The seventeenth in a series by Scot Willingham.

@##=#<1,R>@##=#Equipment: mat

From the above position or posture, simply bend your knees all the way down to the mat. Sit back into your heels with your butt, leaving your hands where they were so that your arms are stretched out. Stay there and breathe at least 4 deep breaths. This is a modified “Child’s Pose” of yoga and is a great stretch for the lower back. Stay here as long as you like and just keep relaxing.

If you get pain in your knees from full flexion, pull a small rolled up towel across the backs of the knees. Then flex to where you are comfortable.

Once you are done, stretch yourself out onto your stomach. Bend one leg as if you were going to touch your butt with your foot. Reach back with the same arm and grab your ankle. You may have to arch back a little or open you knee a little to get it. Once you have a good grip, pull your knees together. Gently pull your foot toward your butt. If you feel the stretch in your quadriceps, fine. Stay there and breathe at least 4 deep breaths. Try to relax the front of your leg.

If you do not feel the stretch yet, simply press your hips down toward the floor and gently pull on the foot until you do feel it. If your quadricep is flexible you may have to lift the knee off the floor to get a stretch. Most cyclists aren’t that flexible. But if you are, more power to you. Again, stay there and breathe at least 4 deep breaths.

Do the other leg.

Again, if full flexion irritates your knee, use the rolled up towel behind the back of the knee of the leg that you are stretching.