How To Do The Gastric Stretch Video

Warm up with gastric stretch exercises. Learn how to do gastric stretch exercises in this stretching and flexibility video.

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Stretch calve muscles with gastric stretch
Exercise standing or leaning against a wall
Hold ball of foot for 30 seconds

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Amy McCauley has been a certified personal fitness trainer since 1995. She specializes in pilates, combat cardio, core conditioning and overall strength training. She works with clients ranging in age from 16 - 69. She has worked at Gold's Gym in Wilmington, NC since 2006. She loves her job because it gives her the opportunity to change peoples' lives in a positive way.

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.

How to Do the Gastric Stretch Video

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