Supine lordosis

[Dan Houlihan]

When I lay down flat in floor I have a significant arch in the low back. This makes the hollow body positions very tough for me. What should I be focusing on to decrease this arch? Thanks for the help.

[Keilani Gutierrez]

to do that PPT(posterior pelvic tilt) correctly my first time around, i used to lay down, then bring my legs up to 90 degrees, kind of like if i was sitting only on my back.

 

from there, engage the abs and butt. compress with your abs and kind of try to point your coccyx through your legs. this is called "tucking the tail"

 

straighten out the legs and lower them while keeping those two cues. 

 

depending on your current mobility, this will be challenging while still hunched (yesterday, a friend of mine wanted to come over and workout with me and she was having this problem, in her case, it wasn't due to lack of flexibility, only lack of engagement.)

 

you can use this for visualization

 

http://bretcontreras.com/wp-content/uploads/posterior-pelvic-tilt1.jpg

 

on a side note, you'll want to evaluate your current imbalances that are causing this significant arch in your lower back, so i suggest looking into lower cross/upper cross syndrome. 

 

as a bonus of hip mobility, it has helped my lower back mobility.

and as a bonus of shoulder mobility my middle back mobility has also improved. 

 

look into those tid bits and remember, there's a weak side to our body, lack of mobility is usually due to those imbalances and knowing about the lower/upper cross syndrome gives a good diagnostic start to know what you have to start working on. 

 

while you're at it, google: Thomas Test and record your results. do some mobility exercises for an allotted time (one week of 4 sessions) and take note of what works. 

 

I found that as a glute activator(in my case, might not be yours, im not sure what mechanisms allow me to do the following) laying down with PPT and actively Straddling my legs open while maintaining that PPT, targets my hips and glutes in a way that really relaxes my hip flexors and after doing that maybe 2-3 times for 10-15 active holds, i can glue myself to the floor, my entire back and touch the floor with my heels with toes pointed. before, it was impossible for me to do this without some arch or bend in my knees. 

[Dan Houlihan]

Wow! Thank you so much for your feedback, will give those tips a try, especially for the shoulder and hips, seem to be the tightest. Thanks again, best

[Keilani Gutierrez]

you are more than welcome