helping an athlete who can't get back flat in hollow position...

Hello all!

I coach 13- and 14-year olds in track-n-field ("athletics" in Commonwealth countries, I think) and today was the first day of practice.  One of my athletes is a serious, high-level wrestler.  I was showing the kids some functional exercises that we'll do over the course of the season, and one of those was hollow holds (bent-knee, straddle, and full hollow hold varieties)  This wrestler could not get in a hollow position and get his back to the ground. The good news -- he seems to have great anterior pelvic tilt and his hamstring mobility is pretty good.  But he could not flatten his back with his shoulders and legs off the ground. i could have easily slid my hand in between his back and the ground.  A couple questions (and I am assuming that this inability is a problem -- maybe it isn't?)

1) What are the particular exercises this young man needs to be doing to address this inability?  I have access to everything in GB.

2) is this to be expected from someone who does a lot of wrestling? (I have no background in that sport)

3) What are the potential future problems that could arise from this inability? I want to be able to explain to him why he needs to address this, if in fact it's a serious problem.

Thanks for any guidance you might be able to give.

Craig

Hey Craig,

That happens often with heavy weightlifters. They overuse the APT to avoid injury when doing squat and deadlift. It is a problem when you are in APT the whole day, I have little lordosis too and my pt says that a bit is ok but when is very pronounced your core gets weak and your hamstrings will get tight of being stretched, and the lower back will suffer too. The way to correct this is strengthening the core muscles, release the hip flexors if needed, and avoid being in APT the whole time. You can visually tell that someone has APT problem if the butt and the belly are very sticked out when they rest , I see it sometimes with the little girls of my gymnastics team.

I hope the coaches can give you good advice and exercises to help your student!

Hi Craig , your body reflects exactly your training, is the training is not balanced then the body will be limited in a certain range of motion.

the anterior pelvic tilt is a sign of short erector spinae, short quads, short hips flexor, probably short lats and very very very weak abs and bicep femoris.