How to Do the Gastric Stretch

Video Transcript

AMY MCCAULEY: Hi, here is how you do the gastroc stretch. The gastrocnemius is the major muscle in the calf. `We will hinge forward at the hips, keeping the back as flat as possible. You're just going to grab on to the ball of your foot, opposite arm is going to support yourself on the thigh, and we're pulling that toe towards you, applying the pressure in the ball of the foot. As you pull the toes towards you, you should feel a nice, long stretch through your calf muscles all the way up into the hamstring. Breathe, try to breathe into the muscle, try not to lock your breath, hold this stretch for about 10 to 15 seconds; if you're able to, try to go up to 30. It may feel a little uncomfortable at times so just point the toe, relax the toe, and then count right back into your stretch. Another way to stretch the calves: Come down onto all 4s, and then come back like you're trying to do a pushup, we're going to take one leg over the ankle and you're pushing the pressure at the heel back towards the floor. So pressing the heel down towards the floor is going to stretch all the way through that calf muscle even into the hamstring. If you're unable to support yourself, you're more than welcome to do the standing stretch, or you can lean against the wall and stretch your calf. So a couple of things to remember when stretching the calf muscle: We are trying to stretch or lengthen that muscle, so you want toes towards you, applying the pressure in the ball of your foot only, try not to let the back round out and hunch, nice flat back, breath into the stretch, holding up to 30 seconds as you switch sides and that's how you do a gastroc stretch.