Shoot from the Hip

One piece of the movement puzzle I see missing all the time, is good hip extension. A lot of emphasis is placed on  strengthening the posterior chain these days and for good reason. However the value of a strong posterior chain or powerful hip drive is lost if you dont have the range of motion to deliver this strength through a full range. Your gluteus maximus is the main contributor to powerful hip extension and its strongest contraction strength is seen in full (terminal) hip extension. So it goes without saying that if you are unable to full extend your hip then you are going to miss out on some glute assistance which means less power.

No hip extension issues here!

The most common compensation for lack of hip extension is to extend (arch) the lumbar spine. You will get away with this for quite a while but eventually this extra demand on the low back to make up for the hip will result in some low back pain.
A lot of astute gym goers, crossfitters and trainers recognise this and aggressively try and increase their hip extension by stretching their hip flexors (illiopsoas). While the hip flexors are a great place to start another significant and often poorly stretched muscle is rectus femoris (RF). The RF is crosses both the knee and the hip joints, for this reason it is very often overworked and is quite susceptible tightness. Because the RF crosses two joints it is also a prime candidate to have an negative impact on the lower back position. By pulling on the AIIS (front of pelvis) it can tilt the pelvis forward slightly causing the low back to arch to accomodate the change of position.

The trouble with common RF/Quadricep stretches is they dont limit lumbar spine movement, so what ends up happening is we continue to compensate for our tight RF with excessive low back extension.

Compensating for a tight hip by extending the lumbar spine, not cool.

The easiest way to limit your lumbar movement in a quad/RF stretch is to flex the opposite knee to 90degrees. This will act to block the lumbar spine from moving into extension. So here's how you check if you are missing some hip extension.

Make sure you keep the lower leg at or above 90degrees of hip flexion. Take hold of the ankle of the upper leg and pin it to your backside. Keep the ankle pinned to your backside while you drive your knee back as far as you can, opening the hip into full extension.  

         

Start Position

Take note of your finish position, have a friend hold a broomestick above you aligned through your shoulder and and hip. If your knee is still in front of the stick you need to spend some time here. When you are in full extension squeeze your glute and try to drive you hip forward. Hold each glute squeeze for 10seconds, relax and repeat. Accumulate 2 mins of stretch time on each side.

Finish  Position

The Language of Movement

My intention for this blog is to try and provide as much of the information I am exposed to in my work and study as possible. But given the depth and breadth of information available to discuss relating to human performance the hardest thing is knowing where to start. So I guess when in doubt start with the basics.

I recently attended the CrossFit level 1 certification which is open to anyone able to pay the attendance fee with an interest in CrossFit. As you would expect there were a significant number of personal trainers eager to add the CrossFit methodology to their training repertoire. There were also a number of CrossFit enthusiasts that just wanted to train from CrossFit HQ mainsite and understand the method better for their own training. There were even a few people there who had never even done a CrossFit workout before. The seminar instructors were very good, well prepared, charismatic and enthusiastic. The bulk of the material – as you would expect – was simplified into practical terminology and examples to make it as user friendly as possible for the broad range participants. Even with the simplified material a large number of the participants had trouble getting their head around the descriptions of movement. What is hip flexion, adduction, abduction etc. So I figure if a group of exercise enthusiasts and personal trainers struggled to get their head around the terminology, it couldnt hurt to revisit this topic as the first addition to the blog.


The language of movement is essential in our ability to understand and communicate human movement to each other. It is very difficult to describe human movement without a common language to help paint the picture. The beauty of understanding the language is it allows you to break down and accurately describe the component parts of different exercises and activities and can help you better identify any missing pieces when trying to improve your technique or performance. It provides a common language that all exercise, health and medical professionals can speak. And you can impress your physio or doctor with your perfect descriptions at your next visit.

Planes of Movement

There are 3 primary planes of movement, Frontal (coronal), Sagittal, and Transverse. These are kind of like the human movement compass, they don’t tell you what’s happening they only describe where you are going. Here are some examples of exercise in these different planes of movement:

Frontal – Strict Press, Jumping Jacks (star jumps)

Sagittal  - Squat, Running, Kettlebell Swing, Front Raise, Push Ups

Coronal – Russian Twist, Carioca Drill, Cable Rotations

Obviously, when you think about each of the aforementioned exercises you start to realize that they don’t fit perfectly into each category, that each exercise is comprised of a mixture of different movement planes. So now we know where we are going we just need to describe how it is we are getting there. This is where it can get a little confusing, but bear with me you will hear these terms come up time and time again in the health and fitness world and the more you are exposed to them the easier it gets.

Describing Movement

Start to think about some of the exercises that you do at the gym, in sport or at the CrossFit box and what are the primary movements of these exercises. For example, the squat is comprised of an intial flexion at the hip and knee and dorsiflexion of the ankle as you lower, then reversed by extending at the hip and knee and plantarflexing at the ankle.

The better you understand these movement descriptions the easier it will be to communicate to your clients, trainer or health professional what it is you/they are struggling with and what needs to be addressed.