in a much more "natural" way. Keep the aforementioned list in mind when you go through your warmups and workouts. A Tissue Issue So what should the plan of attack be? Well, it's all about balance. A properly rationed program of strengthening exercises for the weak muscles that aren't pulling their weight, coupled with mobility exercises to open up the tight tissue in dynamic fashion should do just the trick. For example, Joe has chronic pain in his knees due to tightness through his quads. It affects him while squatting too since he keeps shifting towards his toes. Joe could just keep stretching the snot out of his quads, but a tightly wound muscle will likely stay tightly wound if we simply yank on it. Joe needs to first make the muscle tissue more supple.  I've exalted foam rolling day in and day out - and I'm about to do it again. A solid, dense foam roller will be the most fitting plan of attack to improve that tissue quality. Second comes mobility work that can help release the hip flexors and quads. The improved tissue quality will help the muscles "take" to these dynamic stretches too, so there's a twofold benefit. An example of a good movement for tight quads and hips would be something like this: After this is all done, as I mentioned earlier, it would be smart to take a look at the firing capacity of your antagonists. If the opposing muscles aren't pulling their weight,