IOL Strength and Conditioning

A couple of recent conversations with friends made it clear my “How to Get Hip Mobility” post a few weeks ago was interesting, but still too advanced for a beginner at joint mobility. Let’s try this again from a remedial point of view and see if we can’t get a few more hips in motion. Before we get started, those truly interested in getting this mobility job done should first re-read the original post (link above); there are important points in it that won’t be repeated here.

What we’re doing involves a little bit of stretching of tightness, a little bit of strengthening of weakness and a whole lot of neural reprogramming, that brain-to-muscle connection that gets shorted out the longer the area has been locked down. Be it from the trauma of a sports injury, car accident or simply lack of use, as the joint gets less motion, the brain learns to work around it to get the job done another way. A big part of a joint mobility program is to renew lost neural pathways, and sometimes this works fast and feels miraculous. I pray for one of those AHA moments for you this week, because just one is enough to keep you in the hunt.

The biggest problem you’ll probably have — the biggest problem I had and what seems to be most troublesome for Dave — is making the movement smaller, slower. Where neural learning happens is in the small, slight movements, particularly at the beginning of the action. Yet as weight trainers we have a need to push harder, to make something happen, and instead of getting something new, we fall back into habitual, prime-mover action and nothing is gained.

When you settle down into smaller movements, you’ll get frustrated, annoyed. If you stick with it, you’ll notice the motion smoothing out in the tiny subtle beginning of the movement. A movement that originally was jerky and amplified your feeling of klutziness soon becomes effortless. Once you feel that a single time, the imagery will carry you through the rest of the beginner joint mobility frustration, sort of how a nice golf swing brings you back for more misery.

Here are four hip mobility exercises to get you started. Practice these daily for two weeks, then you’ll be ready to move over to the other exercises on the hip mobility menu to address the muscles surrounding the pelvic structure.

What I most want to get across is to simply do the movements — don’t try to understand why they’re suggested, don’t pay any attention to knowing the anatomy… just move the joints. The movement of the hip joints will probably be short and stunted and unfulfilling. Do them anyway, daily for two weeks, and I promise you the difference between day one and day 14 will explain everything you need to know.

Tabletop stretch:
Stand about torso length from the kitchen table or countertop. Bend at the hips, knees straight but not hyperextended, and put your hands on the table surface. Move your feet as needed to achieve a comfortable bend at the hip joints and a long torso stretch. Hold the stretch for a minute.

Kneeling hip flexor stretch:
Kneel on one knee, putting your knee farther back than a normal straight-to-the-floor position. The other foot will be in front of the forward knee, and the torso will be straight. Once in this position, you’ll quickly feel the stretch in the hip flexor region of the kneeling side… you know where we’re going with this. If the hips are extremely tight, this is the final position for now; build up to a 30-second hold on each side. If that position isn’t difficult, increase the stretch by lifting the arm on the knee-down side. From there, should that not be enough of a stretch, shift your overhead arm toward the opposite side.

Side-lying hip flexion/extension:
Lying on your side, bend both legs as if sitting, but with the top leg a bit farther behind. Grab the ankle of the top leg with the same-side hand, stretch the quad lightly, then move the leg forward and back in a small, smooth motion. Make this as effortless as possible, with the leg loosely swinging. Rest whenever you need to, and after one of those rests move the leg up and down so the knee moves closer and farther from the floor. Repeat the sequence on both sides, at least 20 reps of each, but more if you have time.

Standing femur circles:
Stand tall; stick one leg across the body to the opposite side and make small circles with the foot outstretched to the side, then reverse direction. Move the foot to the front and repeat; shift the foot to the outside and repeat; continue to the back and repeat the circles on both directions. Change legs and do it all again. Remember, these are femur circles — you’re moving the top of the leg bone in circles around the inside of the hip socket; you’re not circling the knee or ankle, the knee and foot are just going along for the ride. As you begin, the circles will be small and the hip will fatigue quickly. Happily, these small muscles strengthen fast.

Now it’s time to move on to the full hip mobility program.

One last thing: You don’t need to understand this for it to work. Let the doing happen now; the understanding can come later.