(Image credit: Getty Images/Witthaya Prasongsin)
As I’ve grown older, I’ve learned a few things. I probably should have learned a lot of things, but I’ll take what I can get. One of them is that stretching is increasingly important as the years gallop by and disappear over the hill, never to be seen again. This is something I should have been aware of a long time ago, but, again, I’ll take what I can get.So I now stretch before and after exercise, and I also stretch in the mornings (yawning excessively and extending the arms out to the sides like a cartoon bear emerging from hibernation does not count, by the way). I do a range of stretches but I had never tried the Frankenstein walk, which is a dynamic stretch, meaning it’s designed to improve range of motion and act as a warm-up move. And now that I have… well, I plan to keep walking this way.What is it?The Frankenstein walk is one of the most straightforward moves I have ever done for Tom’s Guide. It works the hamstrings, quads, and hips, and also helps you loosen up before exercise. Tight hamstrings are a major factor in limiting performance in daily activities, as well as sport, and can lead to back pain, too, as can tight hip flexors.The exercise is also known, more prosaically, as the toe-touch walk and while infinitely less catchy, that name is also far more accurate. Victor Frankenstein had, from all indications, a perfectly normal human walk (though as played by Oscar Isaac in the recent Guillermo del Toro adaptation, he was inclined to swagger like a rock star), and his misbegotten creation (who was, of course, not called Frankenstein) has never walked in the highly exaggerated, hugely inefficient manner this move suggests. So, not only is it named after the wrong guy, it just didn’t happen, at least not in the film versions I’ve seen (and Mary Shelley certainly doesn’t go on about it). That said, it’s a deceptively effective exercise.If you have recently had hip or lower back problems, or you are recovering from injury, talk with a medical professional before attempting this move.How do I do it?
