if you have tight hip flexors then in this video you're going to learn two
uncommon techniques to greater hip flexor mobility strength and function
hey what's up its Coach E here from precision movement and welcome to
another video where I'm gonna teach you some techniques that you might not have
seen before to help you improve your mobility and movement longevity so today
we're gonna focus on the hip flexors and the hip flexors are commonly weak tight
restricted in a lot of people because of all the sitting that we do when we are
in this flex tip position we're sitting down our body adapts to that shortens
those muscles up and it weakens them because we're not using them well this
can be have detrimental effects on what we're doing in the gym and what we're
doing in everyday life or for sport because when you get down for example in
a deep squat if the hip flexors aren't working properly
specifically the iliopsoas it's going to be tough to maintain this neutral or
slightly extended lumbar spine when you get low so a lot of people end up with
the butt wink and that's due to hip flexors not being able to fully lengthen
and contract because if adapted to this shortened position another problem is if
you run and you sprint and you're going full out you need to get into hip
extension so if your hip flexors are restricted or tie it or not lengthening
correctly then you're gonna limit this hip extension and if you do sprint
really hard the movements gonna come from somewhere else and it could come
from your lumbar spine so your lumbar spine is doing the movement going into
extension and that can cause problems with the low back with the discs and the
ligaments in the lumbar spine so what are we gonna do about it well the first
technique I'm going to teach you is something that I call active self
myofascial release and if you've ever been to a physio or a
chiro where they've done Active Release techniques on you then this is something
similar except you're doing it on your own so you can save the visit save the
time save the money okay so here's what we do get into the half
kneeling position on the ground one knee on the ground and you're gonna flex the
hip so just drop down focusing on closing this angle so flexion of the hip
now we're gonna find the hip flexors and the hip flexors there's two parts
there's the iliacus that's we're gonna start and then there's the psoas and the
psoas can be difficult to get on your own in this position so the iliacus on
the other hand is pretty easy so you find the hip bone the iliac crest here
and you just drive your thumb right in there
so you're crouched over flex tip get your thumb right into the bone there and
let's put some pressure in yeah from here the first thing you do is squeeze
the glute so I'm working this side the left side I'm squeezing the left glute
after that I keep the glute on as I drive into hip extension like so keeping
the pressure of my thumb into the muscle and driving some force downwards when
I'm at end range I relax everything and then find a slightly different area of
the iliacus right there squeeze the glute and drive myself forward into hip
extension keeping the glute on the whole time okay let's do one more I'm just
gonna do the one side squeeze the glute just to demonstrate what I want you to
do and then drive forward into hip extension okay so the key points are get
the thumb right on the hip flexor muscle the iliacus activate the glute when
you're in the flexed position and then you drive forward keeping the glute on
the whole time and what this does as opposed to you just a passive massage if
you're just to rub that area is because we're getting the neuromuscular system
involved when we break up the tissue whether it's adhesions or fibrosis that
can result in the hip flexor being unable to fully contract and lengthen
then the activity allows the neuromuscular activities firing up the
glute is helping to shut off the hip flexor muscles so we can drive in deeper
a little bit deeper through reciprocal inhibition also it's teaching our body
ok we're able to move through this full range so any range that you gain your
neuromuscular sees that as usable range and it'll allow you to keep it when your
brain specifically sees that okay so that's the benefit of doing active self
myofascial release as opposed to just passive self myofascial release like
massage or formerly not saying those things are bad it's just this adds
another element that is beneficial now for that so is portion of the iliopsoas
complex it's a little more difficult I'll show you how to get in there how to
attempt to get in there you want to have three fingers because you need some
strength and about the bellybutton level that's where you want to target and
you're basically going underneath the rectus abdominus the six-pack muscle and
if you want to test if you're actually on it you go in the opposite stance and
you can just lift the knee off the ground by doing so you should be
activating that muscle so you'll feel it contract under your fingers if you could
feel that then you're on it okay keep the pressure there
same exact movement starting to flex tip position squeeze the glute and go into
hip extension pushing in and sliding the fingers slightly down towards the floor
as you go okay relax everything find it again squeeze the glute and then drive
into hip extension keeping the glute on the whole time so this is releasing both
parts of that iliopsoas complex okay so you want to do anywhere from three to
six passes on either on both of the iliacus and the psoas both heads of that
muscle yeah and obviously both sides after that you go we're gonna go right
into an exercise to get this muscle working so what we're gonna do something
I call the dead drug hip bridge set up in the supine position bring your feet
down flat on the ground and first thing you're gonna do is activate the glutes
so you want those guys on that'll help to shut off the the psoas so that we're
getting into a nice neutral position of the pelvis and the spine from here take
one leg flex the hip as far as you can not allowing the hips to drop or rotate
at all keep them in the start position and then opposite hand on the knee and
push against each other there's no movement but activation hold for five
seconds keep breathing and then relax and when you relax you slowly straighten
the leg out keeping the hips where they are until the heel just lightly touches
the ground so now we're in a fully lengthened position of the iliopsoas
after the heel touches bring the foot in and you switch so glutes are on flex the
hip to max range put the hand on the opposite knee press as hard as you can
hold for five slow breaths don't hold your breath I want you to release keep
the hips high you can put your fingers on your butt there just so you can be
aware of your pelvic position slowly touch for a full hip extension and then
replace from this point on you can take a little breather if you want or you can
continue with the set okay so this exercise I want to complete
anywhere from three to six repetitions per side alternating sides each time and
taking a break in between whenever you need now the benefit of this exercise is
that we're not only taking there flex her through full range of flexion
to full extension okay so when that knee is when the hip is flexed hands on the
knee that's the fully shortened range of the iliopsoas and then when we bring
their leg straight and touch it to the ground while keeping the hips high
that's the fully lengthened range of the iliopsoas that means we're working
through the full range of motion so we're developing strength and control
through the full range we're reintegrating that muscle into a
movement that's teaching our brain hey this is what this thing is supposed to
do okay now the benefit of this specific
technique the dead bug hip bridge is that we're activating one side let's say
I'm bridging on my right leg here so I'm bridging up and then I'm here this is
basically the pattern that we're doing hip flexion with opposite glutes firing
hip extension what does this look like okay a sprint so every time we sprint we
drive into hip extension on one side hip flexion on the other side so this is
wearing working a very functional pattern that will easily transfer to an
activity like running or sprinting if you do that kind of thing and I
recommend everybody should be sprinting on a weekly basis at least okay so as
you can see this is a very good pattern exercise to use and by preceding it with
the active self myofascial release technique that's going to help us to
improve the function and the range that that muscle can go through and then we
take it and we drop it right into a pattern that is useful all right so that
is the two-step process to greater hip flexor strength mobility and control now
hope you enjoyed that if you like more stuff like this make sure you subscribe
to the channel and you could check out the link, I'll toss a link to precision
movement coach where we've got lots more resources to help you improve your
mobility eliminate pain heal and prevent injuries and achieve movement longevity
okay so thanks again for watching talk to you next time peace