Hip Mobility Part II
(Continued from Hip Mobility Part I)
Next, we’ll focus on our hamstrings and the posterior chain muscles in the lower body. I like to start with the hamstring floss.
Hamstring Floss w/ Band Distraction:
Place your left leg inside of the band after attaching it to something stable.
Walk out in a staggered stance, left leg in front, putting good tension on the band.
With left knee slightly bent, hinge at your hips and touch the ground in front of your left foot.
(If you’re unable to touch the ground, a small box or bench in front of your foot cane be used to assist.)
Bend and extend your knee 3-4 times, hold each stretch for a couple seconds. This is called “Flossing.”
After flossing, keep your knee extended and hold this static stretch for 15-20 seconds. Repeat on the right leg.
Inchworms:
Walk your hands forward so that you’re in high plank. Your shoulders should be stacked directly above your wrists.
If you feel comfortable, continue to walk your hand forward as far as you can while maintaining a neutral spine. This will aid in core stability while developing shoulder ROM.
Keep your legs relatively straight and begin walking your feet forward, one at a time, toward your hands. This will provide a nice stretch through your hamstrings, calves, and glutes as your hips start lifting toward the ceiling.
Stop when your feet are as close to your hands as you can comfortably bring them. You can bend your knees slightly to ease the stretch on your hamstrings, but try to keep them as straight as possible.
Continue by then walking your hands forward again, one at a time, allowing your heels to lift off the floor as your body begins to straighten back into a high plank.
Focus on doing each inchworm under control while focusing on your breather. Preform 6-8 repetitions.
90/90 Hip Rotations:
This exercise works both internal and external rotation of the hips at the same time. Some may find rotating to the right is much easier than to the left, or vice versa. This is common in athletes that throw or swing on one side of the body (baseball, tennis, golf, softball). Repetitive one sided movements will cause the body to develop imbalances, notably in the hip internal and external rotators. After my body is warm and muscles have loosened up, I prefer to end my mobility routine with 90/90 hip rotations.
Start in the 90/90 position, with your left leg in front of you, externally rotated, and the right leg bent behind you, internally rotated. Both knees are bent at 90 degrees. Try to sit with both sides of your butt touching the ground.
(Hands can be up, on your hips, or on the ground.)
Begin by slowly raising your right knee, while keeping the left leg in contact with the ground as long as possible. Think of creating separation between the right and left knees.
Once you’ve reached the middle, begin by lowering your right knee slowly, externally rotating at the hip, while rotating your torso towards the right.
Once your right leg is touching the ground, slowly bring your left knee to the ground, into full internal rotation.
Do this 4-6 times each side.
Progress by adding hip extension to the externally rotated leg.
You can then sweep your back/down leg around, putting yourself in a half kneeling position. Reach tall, squeeze your glutes, push your hips forward for a nice hip flexor stretch.
See the full video on 90/90 Hip Rotations with the progressions below: