Are you working on your hip flexibility? Trying to improve your squat? Maybe your seated position,
with lateral rotation of your hips? Or maybe you're just trying to improve your walking,
or your running gait, in terms of your hip mobility? If you're working on hip opening
but you're not sure how to track progress, how to know when you've achieved basic range of motion,
this video is for you. Hey, my name is Lucas. I'm a yoga teacher, I'm a teacher trainer,
but I used to be a stiff office guy. I remember my first yoga class I went to, my hips were so
tight that my knees were up like this, my back was all hunched over, I was sweating before class even
began. To open up my hips I use this system that I call the Science of Stretching. It's very simple,
but very challenging, and ultimately very effective, but along the way I wanted to
track my progress. It's hard to stay motivated to keep doing your stretches every day and so
I came up with different tests for flexion, and extension, lateral and medial rotation, and over
the years my tests have changed a little bit, but today I'd like to share with you the tests
I'm currently using for myself and for my clients to track progress. And again, the whole goal is
not to achieve contortion or circus performance. What myself and all of our clients are working on
is BROM, basic range of motion. I like to think about it as moving like a functional 12-year-old,
being able to get up and down from the floor, do a full squat, sit comfortably cross-legged,
all of that is really natural range of motion that most of us have lost. Keep in mind that
these tests, whether you're doing my tests or the tests from a physical therapist or anyone else,
they're inevitably a little bit flawed, meaning it's just a reference point. All of us have unique
bodies and unique ways of moving, so don't think about it as a gold standard, just think about it
as a way to track progress. When you're thinking about milestones for your hip flexibility,
I usually encourage people to think about 30 days, 90 days, and 365 days. And what I mean by that is
really stay focused on your first month, you'll achieve very large gains, and then your first
three months, again, usually you'll have another stair step of gains, and usually within a year,
if you're diligent with your hip flexibility routine, most people can achieve about 80 percent
of their potential. And just a little side note, that last 20 percent is usually not worth working
for, it takes so long. So let's get into the tests and then I'll come back and share with
you some more ideas. Hip flexion test. Lie down on your back, pull your knee into your chest,
now measure the distance with your fists. How many fists distance is your knee from your chest?
Our goal here is no gap between your knee and your chest. The muscles that limit or enable this
range of motion would be your glutes, and your hamstrings, and to a lesser extent your adductors,
and your quads can also play a role as well. Confounding factors: tight quads can sometimes
limit full knee flexion and that can confuse things in this pose. Use case: we require full hip
flexion for a butt-to-heels squat and to get up and down from the ground without our hands. Test
number two, hip extension. Lie down on the floor on your belly, extend one leg up into the air,
flex your knee on the opposite leg, and place your foot on top of your foot, creating an angle with
your extended back leg. Option two, place your foot on your shin, keep that top leg straight.
Option three, place the arch of your foot so it cups your knee. And then option four is
place your foot above your knee, with that top leg straight, and no pain in your lower back.
Our goal here is to get the arch of your foot above your knee. Muscles that will limit or enable
this range of motion are your rectus femoris, one of your four quad muscles, your iliacus, and your
psoas. These are your primary hip flexors, so to go into deep hip extension we need these muscles
to open up. Confounding factors: if you have tight core muscles this could limit your range here.
Use case: hip extension is necessary for all kinds of movements, like your back leg in any lunge,
in any running or sprinting position. Test number three, lateral rotation.
Sit down on the floor in a butterfly position, place your thumbs inside your
feet as if you were opening a book, gently pull your feet in close to your pelvis,
press your knees down, now measure how many fists distance your knees are off the floor.
Our goal here is to have your knees flat on the floor. Muscles that limit or enable this range of
motion include your adductors, your groin muscles, and a little bit of your hamstrings as well.
Confounding factors: if you have tight ankles or tight quads that could confuse this test. Use
case: your goal here is to sit on the floor with your legs crossed and your knees in line with your
hips. Any comfortable seated position requires full lateral rotation of your hips. Final test,
medial rotation of your hips. Extend your legs in front of you with your legs about hip-width
distance, bend one leg and slide your foot way out to the side in line with your opposite knee,
keep your foot and both knees in one line as you medially rotate your knee toward the ground.
Your knees should stay in line with your hips, so your knees are apart,
your hip will roll up on the bent leg, but your shoulders should stay lined up over your hips.
If you feel any knee or back pain, stop and back off to a point where you feel no pain.
Once you find your maximum range measure how many fists distance you are from the floor. Your goal
here is your knee flat with no pain. Muscles: your deep six hip rotators, your tensor fasciae latae,
and your glutes are all involved here. Confounding factors: tight ankles, tight hamstrings,
could potentially cause problems as well. Use case: this range is used dynamically, running,
and pivoting, skiing, and when stepping down, or in some cases falling down from a ledge or
a step. I hope you found those tests helpful. My suggestion would be to write down your score and
re-test every couple of weeks initially, and then later on you can retest every month or so. The key
thing with flexibility, especially with your hips, is consistency. There are about 22+ different
muscles that affect your range of motion, or your lack of range of motion, in your hips,
and they really respond well to repetition. A lot of people coming into flexibility training are
coming from a strength training background, where maybe they do two days a week per body part. With
flexibility it's very different. Your body will respond best to repetition, daily stretching is
preferable to one monster session once a week. The other thing to remember is that you need to apply
the three principles of practice. If you're new to the Science of Stretching I'll quickly introduce
those and I'll link up to some other videos where you can learn more. The first principle for actual
range of motion change we call it wet noodle and this principle says that your muscles will stretch
best when fully relaxed. Just like your muscles will grow best when contracted, they'll lengthen
best when fully relaxed. Principle number two has to do with breathing. You have a myotatic stretch
reflex where, you've probably felt this, your body fights when you go into a stretch. This is
an adaptive natural response, but to turn that off so that you can actually make some changes,
breathing really helps. Inhale through your nose to the count of four, exhale through your mouth
to the count of eight. That breathing pattern will help to dampen down that myotatic stretch reflex,
help you get better results. The third principle, this is the one that people always skip out on,
it's the most important, is time under passive tension. If you were lifting weights you know
that you need a certain amount of time under load. When it comes to stretching you need a
certain amount of time under passive tension. Two to five minutes is our goal, per pose,
per day. Usually we recommend 15 minutes per day when it comes to hip flexibility specifically. If
you'd like to grab a PDF of those flexibility tests we just covered you can grab that down
below. If you'd like more science-based yoga videos hit subscribe down below. Your questions
and feedback are most welcome in the comments section, and you can find my upcoming teaching
calendar, as well as hip opening challenges, at yogabody.com. We'll see you in the next video.