possible. You should feel your stomach protrude a bit as you straighten yourself up.

    • 3

      Perform the standing-torso stretch to loosen up those back muscles. Stand erect and place one hand on your waist. Lean over to one side while extending your other arm straight up and over toward the opposing direction. Alternate arms so you'll stretch the right hand and side of your body to the left and then you'll stretch the left hand and side of your body toward the right.

    • 4

      Loosen those legs with the hamstring stretch. Lie down on your back and extend your left leg into the air while pressing your body, arms and right leg into the ground. Extend the leg as far as comfortable and then return it to the floor. Repeat the same movement on the next side.

    • 5

      Activate the triceps with a triceps side stretch to relax those beefy arms. Take your left arm and lift it across your chest over your neck so that it is stretched across your body. Take your right hand and press the left arm toward your body activating a decent stretch. Repeat the same movement with the other arm and hand.

    • 6

      Power up those arms again with a standing biceps stretch. Form a fist with your hands behind your back; with your palms together, straighten and rotate your arms so that the palms face downward. Elevate your arms up and hold until you feel a stretch in your biceps.