Exercises You Should Be Doing: Split Stance 3D Hamstring Mobilization w/ Reach

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Once a week I head over to Boston University to fiddle around in the strength and conditioning center. I’ve been going there for well over two years now, and as much as I love training in a state-of-the-art facility – if for nothing else for a little change of scenery – I think the greater benefit is the opportunity it allows for me to hobnob with some other really smart, forward thinking coaches.

Yesterday was a classic example.

I had just finished my bench workout (I know! Benching on a Tuesday! Blasphemy!) when coach Jill Zeller asked if I’d take a few moments to look at her hip. Her left side had been bothering her as of late, and she was curious to get another set of eyes to take a peek and to see if I picked up on something she hadn’t.

In the process fellow BU coach, Will Turner, joined the festivities and before you could say Minas Tirith three times really fast, the three of us were geeking it up talking about acetabulum anatomy, Left Anterior-Interior Chain (<– Postural Restoration Institute shenanigans), and pelvic alignment.

Oh my god, get this….at one point Jill was like, “dude, if it’s a Left AIC, why would my left hip hurt?” And Will was like, “anterior humeral glide syndrome?” And I was like, “and that’s why the honey badger can’t have gluten!!!”

It was hilarious.

Whatever. You had to be there.

Anyways, it was a good brain dump and after the fact Jill and Will started chatting about some new fancy schmancy warm-up drill Jill had picked up the previous weekend while out in Denver working with University of Denver strength coach, Matt Shaw.

Split Stance 3D Hamstring Mobilization w/ Reach

What Does It Do: This actually hits a number of cool things:

1. The “3D” part refers to the multi-planar aspect of the mobilization. I.e., by reaching in a variety of directions (forward, left, and right) we then hit the hamstrings in all planes of motion – not just sagittal.

2. As such we also get a fantastic glute stretch/mobilization because we’re grooving a hip hinge pattern.

3. In addition, with the bent leg, there’s a significant ankle dorsiflexion component.

Key Coaching Cues: I feel this one looks fairly self-explanatory, but there are a few points to hammer home.

– It’s important to maintain a neutral spine and to try to avoid going into excessive lumber extension on these.  A lot of people are going to want to crank through their lower back on these rather than through the hips.

– Too, you need to own your rib position (something I explain in more detail HERE).

– To prevent any HYPERextension of the knee, rather than locking the knees out I’d advocate for “soft knees” instead (just short of locking out).

– Be sure to “push” your hips back while performing the reach in the opposite direction.

– Shoot for 3-5 reps per direction.

– Use these as part of an extended warm-up, or as a nice “filler” in between exercises.

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Comments for This Entry

  • Stuff To Read 11/5/14 |

    […] 1. Exercises You Should Be Doing: Split Stance 3D Hamstring Mobilization w/Reach by Tony Gentilcore […]

    November 5, 2014 at 2:54 pm | Reply to this comment

  • Brent

    Good stuff Tony. I wasn't a fan of PRI initially but I'm coming around to the concept. Based on my understanding of PRI though, wouldn't you want to avoid driving that right femur into internal rotation, as shown when you are leaning to your left? From what I understand if you are in a LAIC pattern, you want to drive external rotation on the right side and internal on the left (for instance the right sided clam shell is a popular PRI technique to drive more external rotation on the right side). Also, I know Eric is a fan of the left stance toe touch, which makes sense in light of what is going on in a LAIC pattern, but this drill starts in a right stance. Maybe I'm confused though. You guys have a lot more experience than me with this stuff so set me straight please if I'm off in left field here :) I'll have to try it out tomorrow though and see what happens (on a BOSU ball of course).

    November 5, 2014 at 9:45 pm | Reply to this comment

  • Glenn De Kler

    It's so obvious, simple, genius. Thanks for thinking about this stuff, so I don't have to.

    November 6, 2014 at 7:39 am | Reply to this comment

  • Shane Mclean

    This is awesome. Nice work I'm going to use this right away. Thanks

    November 9, 2014 at 2:55 pm | Reply to this comment

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