Butterfly Stretch

Muscles worked by the Butterfly Stretch

Primary

AdductorsHip Adductors

Secondary

Hip FlexorsHip Flexor Muscles

Also called: hip adductors, inner thigh, adductor muscles, groin.

Equipment

No equipment — this is a bodyweight exercise.

How to do the Butterfly Stretch

1. Sit tall and press the soles of your feet together.
2. Let your knees drop out toward the floor.
3. Hold your feet and sit up tall.
4. Hold for 20 to 30 seconds, breathing steadily.

Form tips

• Gently press the knees down with your elbows for more stretch.
• Bring your heels closer to your body to increase intensity.

At a glance

Butterfly Stretch in German & Spanish

Descriptions, instructions and tips ship in all three languages in the JSON.

Related exercises

• Banded Adductor Stretch
• Banded Standing Hip Adduction
• Bench Adductor Stretch
• Garland Pose
• Happy Baby Pose
• Hip Adduction
• Lizard Stretch
• Seated Straddle Stretch

Exercise data (JSON)

The record below is exactly what exercises.json ships for this exercise — names, descriptions, instructions and tips in English, German and Spanish.

{
  "id": "butterfly-stretch",
  "name_en": "Butterfly Stretch",
  "name_de": "Schmetterlings-Dehnung",
  "name_es": "Estiramiento de Mariposa",
  "description_en": "A seated stretch for the inner thighs, pressing the soles of the feet together with the knees dropped out.",
  "description_de": "Eine sitzende Dehnung für die Oberschenkelinnenseiten, bei der die Fußsohlen zusammengedrückt und die Knie nach außen gesenkt werden.",
  "description_es": "Un estiramiento sentado para los aductores, juntando las plantas de los pies con las rodillas caídas hacia afuera.",
  "category": "stretching",
  "force_type": "static",
  "mechanic": "isolation",
  "difficulty": "beginner",
  "body_part": "upper_legs",
  "primary_muscles": [
    "adductors"
  ],
  "secondary_muscles": [
    "hip_flexors"
  ],
  "goals": [
    "mobility"
  ],
  "tags": [
    "mobility",
    "stretching"
  ],
  "is_unilateral": false,
  "is_bodyweight": true,
  "instructions_en": [
    "Sit tall and press the soles of your feet together.",
    "Let your knees drop out toward the floor.",
    "Hold your feet and sit up tall.",
    "Hold for 20 to 30 seconds, breathing steadily."
  ],
  "instructions_de": [
    "Sitze aufrecht und drücke die Fußsohlen zusammen.",
    "Lasse die Knie nach außen Richtung Boden sinken.",
    "Halte deine Füße und richte dich auf.",
    "Halte 20 bis 30 Sekunden und atme ruhig weiter."
  ],
  "instructions_es": [
    "Siéntate erguido y junta las plantas de los pies.",
    "Deja caer las rodillas hacia el suelo.",
    "Sujeta los pies y mantente erguido.",
    "Mantén de 20 a 30 segundos, respirando de forma constante."
  ],
  "tips_en": [
    "Gently press the knees down with your elbows for more stretch.",
    "Bring your heels closer to your body to increase intensity."
  ],
  "tips_de": [
    "Drücke die Knie sanft mit den Ellbogen nach unten für mehr Dehnung.",
    "Ziehe die Fersen näher zum Körper, um die Intensität zu erhöhen."
  ],
  "tips_es": [
    "Presiona suavemente las rodillas con los codos para más estiramiento.",
    "Acerca los talones al cuerpo para aumentar la intensidad."
  ],
  "met": 5.0,
  "images": {
    "flat": {
      "main": "images/flat/butterfly-stretch-main.webp"
    }
  }
}

Fetch just this exercise

const { exercises } = await fetch(
  "https://exercise-dataset.com/exercises.json"
).then(r => r.json());
const ex = exercises.find(e => e.id === "butterfly-stretch");

Free for personal and commercial in-app use with attribution (“Exercise data by RepDB”) — see the license and ready-made attribution snippets. Redistributing the data as a dataset or API is not permitted.