00:03 - 00:07This is Brent, President of B2C Fitness, and we're talking about our dynamic hip
00:07 - 00:11flexor stretch in this video. So, if we're doing our dynamic hip flexor stretch, I'm
00:11 - 00:15going to assume that you've already done static and active hip flexor stretch
00:15 - 00:19techniques. Of course, using those static techniques to return a muscle that is
00:19 - 00:24adaptively shortened to its optimal length, then using those active
00:24 - 00:28techniques to increase end range strength and return normal reciprocal
00:28 - 00:33inhibition, and then we're moving on to our dynamic techniques now to increase
00:33 - 00:39neuromuscular control at the tempo of daily activity. So you're going to see
00:39 - 00:44this series progress in two major ways. You're going to see the series
00:44 - 00:48progress in complexity and stability to help increase neuromuscular control or
00:48 - 00:52increase the amount of neuromuscular control required, and then you will also
00:52 - 00:56see this series progress in velocity or speed so that we're getting more and
00:56 - 01:00more prepared to use this range of motion in whatever daily activity we do
01:00 - 01:05from just being in the gym and working out, all the way up to our more athletic
01:05 - 01:09individuals playing field sports or whatever sport they happen to be
01:09 - 01:13involved in. I'm going to have my friend Leanne come out and help me demonstrate the exercises in
01:13 - 01:18this video. Now, Leanne's going to assume the kneeling hip flexor stretch that we've
01:18 - 01:23all seen for our static and active techniques. Quick review of our anatomy:
01:23 - 01:27we have our psoas, which we'd probably feel in this area here which connects to
01:27 - 01:31our lumbar spine. So it's going to be important to look at your pelvic, as well
01:31 - 01:37as lumbar spine position in this series. We also have our TFL, which is this area
01:37 - 01:42here. We're going to have to pay very close attention to how the hip and how
01:42 - 01:48the leg moves, because that TFL is going to try to move us into rotation one
01:48 - 01:51direction or another. And then, of course, the rectus femoris. The nice thing about
01:51 - 01:55this particular series of dynamic hip flexor stretches is, pretty much no
01:55 - 01:59matter what we do, we will end up with a dynamic rectus femoris stretch. Now,
01:59 - 02:03this is a good position to start teaching this stretch from, because what
02:03 - 02:09we're going to use is a lunge. So, it's a static lunge, it's not the lunge that we
02:09 - 02:13were doing for strength training, it's an upright lunge, but if I start from here
02:13 - 02:18and posteriorly tilt, know that she has a good stretch going, I can then just have her go
02:18 - 02:24straight up. So let's go up into our lunge. You can see she lost the posterior
02:24 - 02:28pelvic tilt that was keeping the stretch in her psoas, so this ends up being a pretty
02:28 - 02:34good teaching queue, and we're just using that yoga block to make
02:34 - 02:39sure that she can descend into the hip flexor stretch she already knows. Once
02:39 - 02:45she has this mastered, we can then, of course, take the yoga block away. So we can
02:45 - 02:49slow it down as much as we need to, we can have her kneel down stay, posteriorly tilt,
02:49 - 02:55and then come back up. Once I know she's got it I'll let her get more dynamic, more
02:55 - 02:58fluid, and speed it up a little bit. I'll go ahead and take this yoga
02:58 - 03:02block away. Now, we have a couple different ways we can progress from here.
03:02 - 03:07We can progress from that arm series we used in our active hip flexor stretch series.
03:07 - 03:14Leanne's going to show us that. So she's actually going to reach up as she
03:14 - 03:20descends into this lunge. So go ahead and descend into the lunge, and she's going to
03:20 - 03:24use that same reach pattern, which if you remember is going to be reach
03:24 - 03:30straight up, laterally flex and just rotate back a little bit. But, the key here is if I'm going
03:30 - 03:34to let her progress, she's got to be able to do that by maintaining a drawn-in
03:34 - 03:41position here, as well as a posterior pelvic tilt. So as she descends down, rotates, I'm
03:41 - 03:47going to be watching her pelvic position very closely. How does that feel Leanne? -Great.
03:47 - 03:53Now, of course, if this progression didn't increase the stretch she feels in her psoas,
03:53 - 03:57which is what that arm position is meant to do, then we wouldn't do this
03:57 - 04:03progression. There's no need to just add complexities for the sake of complexity, we
04:03 - 04:06want to make sure we are getting an increased benefit. Another progression
04:06 - 04:10that you could use is, I'm going to have you go ahead and put your hands right out in front of you Leanne.
04:11 - 04:14Some of you have probably seen this before, she's going to descend down into
04:14 - 04:18her kneeling hip flexor stretch here, and then rotate towards me. Now, what that's
04:18 - 04:24doing is that's placing a lot of stretch on this fascia, as well as rotating her
04:24 - 04:29pelvis a little bit, increasing the amount of stretch on her TFL. So she's
04:29 - 04:35going to descend down, rotate toward her front leg, and then come back up.
04:36 - 04:40How does that feel? -Good. Can you feel it increase in the stretch of your TFL? -Yes.
04:40 - 04:43So she feels this one actually a little bit better than
04:43 - 04:47she did for the psoas, so I'd probably keep her with this progression, and maybe
04:47 - 04:51we would have to practice that psoas progression a little bit more. Now, if
04:51 - 04:55Leanne has this down really well, I can start progressing in velocity. The
04:55 - 05:01easiest way to do that is to go from our static lunge, to a reverse lunge with the
05:01 - 05:09same arm progressions. So let me have you go ahead and get centered here. Let's go ahead and see that
05:09 - 05:12reverse lunge first, with no arm series, making sure that you maintain a
05:12 - 05:21posterior pelvic tilt. Good. You should feel that stretching through your psoas, TFL, rectus femoris.
05:21 - 05:23Note, once again, this isn't like a
05:23 - 05:28weight lifting lunge, I would have her do a lot more forward lean. This is not
05:28 - 05:33something I would add mass to or any sort of resistance to. Let's go ahead
05:33 - 05:39and progress this now. So let's try that psoas progression with the arm.
05:40 - 05:45So once again she's reaching up, laterally flexing and turning back
05:45 - 05:51as she's descending down, lengthening her psoas even further.
05:53 - 05:59Let's see that TFL progression. So now she's going to descend down, rotate toward her front leg.
06:07 - 06:11Now, if I wanted to take this another step further, we could go from a reverse
06:11 - 06:16lunge at that tempo, to now increase in the velocity and neuromuscular control
06:16 - 06:23required by going into a walking lunge. So we'll start again without arms. Make
06:23 - 06:27sure she can maintain that posterior pelvic tilt.
06:29 - 06:34When you come back Leanne, I'm going to have you walk through. Rather than coming up to two feet balance,
06:34 - 06:37just keep walking through.
06:40 - 06:44She can step all the way through and increase the velocity even further and since
06:44 - 06:49Leanne feels a lot more when she does the rotation toward the front leg, I'm going
06:49 - 06:57to go ahead and add that progression back in. So she's going to walk, twist, step through,
06:57 - 07:02twist this way. Great. So there you go. There's your
07:02 - 07:09dynamic hip flexor upright lunge stretching series. So just to kind of
07:09 - 07:14recap all of those progressions, you had the static lunge with the yoga block,
07:14 - 07:18just as a teaching queue to keep teaching that posterior pelvic tilt even
07:18 - 07:25mechanics. You then have the static lunge with a reach for the psoas, or static lunge
07:25 - 07:30with rotation to the front leg. We then had the reverse lunge with either
07:30 - 07:35arm series, and then the walking lunge with either arm series. You're going to do
07:35 - 07:41anywhere from 10 to 20 repetitions of each side, and I hope you enjoyed
07:41 - 07:45this video. It was a lot of fun to make, and thank you to Leanne.