Facebook Pixel
Brookbush Institute Logo
Preview

Dynamic Hip Flexor Stretch (Upright Lunge Series)

Improve your hip mobility and flexibility with this quick and easy dynamic hip flexor stretch. This upright lunge series is perfect for runners, cyclists, and athletes of all levels. Give yourself a better range of motion and renewed energy with this simple stretch.

8 likes

Transcript

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.

Comments

Guest

3 Certifications, 165+ Courses, 500+ videos, and so much more!

The Brookbush Institute (BI) continues to improve affordability, access, flexibility, and convenience to the highest-quality education.

The Bl is the only approved/accredited certification and continuing education course provider with a true monthly membership model (cancel anytime).

This reduces the initial cost of education to just 3-5% of comparable education, improving access to complete, continue, or just "try" education with low financial risk. Don't get fooled by great marketing to make a large purchase for potentially sub-optimal education. Become a member, and find out why we think this is the way education should be!


or
Sign Up with Email Address
Already Have an Account? Sign In