if you've been told that tight hip flexors is holding back your squat
mobility then in this video you're gonna learn why psoas stretchers won't help
your squat and an exercise that actually will know what's up Coach E here from
precision movement and today we're gonna talk about the squat now i can't tell
you how many times i've heard this before where somebody has mentioned to
me or i've just overheard people talking in the gym that they can't squat low
because they have tight hip flexors and every time i hear this kind of gets my
blood boiling a little bit and i feel like it's coming from somebody said this
at one point maybe somebody on youtube some kind of fitness expert that's
really popular said this and it's just been parroted over and over and over so
first we're gonna deconstruct why this is a load of crap and secondly i'm going
to teach you a technique that will actually help you improve your squat
mobility because it addresses things in a biomechanical and scientific way ok so
let's start with the hip flexors what are the hip flexors typically iliopsoas
that's the single joint hip flexor rectus femoris that's the two joint hip
flexor that crosses the hips and the knees that's part of the quadriceps okay
let's focus on the iliopsoas because that's what most people think of when
they say hip flexors so tight hip flexors if I have tight hip flexors what
kind of mobility is that going to limit me from from so the hip flexor is
running in front and let's say they're tight so they're tight they're
contracted they're gonna put me into this position already okay to lengthen
the hip flexors requires me to go into hip extension that's lengthening of the
hip flexors so if they're tight that movements and that range is going to be
limited are people limited in that range when it comes to the spot mobile
and squat mobility no people when they talked about squat mobility and their
mobility being limited it's going down oh I can only squat - here I got tight
hip flexors well you can see right now very simple explanation that when we're
going in to a squat the hip flexors are shortening okay so if they're tight and
they're shortening the hip flexors are not limiting squat mobility your squat
depth okay can you see that very clearly all right so this myth or whatever it is
that is out there just if you hear it just block it out okay it's not real
it's a load of crap what is actually happening when it comes to the hip
flexors and do the hip flexors impact squat mobility the answer to that is yes
they definitely do impact squat mobility but it's not what you think okay I hate
using that term it's such a marketing term anyway hip flexors when you go down
into the squat the hip flexors actually have to be on the reason why they have
to be on is they cross both the hip joint to create hip flexion but the
psoas inserts where it originates on the lumbar spine and when it's going when
you're going deeper into the squat if the psoas is not firing correctly or
it's weak or just doesn't have activation at the shortened range then
what happens to the lumbar spine is you lose that lumbar extension okay
so the so is helps maintain a neutral or extended lumbar spine as you descend
into a squat okay my psoas isn't working I get the butt wink
another myth I've talked about this before in a previous video buyt wink is
not caused by tight hamstrings it is more a function of iliopsoas
particularly the psoas that doesn't work properly
yeah now what when is this muscle not working properly if you could do this
your psoas is working but it's not working properly when it's at its
shortened range okay this is the psoas at its shortened range and if it's not
able to fire then you're not able to keep this lumbar
extension and you're gonna either go into butt wink or you're just gonna be
stuck in this you know kind of partial squat position okay so how do we train
it to get it functioning properly and not just the iliopsoas and the hip
flexors but the hips in general how do we get them working properly when we're
in this deepened bottom of the squat ranch
well we train it there how we're gonna train it there that's why I'm going to
show you right now okay so we're going to go through an end range expansion
technique er e this is step three in my four step process to improving mobility
and movement longevity that I teach in all my control courses and I'm going to
teach you it right now so this is a level two yari level two is just a
little upgrade from level one okay we add some more contractions and they're
just a little more to think about so this is a progression but I'm gonna
share it with you now because I think you'll get it so for this technique I
call it the unilateral deep squat level to yari that's mouthful I know I'm sorry
but I like to be accurate what we're gonna do is we're getting into this half
kneeling position so if you can imagine this is like what your squat looks like
okay at the bottom of the squat what we want to do is train the range where you
have just at the bottom of the range that you have where you can maintain a
good neutral spine so let's say you're squatting and you
could squat down to here well and then once you go below that it gets a little
flexi and ugly okay that's kind of the hip range that you want to train so you
want to be maybe around there yeah if you can go deeper what you can do spread
out and train the deeper position here okay so now it's more hip flexion so I'm
working and even lower squat alright so let me show you this angle what you do
is you find that position that's first find that position go get the knee on
the mat so you don't irritate my patella so let's say I'm training right here
level II ERE first what i want to do is want to get there chill out for a bit
I'm gonna put my hands on the ground well stare at my bald spot balding spot
and what I'm gonna do is gonna hold myself in position so maintaining as
best as I can a neutral spine a good squat spine position and then I'm gonna
lift that foot off the ground and hold it and I'm lifting hard lifting hard
gonna chest up lifting as hard as I can and relax down slowly that's the first
contraction then you go right into hands off the ground and just holding myself
balanced so now I'm activating the extensors as if I'm pushing off the
bottom off the floor to go back up okay hold for one slow 360 breath okay now
and on the outside of the knee push activate gradually increase the
activation as hard as you can without pulling anything once you have max
activation hold it there and for one slow 360 breath I'm working here I'm
pushing my knee and I'm not letting my hand push my knee okay and then come
inside elbow push so I'm pushing my knee out and I'm pushing my elbow back in so
I'm activating the adductors mass contraction once lo 360 breath keep
activating this is work I'm not just resting here to gradually release the
contraction and then we go back into lifting the foot off the ground okay
lift it keep trying to drive that knee to the ceiling slow 360 breath and relax
gradually okay so that is one cycle on this left side
all right let's go through the right side show you this angle here side view
so first I find that deep squat position so if you can imagine that's my squat
there let's say I'm right here I'm working mimic that with the one side
only okay first move now if you need to put
something on the ground maybe some head bells or something to hold on to
dumbbells or a little chair stool that would be good as well but you can go
down it's just gonna you're gonna lose perfect neutral throughout your whole
spine key is to maintain as much as you can in the lumbar okay so first
contraction we gradually increase the activation hold it there
slow 360 breath gradually decrease the activation okay ready set go
lift the foot strong contraction bring it down slow under control and then no
hands and just hold it there think of pushing up through the floor
like you're squatting coming up from the bottom hold breathe and relax now push
the knee in and resist don't let the knee actually move but strong contraction
from the arm breathe causes reflexive contraction of the hip the abductors and
then adductors drive it out strong contraction breathe and relax and then
one more lifting up
I have to beat those hip flexors as hard as you can place it down slow under
control and then drive yourself out of that position okay that's how you
improve squat mobility not these stupid hip flexor stretches that is stretching
something that doesn't need to be stretched we need to work on the
strength at that shortened range of the hip flexors not stretching the hip
flexors out all this kind of thing all right that's how you're gonna
improve squat mobility if you believe that biomechanics is the thing if you
don't then you could do whatever you want okay
there you have it hope that helps to clear up something that you may have
heard if you haven't heard it great you've just programmed your brain with
some useful actual information but if you have heard that consider your source
and maybe you don't want to listen to that source too much because it might
just be a little bit of a parrot Polly wanting a cracker in your ear okay hope
that else if you enjoyed that subscribe and if you want to work these hips
properly scientifically biomechanically then you got any problems lacking
mobility or your hips just don't work the way that you know they should then I
suggest you check out my hip control course which I'll link at the end of
this video ok thanks for watching again and I will see you next time