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Every Day Movement

One of the best movements to practice every day is transferring from a squat into a plank.

This movement involves:

>>> Squat
>>> Upper body Crawl
>>> Plank / & or / Push Up
>>> Reverse movement – stay low – squat back up to standing & repeat.

This movement takes a bit more effort to perform, but your rate of perceived exertion should not exceed 6 / 10.

Including this movement into your routine will do wonders for maintaining your hip, knee and ankle health / mobility – as well as strengthening and coordinating the shoulders and core.

If you lack the necessary mobility to perform this movement that means this is not the place for you to start. Consider ‘Glute-Bridges’ & ‘Pullovers’ combined with squat practice. Or maybe you have body composition issues OR maybe you lack core strength – each has an appropriate training protocol to strengthen your weakness. Unless you use the help of a movement coach, you will have to figure out what training protocol is best for you.

Let me know how it goes.


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Hip Flexor Health

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Let’s Start With Some Basic Anatomy

The hip flexor group is a group of muscles that attach from either your

  • lumbar spine
  • pelvis
  • femur (thigh bone) 

> These muscles are vital in maintaining a strong, mobile and properly aligned low back and hip girdle. 

Composition

The hip flexors are comprised of

> as you can see many muscles make up this very important group. 

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Now that the boring   anatomy part is more or less coveted, -(well, I find it exciting)-let’s get into the:

Implications of Tight Hip Flexors. 

The hip flexor’s main function is to help the hip joints move properly through their full range of motion.

Their main job in a movement sense; is to draw your legs toward your torso – and fold you up like a suitcase, right at the hip crease.

They are also involved in moving your legs from side to side, and – some what paradoxically – healthy hip flexors will even assist in hip extension.

The hip flexor is the muscle group that connects your legs to your torso,

> allows your legs to move in conjunction with your torso,

> and serves to stabilize your hips and lower bodykeeping the joints of your pelvis and lumbar spine stable.

Consequences

If the hip flexors are overdeveloped, or tight, or too stiff, or too short – you may experience referred  pain in the hip or back. 

You may experience:

  • Limited range of motion in the low back and hips– as a result of the hip flexors pulling your pelvis into an unnatural (anterior tilted) position
    • this will put your lumbar spine in jeopardy, and increase the likelihood of chronic pain.

Since the hip flexor group is the major stabilizing factor in the lower body,

  • If one of them are weak – you will experience a lack of balance (which is strength) – and potentially some postural issues as well.
  • You may experience trouble standing, walking for long periods or problems with walking and running gait cycle. 

Keep em’ healthy – with a constant combo of strength and mobility work

needs to be done DAILY…

….since there are so many separate muscles in the hip flexor group, and because there are several different directions of muscle fibre insertion / origin and alignment,

there are also many subtle angle changes and position changes that can be utilized in order to address all issues related to this muscle group.

For an in depth list of these exercises stay tuned for future blogs!

A few examples:

  • hanging leg raises
  • Active straight leg raise
  • ‘kneeing sprinter stretch’
  • various ‘Flow-Movements

One thing you must keep in mind-

Simply doing an exercise, or holding a certain posture or stretch will not magically make your hip flexor issues disappear!

– This is because there are a myriad subtle coaching cues and virtually imperceptible changes in body position and mindset that can make or break your hip flexor stretch or strengthening exercise. 

On that note,

Stay strong!!

 

TYLER LEES-SCHMUT

Co-Owner / Instructor / Author @

Contact us Now for a Free Consultation*

 

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Flow Movement – “1/2 Kneeling Hip Hinge + Twist”

FLOW

  • (def) : also known as the zone, flow is a mental state in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.

Interestingly, this is also a pretty good definition of Mindfulness.


‘HOW TO’ FLOW / be mindful

  • Anatomically‘ match your breathing with your movements : whenever you ‘get smaller’ (flex) let yourself exhale – and whenever you ‘get bigger/wider’ (extend) let yourself inhale.
  • Do not force anything (like ranges of motion or balance challenges) = 6 out of 10 in difficulty.
  • stay calm and clear minded (the breathing helps with this).

“1/2 Kneeling Hip Hinge + Twist”

-> Begin in 1/2 kneeling stance.

-> Use ‘heel drive’ to help hinge your hips back and reach for the inside of your foot.

-> Lock out hips tightly in order to keep them still – when you rotate / twist.

-> Consider playing with the Tempo I.E. try doing a few as fast as possible (without ‘cutting corners’).

 

Add this movement into your practice this week!

And as always,

Stay tuned for more…

– Flow Movements –

P.S.

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