Since I run a lot, my hip flexors and lower back get really tight, so I love stretches that focus on opening these areas, such as Scorpion. This is actually a yoga pose that's a balancing backbend. It feels amazing on the front of your body and your spine, but it's a really difficult pose to get into, let alone hold long enough to get a good stretch. You can do it using a ball [1], but here's another way using a couch.

To give it a try .

• Kneel down in front of a couch, and place your forearms on the ground, so your fingers are a few inches away from the base of the couch. You want your elbows directly underneath your shoulders. Look between your hands, not at your feet.
• Shift all your weight into your arms, straighten your legs and walk your feet as close as you can towards your elbows.
• Lift your right leg up into the air. Then kick off the ground with your left foot, and let your right and then left foot gently fall to rest on the couch.
• Walk your feet so your heels are on the edge of the couch — focus on pressing into your hands to help lift your head up as high as you can.
• Stay here for thirty seconds, feeling the stretch in your belly, hip flexors, quads, and back. Then lift your right foot off the couch, and slowly kick your feet off and release them back to the ground. Stretch out your lower back by coming into Child's Pose [3].
• Repeat this move again, this time with your left leg in the air.