How important is hip flexor/quad stretching?

[David Pardy 340028]

So I used up my 7-day trial of the subscription and noticed minimal hip flexor training as opposed to hamstring work in the Front Splits stretch series. (I have not continued the subscription at this time hence I can't post in the right forum but I will avoid posting specifics)

I believe that working through the routine also caused lower back issues which I have always attributed to tight/weak hip flexors/quad muscles and I have noticed recently that while I seem to have better strength, my lordosis has increased, although that's probably because I haven't been training as much.

So I guess my question is, how important is it that I stretch quads/hip flexors?  Should I focus more on glute work, e.g., glute bridges?  I can't even extend my hips into neutral, it's been that way since I was a kid although improved a lot since around 2012 when I finally learned about anterior pelvic tilt.  Previously I was doing a LOT of hip flexor stretching but found I was then experiencing serious weakness in lifting my legs that would also trigger back pain.

I also was given advice from a physio that engaging the glutes and maintaining PPT through the couch/hip flexor stretches was the most important part of the stretch but this seems to be given a low priority in the stretch series?  I'm wondering if this was perhaps a trigger for my lower back soreness.

Any advice would be appreciated! At this point I am planning on trying to spend more time strengthening rather than stretching, especially after seeing the (external) videos on side plank work improving hip flexor mobility (as posted in the hip swivels thread under F1)

[David Pardy 340028]

It's probably important to mention that up until 2012 I had REALLY bad APT and related chronic back pain, didn't know it was fixable prior.  When I first started training I couldn't even hold PPT standing up for more than a second and it was exhausting - finally built up the strength to fix it through some hard work and fixed my back pain until I started trying to add gymnastics stuff to my routine (pre GST) and then clearly I was doing exercises incorrectly (I think it was superman holds) which just set it off again.

So this is a topic that is very important to me - I'm 36 now and have spent the better part of 20 years with a bad back!

[Alessandro Mainente]

4 hours ago, David Pardy 340028 said:

It's probably important to mention that up until 2012 I had REALLY bad APT and related chronic back pain, didn't know it was fixable prior.  When I first started training I couldn't even hold PPT standing up for more than a second and it was exhausting - finally built up the strength to fix it through some hard work and fixed my back pain until I started trying to add gymnastics stuff to my routine (pre GST) and then clearly I was doing exercises incorrectly (I think it was superman holds) which just set it off again.

So this is a topic that is very important to me - I'm 36 now and have spent the better part of 20 years with a bad back!

The secret for a long lift is BALANCE. having strong but not enough extensible muscles is not correct as it is not correct having muscles imbalances between agonist and antagonist. Everything is then applied to the normal posture of a person in the function of hip/her limitation.

[Matus Ferko]

@David Pardy 340028

There are great exercises from Restore series you can include into your program. I added all of them into my weekly schedule. 

I am doing GST for 6 months now. I realized after few weeks I was pushing too hard and I started to have lower back pain. I had also limited movements and could get into some of the stretch positions. 

Fortunately I found those Restore exercises and I realized they are essential for my improvement .

For example Restore Hamstring helped me to realize why am I so inflexible in lower body stretches. I was especially tight around my knees. 

In a nutshel, if you are not trained professional you need to include Restore series into your routine. I guess it will take me years to get my mobility into good state. But it's worth it.

[David Pardy 340028]

Hi Matus, sorry I didn't see your reply sooner. I have paid for a month again to specifically check out the Restore and Fundamentals series, I don't think I can afford to maintain the subscription but I'm hoping to at least identify all of my fundamental strength and flexibility deficits which have been inhibiting me from progressing in Foundation One and HS1.  When I saw the line that said "Most of our athletes complete it in 6 months" and I've been stuck on PE1 and PE2 of most of the exercises for around 4 years mostly due to poor mobility, I figured I really need to find out what I'm missing!

So yeah definitely going to try and utilise Restore and Fundamentals, there's some great stuff in there!

[David Pardy 340028]

The really worrying thing is that compared to the majority of my male work colleagues (I have a relatively physical job), I am significantly more flexible and mobile.  Which highlights to me even more how important it is that I fix my deficits because I'm certainly not getting any younger and I definitely feel like I have a very long way to go.