World’s Greatest Stretch: How Many Muscles Does It Really Work?

Naming a stretch the World’s Greatest Stretch is a big call. A really big call. So how do you even do it, what is it good for and is it worth the hype? Here’s everything you need to know.

How to do the World’s Greatest Stretch 

1. Start in a standing position with your feet hip-width apart.

2. Take a big step forward with your left foot to come into a deep lunge with your right leg extended behind you, resting on the ball of your foot with your right knee lifted off the ground. Make sure your left knee remains stacked over your ankle.

3. Place both hands on the floor on the inside of your left foot and hold the stretch for three to five seconds, breathing deeply throughout.

4. Keeping your right leg extended with your knee elevated off the floor, release your left hand and reach your arm up towards the ceiling, rotating your torso towards your left knee and turning your gaze up towards your left hand. 

5. Hold this position for the specified amount of time, breathing deeply throughout. Repeat this stretch on the other side.

What muscles does the World’s Greatest Stretch work?

The sheer number of muscles stretched in this exercise is why the name is so justified. You can move through this stretch in a dynamic way during your warm-up to increase circulation and prepare your muscles for the work to come, hold it as a static stretch during your cool-down, or include it in a standalone mobility session. 

With your legs in a deep lunge position, you should feel a nice stretch up the front of the quad of your extended back leg, as well as in your back foot, calf and hamstring. With your front foot flat on the floor, expect to feel your hips open up as you stretch into that area and a gentle pull through your glutes, too.

Then, with one hand on the floor and the other hand reaching up towards the ceiling, this is when your upper body joins the party. Twisting your torso will stretch your abdominal muscles and open up your chest, and you’ll feel it through your shoulders and back as one hand supports your weight while the other reaches high into the air. 

For a static stretch during your cool-down, hold this position for 20-30 seconds before changing sides. For a more dynamic stretch during your warm-up, slowly rotate your arm up and back down to the floor to create a gentle twisting motion – a great way to warm up and mobilise your spine, core and upper body.

Make friends with your warm-ups and cool-downs

We get it – you’re busy, you don’t have time and you just want to get your workout done. But trust us, making sure you’ve got five minutes at each end of your session to warm up and cool down is worth it to help you get the most out of your workout and reduce your injury risk. YogaFokus trainer Katie Martin is also a huge fan of including this stretch in her running warm-ups, and you can try it with her in her guided audio interval run on the YogaFokus Daily podcast.

If you’re not sure what exercises are best to incorporate, we’ve got plenty of ideas for your warm-ups and cool-downs, and every workout in the YogaFokus app also comes with optional exercises to make it even easier. Zero guesswork required! 

World’s Greatest Stretch – we love you. If you’ve never tried this stretch before, add it into your next YogaFokus session. You can thank us later!