how to "fix" my left hip - it's ok for day to day living, working,
walking around, etc. but when I try something fancy with balance or
swings, etc, it becomes problematic.
I'd been going through Timothy Ferriss' "The Four Hour Body" (despite my
initial post on the subject, I've found a lot to like about it) and in
his section on "pre-habbing", he mentions that Gray Cook thinks the four
most important drills you can do to assess and correct your imbalances
include the 1 legged Stiff Leg Dead Lift (of which the 1LRDL exercise
below is the basic variation.)
Why? Because it works the stabilizing motor neurons and muscles in your
hips like nobody's business, and that's exactly what I need.
I'll mention in passing that Cook/Ferris' recommended rep protocol is 7
sets of 3-5 reps, with the emphasis on the "weak" side:
Strong Side - -3 to 5 reps
Weak Side -3 to 5 reps
Strong Side - 3 to 5 reps
Weak Side - 3 to 5 reps
Weak Side - 3 to 5 reps
Weak Side - 3 to 5 reps
Weak Side - 3 to 5 reps
I am thinking of applying this to the Turkish Get Up also.
http://www.tonygentilcore.com/blog/perfecting-the-1legged-rdl/
1. Keep the neck packed. Many will view this as looking down, but in
fact, you're just keeping the neck in a neutral position. Ideally, when
performing this exercise, you want to think of your entire backside as
making a straight line (said differently, arch your back) from your head
all the way down to your toes. Resultantly, you can think of it as
making your spine long.
Now, admittedly, I did bend my moving leg slightly - but, for the most
part, you should get the general idea.
2. CRUSH the dumbbell with your grip. By doing so, you create a
phenomenon called irradiation, which forces the rotator cuff to fire and
essentially "packs" the shoulder nice and tight. This is important
because you can't think of this movement as actively lowering the DB
with your arm - many trainees make the mistake of trying to touch the DB
all the way to the floor, resulting in a significant amount of flexion,
which I don't agree with.
Instead, a better way to approach it is to think about pushing your hips
back (again, keeping your back in a straight line throughout). So,
instead of actively thinking about lowering the DB, all you need to do
is think "hips back," until the DB reaches roughly mid-shin level. At
that point, you shoulde feel some pretty significant tension in the
hamstrings.
3. Also of note, with the standing (supporting) leg, I like to tell
trainees to keep a "soft knee." It shouldn't be locked or stiff.
Ideally, you want about 15-20 degrees of knee flexion.
4. Again, pigging back on the points above, grip the DB HARD, push your
hips back, and think about driving your moving leg's heel up towards the
ceiling. Like I noted, you want to try to keep your backside as
straight as possible, and I've found that using the "heel towards the
celing" cue works wonders in that regard.
Likewise, as you push back, you should feel the brunt of your weight
shift back into your supporting leg's heel. if you feel your weight
shifting more towards your toes, try taking your shoes off as the
additional heel lift will shift your weight anteriorly (which you don't
want).
5. To finish, try to "pull" yourself back through the heel and squeeze
your glute to finish. Repeat. Don't tip over. Be awesome.
6. Lastly, I'll just add that it's perfectly okay to perform this
exercise in your "usable" range of motion. In other words, if you're
unable to do it using a full ROM, there's no rule stating that you can't
shorten the distance. Again, this is a very valuable exercise, and
there are a lot of things coming into play here. So, if you have to
limit the ROM due to poor hip stablity (for instance), that's fine. As
you grow more proficient, you'll undoubtedly be able to increase your
ROM as you go.
And there you have it. While it's a bit presumptuous, obviously, to say
that this is perfect form (is there such a thing?), I feel that the
above suggestions will drastically improve people's performance with
this exercise. Try them out today, and let me know what you think!
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