Functional Warrior:  Save Your Spine & Open Your Hips

Here’s the skinny!

-Plane of Motion: Sagittal

-Keep the pelvic floor strong

-Move from the hips not from the mid body, we do this when we do not have the transversus abdominis strength to stabilize.

-when moving forward draw the ribs up and in and keep the ASIS landmarks tipped up and in (this will keep you in neutral)

-When moving into extension make sure the hip socket of the back leg is leading not the mid belly, when the hips are tight we usually back bend only in the spine. This is not good; we will end up with too much compression in our vertebrae, wearing down the disc and joints. Shorten up the stride so the movement can be achieved.

-To have more assistance in the extension use the same arm as the back leg to rotate the hip forward when you back bend to help emphasize the hip leading forward and the spine will naturally follow.

-To have more assistance in the forward reach use the same arm as the front leg and draw your hip back as you reach forward, making sure you keep the front keep stable.

-Work with this movement up to 10 times on each side, go back and work the weaker or tighter side with the 2:1 ratio.