Started by Alessandro Di Sanzo, December 12, 2014 · 8 Replies · 4,267 Views
Hi all!
Could you give me some exercise in order to develop hip flexor flexibility/mobility? I only know yoga low lunge pose. That could be good, but are there exercises (on the ground and/or on stall bars) that let to improve more intensively? Thank you!
I have incredibly tight hips and have been using a number of stretches seeing good results. The ones that immediately come to mind are the chair stretch and frog stretch but ultimately it depends where your weaknesses lie.
Try the stretch shown in this image
At first you will feel it deeply in your quad, but if you breath and relax (as much as you can), you'll feel the quad relax and the hip flexor take over, at least in terms of sensation. And as a bonus, you get a great quad stretch as well!
Kneeling lunge. Put your locked out front leg on a high object like a chair or coffee table. Put a heavy object next to your back leg to stop it from being pulled towards the middle of your body. Find a higher object to do the stretch once you find it not challenging anymore.
Whatever the stretch, make sure to square the hips and tuck the tail(PPT) and double check you are not extending from the lower back, which can give you a false sense of flexibility. These cues are way more important than the actual stretch you will be using. Straight leg stretches emphasise more the hip flexors and the bent leg ones work more on the quads, for me at least. I have found a mix of both to be the most effective.
Loop a yoga band around stall bars and around one leg as high up as comfortable. Face the stall bars and do a low lunge with the strapped-leg back. Lean into the band to keep your hips square, help with balance, and really dig into the hip flexors. I tried it for the first time this week and WOW!
It's in the first video of Kit Laughlin's Master the Back Bend (and Arch Body Hold) series. Starts at the 3:00 mark. I believe the individual video is $2 -- or $10 for the whole series. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/mfbb
Edit: I just watched episode 5 "Stall Bars Strap Front Splits", and it looks pretty good too.
Jeremy Huston said:
It's in the first video of Kit Laughlin's Master the Back Bend (and Arch Body Hold) series. Starts at the 3:00 mark. I believe the individual video is $2 -- or $10 for the whole series. https://vimeo.com/ondemand/mfbb
I like a lot of Kit's stuff, but what I dont like is calling your program 'Master the Back Bend' when the person demonstrating in the video/trailer is far from mastery...
jules said:I like a lot of Kit's stuff, but what I dont like is calling your program 'Master the Back Bend' when the person demonstrating in the video/trailer is far from mastery...
I completely agree. On one hand, it's nice to know you don't have to be close to mastery to use the techniques....but it would be nice to see someone who has found success from them too. I also long for more systematic programming like the IM sequencing in GB. Someday S1 will be released, and it will certainly be pleasantly brutal.
Jeremy Huston said:I completely agree. On one hand, it's nice to know you don't have to be close to mastery to use the techniques....but it would be nice to see someone who has found success from them too. I also long for more systematic programming like the IM sequencing in GB. Someday S1 will be released, and it will certainly be pleasantly brutal.
if it's anything we're already doing in the New Year Handstand Challenge, we can bet it's pleasantly brutal. I had one of the stretches(the one where we put the fingers up on the book, Day 1) gave me the first "saran wrap" feeling while stretching my forearms but it went from my first knuckle upto my forearm, which i feel in other spots but wow...wildest feeling ever.