Outer hip flexibility

Hi! I’ve been doing F1 + the stretch series for about a year now. I’ve seen amazing gains in flexibility in just about everything — front split, side split, thoracic etc. But, the other day I tested my outer hip flexibility and realized it hasn’t changed much. 

Here is a video. 

Does anyone have advice on how to improve this?

1. For thoracic bridge, I started doing inverted cat everyday and it helped so much. Is there a similar exercise for this? 

2. Are there any movements in F1 or stretch that are supposed to target this area? Maybe I am doing them incorrectly? The piriformis stretch maybe?

Hey Zachary,

Great question. Can you please post a form check of your piriformis stretch?

Hey Zachary 

interesting you talk about this as I think from the outset (ie back before I even started any of the gb stretch series ) I have issues with this same area . 

I take the example of me sat down on a sofa/chair and I bring my foot up to rest on top of  my opposite knee/lower thigh  . My upper leg doesn't want to sit horizontal instead it sits "knee high" yet I see a lot of people (not exactly into their mobility work without being rude ) who can do this naturally where there upper leg sits horizontal . When I force my knee down it's quite a force required to get it in the horizontal position . (I also find on swivel hips when I go to the right for example it's the right leg that is difficult to get down and vice Versa when I go the other way ) that said the leg going into internal rotation in the swivelhips seems to be getting looser i might add as ive been adding in some passive stretching at the end of my workouts forcing the knee down with my opposite foot(as seen on the forums ) I, like Zachary,  have been supplementing my weak areas so am interested to know if there is anything I can add in that will help with this 

 I was hoping the 2 lower body stretch series helps with this but with you mentioning your lack of improvement Zachary  I also wonder if there is something we can work specifically on 

many thanks 

leigh 

Hey guys, stretching is good for improved ROM but so is conditioning the targeted muscles into the position. For example, my outer hip flexibility improved from miserable to subpar with SLS/PE6 iM.

So basically for me, Progressively conditioning the outer hip movements with:

1) bodyweight where the point of contact is outer feet with knees wide (such as SLS/PE6 iM) +

2) gentle overload beginning with butt elevated if need be allows for the knees to melt outward, opening up the hips into the positions described above by Zachary and Leigh.

Ryan

Thanks for responses!

@Everett Carroll here is the piriformis stretch. Let me know if the angle is alright.

@Ryan Bailey ah that is good to know. But what is SLS PE 6? I only see up to PE 5 in the course library? I’ve found the one from pe4 to be helpful though. 

19 hours ago, Ryan Bailey said:

Hey guys, stretching is good for improved ROM but so is conditioning the targeted muscles into the position. For example, my outer hip flexibility improved from miserable to subpar with SLS/PE6 iM.

So basically for me, Progressively conditioning the outer hip movements with:

1) bodyweight where the point of contact is outer feet with knees wide (such as SLS/PE6 iM) +

2) gentle overload beginning with butt elevated if need be allows for the knees to melt outward, opening up the hips into the positions described above by Zachary and Leigh.

Ryan

@Zachary Ladwig @Leigh Kettle

Thank you for bringing this topic up. 11.5months in I do aswell see the least improvements in My middle splits, compared to the 2 Other stretch courses. I also have a ginormous trouble with swirvel hips, especially inward rotation.

Zachary, PE6 Ryan talks about is in F2 courses. 

Ryan, Thank you for your advice. Id appreciate if you can confirm. Are you reffering to both PE and IM of SLS PE6 or just the IM? 

In your 2nd point, are you referring to the stretch in Zacharys first video?

keep it up guys,,

Jonas

Yes guys; I was talking about the knee series in Foundation 2. I was also referring to the mobility benefits on the hip and knee rotators while conditioning and training slowly through those mobilities.

It is also is a nice warm up for stretch series such as middle split.

21 hours ago, Ryan Bailey said:

Hey guys, stretching is good for improved ROM but so is conditioning the targeted muscles into the position. For example, my outer hip flexibility improved from miserable to subpar with SLS/PE6 iM.

So basically for me, Progressively conditioning the outer hip movements with:

1) bodyweight where the point of contact is outer feet with knees wide (such as SLS/PE6 iM) +

2) gentle overload beginning with butt elevated if need be allows for the knees to melt outward, opening up the hips into the positions described above by Zachary and Leigh.

Ryan

Awesome ryan thanks so much