Additional lower back flexion work

Hi guys,

One of my weak points is the lower back flexion, I demonstrated that with a Jefferson curl form check. How can I address that? Because affects a lot of skills... can you please tell me stretches and exercises I can do to fix that?

Hi Eloy,

the causes of the lower back flexion are many different. for example loss of flexion can be shown in those who experimented tight hips flexor like rectus femoris that promotes the lower back arch.

1 hour ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

Hi Eloy,

the causes of the lower back flexion are many different. for example loss of flexion can be shown in those who experimented tight hips flexor like rectus femoris that promotes the lower back arch.

Indeed my hips flexors are very tight, that's why I can't do front splits, my hamstrings are very nice but the back leg simply doesn't want to go down.

I do the couch stretch every night, but my pt stretches my hip flexors lying on the stretcher with one leg hanging out and pulling it back, it's awesome, but I don't know how to do it by myself. Any ideas?

Do you have the front split course?

2 hours ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

Do you have the front split course?

Yes, I been doing that every week for a year or so.

probably a daily work on the vertical lunge bet variation is a good idea. let me know how do you feel the lower back flexion after it.

On 7/13/2019 at 12:54 AM, Alessandro Mainente said:

probably a daily work on the vertical lunge bet variation is a good idea. let me know how do you feel the lower back flexion after it.

Alessandro I'm doing 90 seconds on each leg daily, is this enough? I foam roll first then I do the stretches.

There is a lot of work needed on this, it's annoying because this affects a lot of things: bridge, almost every exercise of the core courses, even the handstand because whenever I try to keep the body straight the hips make my lower body arch, is very hard to do ppt.

But I'm positive because I see good improvements in other areas so patience and constant work is the key.

90 seconds...for 4/5 sets.

On 7/18/2019 at 1:39 PM, Alessandro Mainente said:

90 seconds...for 4/5 sets.

Hey Alessandro,

During the stretch I'm doing my best to don't arch my lower back, so I'm actively trying to do ppt, is that ok?

@Eloy Bote can you post a video?

On 7/22/2019 at 11:18 PM, Jeffrey Bittner said:

@Eloy Bote can you post a video?

Of course.

In case you want to see my front leg:

I have lordosis so it's very hard for me to do ppt, in this particular position it's just impossible.

In order to work effectively on muscles that produce the lordosis you need to:

-move a bit forward the backward knee;

-how much? what you need to reverse from a lordosis to PPT;

-then push the hips forward in order to extend the hip while holding the PPT.

16 hours ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

In order to work effectively on muscles that produce the lordosis you need to:

-move a bit forward the backward knee;

-how much? what you need to reverse from a lordosis to PPT;

-then push the hips forward in order to extend the hip while holding the PPT.

Sorry but I don't get the good form for this. Maybe don't lean forward that much?

UNfortunately the movement is not correct in fact:

-hips are twisted , this means that it is impossible that the PPT is correct;

-too much hips extension. in your case if the PPT is correct you should not be able to lean more than 1 cm ;-)

59 minutes ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

UNfortunately the movement is not correct in fact:

-hips are twisted , this means that it is impossible that the PPT is correct;

-too much hips extension. in your case if the PPT is correct you should not be able to lean more than 1 cm ;-)

OK so the front leg is the reason why my hips twist, right? I'm not gonna lie, the only position I can do ppt without lower back arch is with my knees in front of my hips, I have the worst lordosis you will never see!

Familiar territory for me!  Back in 2012 when I began to understand what APT was (I had it quite badly), I couldn't even hold PPT rotating my hips backward for more than a second or two.

I spent a lot of time focusing on activating the Transversus Abdominis muscles, as well as glute activation.  This helped a lot, as well as practicing holding PPT throughout the day and even while just walking.  Glute bridges, etc., helped as well, and I have improved my posture quite a lot.

These days I'm also spending a lot of time working on glute activation which from my experience is a massive issue - and I believe contributes significantly to APT as the hip flexors are overcompensating for other muscles not doing their job properly.  So don't just focus on stretching, work on glute activation.  I do glute bridges with a band, as well as a band around my thighs and doing straight leg lefts forward, sideward, and backward whilst holding PPT, as well as couple of other things.  Look for "How to target stubborn glutes" by Whitney Simmons on Youtube to find some of the exercises I'm doing.  I do the exercises almost every day, depending on how I am feeling - I tend to try to listen to my body a lot in regards to fatigue and recovery.

Another exercise I do is an elevated split squat - basically, you have one foot resting behind you on a chair (in a lunge position, with the rear foot elevated, essentially in a couch stretch position) and you squat down on the front leg.  You'll really work the glutes + hams, as well as giving a nice stretch in the hip flexor.  Experiment with tensing and relaxing the hip flexors to develop a bit of mobility/strength/control as I find this helps a lot.

On 7/26/2019 at 3:00 PM, David Pardy 340028 said:

Familiar territory for me!  Back in 2012 when I began to understand what APT was (I had it quite badly), I couldn't even hold PPT rotating my hips backward for more than a second or two.

I spent a lot of time focusing on activating the Transversus Abdominis muscles, as well as glute activation.  This helped a lot, as well as practicing holding PPT throughout the day and even while just walking.  Glute bridges, etc., helped as well, and I have improved my posture quite a lot.

These days I'm also spending a lot of time working on glute activation which from my experience is a massive issue - and I believe contributes significantly to APT as the hip flexors are overcompensating for other muscles not doing their job properly.  So don't just focus on stretching, work on glute activation.  I do glute bridges with a band, as well as a band around my thighs and doing straight leg lefts forward, sideward, and backward whilst holding PPT, as well as couple of other things.  Look for "How to target stubborn glutes" by Whitney Simmons on Youtube to find some of the exercises I'm doing.  I do the exercises almost every day, depending on how I am feeling - I tend to try to listen to my body a lot in regards to fatigue and recovery.

 

Another exercise I do is an elevated split squat - basically, you have one foot resting behind you on a chair (in a lunge position, with the rear foot elevated, essentially in a couch stretch position) and you squat down on the front leg.  You'll really work the glutes + hams, as well as giving a nice stretch in the hip flexor.  Experiment with tensing and relaxing the hip flexors to develop a bit of mobility/strength/control as I find this helps a lot.

Fortunately I can hold ppt, but the range of motion is not good enough or I don't know, but the knees need to be in front of the hips to get rid of the arch of the lower back.

BTW @Alessandro Mainente, my knees are starting to hurt because of the holds. I tried a soft cushion but it doesn't work. The hips are sore because of hard enforcing the ppt the whole time but that's fine. What can I do to avoid knee pain? Is there any other stretch you can recommend please? I'm really commited to this, didn't skip a stretch session yet!

If the pain occurs due to quads stretch you can do 3-4 sets of squat before. 

23 hours ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

If the pain occurs due to quads stretch you can do 3-4 sets of squat before. 

I think the pain comes from some kind of pressure somewhere on the knee, but anyway I did the squats, hope it helps.

Do you have any recommendation for my pt to work on this? He usually first gives me quads and psoas release massage, then he does some weird stretches like me lying on my back, one leg hanging out of the stretcher, the other bent, and while I activate my glutes for ppt he pulls my hanging leg back with some PNF too. Last time he was thinking about dry puncture but I didn't have any knot so didn't make much sense, just my front leg muscles are hard as steel. 

The stretch you are talking about is ok, but sincerely more than that I cannot say more. I difficult to address these problems via web.

On 7/26/2019 at 1:07 AM, Eloy Bote said:

Sorry but I don't get the good form for this. Maybe don't lean forward that much?

 

In order to obtain PPT shouldn’t you rather stay more upright with your upper body and keeping the femur of the back leg (i.e the leg you are stretching) vertical?! By engaging your glutes and tilting your pelvis forward (PPT) the stretch will be really intense in hip flexor area.

I also have lordosis and doing my best to adress that. A daily stretch session for the hip flexors have definitely helped me.

On 7/31/2019 at 2:11 PM, Thomas Nordman said:

In order to obtain PPT shouldn’t you rather stay more upright with your upper body and keeping the femur of the back leg (i.e the leg you are stretching) vertical?! By engaging your glutes and tilting your pelvis forward (PPT) the stretch will be really intense in hip flexor area.

I also have lordosis and doing my best to adress that. A daily stretch session for the hip flexors have definitely helped me.

Coach Alessandro told me to drive the back leg's knee forward in order to go from apt to ppt.

I have lordosis since I was born so yeah, my hip flexors will need years to release. Never lose hope!

On 8/1/2019 at 3:34 PM, Eloy Bote said:

Coach Alessandro told me to drive the back leg's knee forward in order to go from apt to ppt.

Yes, but instead of moving your hip and upperbody forward I think he meant to stay in this position:

And from there tilt your pelvis forward to obtain PPT.

I could be wrong so @Alessandro Mainente have to verify.

Notice that i can see the right gluteus, this means that some twist at the hips is done. be sure to avoid any twist BEFORE assuming the PPT.

5 hours ago, Alessandro Mainente said:

Notice that i can see the right gluteus, this means that some twist at the hips is done. be sure to avoid any twist BEFORE assuming the PPT.

That's what I'm aiming for, is easy to twist when one of your legs is forward and I have no mirror to check. Apart from that, I don't feel anything in that position, I mean, I don't get what it's the goal because I'm only squeezing my glutes to do ppt but there is no stretch in my quads or my psoas. But I'm doing anyway, I have faith on you Alessandro!

BTW yesterday my pt finally did dry puncture on my quads, huge muscle spams, I have had it done on many muscles (psoas, rhomboids, infraspinatus, hamstrings, traps everytime) but that was very painful.