Q: Jonathan,
At a workshop I attended this weekend, the instructor said that short/tight and weak hip flexors go together a lot and that this will affect your squat ....how do I determine what's a weak hip flexor?
Thanks!
A: Our bodies work best in balance. Any tight muscle on one side of a joint can and often will affect its opposite (antagonist) muscle on the other side. At the hips, a tight and shortened hip flexor (the psoas) will cause a weakening of the glutes on the opposite side of the hips, a phenomenon called inhibition. When exercise physiologists or coaches refer to muscle dysfunction, this is one of the ways in which a muscle can become dysfunctional.
In the case of a squat, you can easily see how this can negatively affect your movement: a tight psoas will cause a dysfunction in its antagonists, the glutes. Normally, the glutes play a significant role in hip extension when you stand out of the deepest point in your squat (the concentric phase). If your glutes are weak, your hamstrings and erector spinae (the long muscles of your back) will overcompensate because of this (called a synergist dominance, which is how your body deals with faulty muscle activity), and this will possibly lead to muscle overuse injuries. Even worse, the psoas (which is one half of a larger muscle called the illiopsoas) attaches at your lumbar spine, which can affect your hip mobility and lead to chronic damage in the spine.
None of this is good!
To see how your hip flexors match up, perform this simple self-test: Stand with your back and arms against a wall in order to prevent back extension. Lift your right leg so that the knee is above your hips and hold your leg there for 10 seconds. Repeat with your left leg. If you're unable to hold either leg in that position for 10 seconds due to fatigue or cramping, it's safe to say that you have a hip flexor weakness.
Luckily in this case, the test is also a good way to treat the problem, too. Perform 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps on each leg as part of your accessory work, and along with appropriate dynamic stretching for hip mobility you'll be able to audition with the Rocketts in no time!
-Jonathan
At a workshop I attended this weekend, the instructor said that short/tight and weak hip flexors go together a lot and that this will affect your squat ....how do I determine what's a weak hip flexor?
Thanks!
A: Our bodies work best in balance. Any tight muscle on one side of a joint can and often will affect its opposite (antagonist) muscle on the other side. At the hips, a tight and shortened hip flexor (the psoas) will cause a weakening of the glutes on the opposite side of the hips, a phenomenon called inhibition. When exercise physiologists or coaches refer to muscle dysfunction, this is one of the ways in which a muscle can become dysfunctional.
In the case of a squat, you can easily see how this can negatively affect your movement: a tight psoas will cause a dysfunction in its antagonists, the glutes. Normally, the glutes play a significant role in hip extension when you stand out of the deepest point in your squat (the concentric phase). If your glutes are weak, your hamstrings and erector spinae (the long muscles of your back) will overcompensate because of this (called a synergist dominance, which is how your body deals with faulty muscle activity), and this will possibly lead to muscle overuse injuries. Even worse, the psoas (which is one half of a larger muscle called the illiopsoas) attaches at your lumbar spine, which can affect your hip mobility and lead to chronic damage in the spine.
None of this is good!
To see how your hip flexors match up, perform this simple self-test: Stand with your back and arms against a wall in order to prevent back extension. Lift your right leg so that the knee is above your hips and hold your leg there for 10 seconds. Repeat with your left leg. If you're unable to hold either leg in that position for 10 seconds due to fatigue or cramping, it's safe to say that you have a hip flexor weakness.
Luckily in this case, the test is also a good way to treat the problem, too. Perform 2-3 sets of 10-12 reps on each leg as part of your accessory work, and along with appropriate dynamic stretching for hip mobility you'll be able to audition with the Rocketts in no time!
-Jonathan