The bilateral dynamic squat stretch prepares the various muscles attaching to the hip for explosive lateral movements during match play.
This bilateral dynamic squat stretch reduces the risk of injury and optimizes your power-production capabilities while improving flexibility and stability by increasing muscle tissue temperature.
Find out more about the benefits of a proper warm up routine.
It is convenient to add the squat stretch into your dynamic stretching routine because it warms up various muscles simultaneously, which allows you to save some time.
Simply step sideways into a squat until your knees are at 90 degrees of flexion. Distribute the weight over the heels so your toes don’t protrude over the toes.
Then push back and return to athletic stance and repeat the same movement to the opposite side.
Bilateral Squat Stretch Progression
This is also a great time to mentally prepare yourself.
Make sure you can control the action throughout the entire range of motion. Otherwise you defeat the purpose of the exercise.
Very often, athletes are not focused and they just go through the motions. They become sloppy. Especially when it comes to maintaining dynamic stability.
Here are the progression levels:
- Beginner: look down during the action
- Advanced: look forward during the action & increase speed
- Professional: close your eyes & perform single leg action
As a beginner you want to perform the stretch in a controlled fashion so that you can maintain dynamic stability throughout the stretch.
Advanced athletes can speed up the action and maintain a narrow base during the squat position to increase the dynamic stability requirements.
Professional athletes can close their eyes during the action and perform a single leg squat. That makes it even more difficult to maintain dynamic stability throughout the action.
Bilateral Squat Stretch Description Summary
- Stand straight with feet close together
- Step sideways with the left foot until both feet are shoulder-width apart
- Flex hips and drop down in the center between the legs; bend both knees until they are at 90˚; knee must not move beyond toes; toes point slightly outward (10˚-20˚)
- Extend knees and hips and step out of the squat to the left; move feet close together
- Side-step to the right
- Step sideways with the right foot until both feet are shoulder-width apart
- Flex hips and drop down in the center between the legs; bend both knees until they are at 90˚; knee must not move beyond toes; toes point slightly outward (10˚-20˚)
- Extend knees and hips and step out of the squat to the right; move feet close together
- Repeat
Targeted Musculature
- Hip Abductors
- Hip Adductors
- Piriformis
- Glutes
Other Dynamic Glute & Adductor Stretches For You
Of course we have more great dynamic stretches that you can do before you start playing tennis to get yourself prepared and ready for action.
Simply chose 6-8 dynamic stretches for your dynamic stretch routine that warm up the major muscle groups of the legs and hips and you are ready to go!
Here are a few suggestions:
- adductor stretch and abductor stretch
- bilateral lunge stretch with trunk rotation
- Glute & Calve Stretch: High Knee Pull with Dorsi Flexion
Other Static Glute & Adductor Stretches For You
Apart from the dynamic bilateral squat stretch we have some other static stretches for you that target the muscles acting on the hip.
You can use these stretches during the cool down once you are finished with your match or training session.
Simply click on them to learn more or watch the videos:
Training Zone
In this section we provide you with some more workouts and training tips you may be interested in to optimize your training:
