Exercises You Should Be Doing: Core Engaged Active Straight Leg Raise
Many people are familiar with the active straight leg raise. For those who aren’t, it’s exactly as it sounds.
You know how when you look at someone’s last name, it’s spelled weird, and in your head you’re all like “nope, not even going to try to pronounce that,” and then the person looks at you and says, “it sounds exactly how it looks.”
Come on, use your big words, try it. S.M.I.T.H.
That’s the active straight leg raise. Try not to overthink it. You’re actively raising your leg. It’s science.
Conventional wisdom will tell you that the active straight leg raise is a great way to test for hamstring length and to see whether or not someone is stiff or short in that area.
And you’d be correct.
Conventional wisdom will also tell you that sticking your finger in an electrical socket “just to see what happens,” is pretty dumb. And you’d be right in that context too. People still do it, though.
The active straight leg raise IS NOT (technically) a test for hamstring length.
While I understand why most people would opt to graze on that side of the fence, it’s overlooking the big picture. That, and as the saying goes…“the grass is always greener on the other side.”
The active straight leg raise is really a way to test one’s ability to control their pelvis. Can they flex one hip (the leg raise) while maintaining hip extension on the non-moving side? And can they do so without any major compensations and/or asymmetrical measurements (I.e., one leg is far better than the other)?
The active straight leg raise is actually one of the “Big 7” of the Functional Movement Screen, and it’s the first one that will be attacked if someone either scores a “1” or an asymmetrical “2/3 – right vs. left” on it.
Long story (20 course hours) short: if you can clean up someone’s ASLR, chances are you’ll be able to clean up many of the prominent movement patterns up the functional chain.
Core Engaged Active Straight Leg Raise
What Does It Do: this is an excellent drill to help “groove” the active straight leg raise and to teach people to extend/flex their hip while simultaneously dissociating hip movement from lumbar movement.
Moreover, adding in the band for additional core engagement helps “stiffen” things up and get the anterior core to fire to better place the body in alignment. This is especially helpful for those who live in a more extended (anterior pelvic tilt) posture.
Key Coaching Cues: lie supine with your feet together and toes pointing up while grabbing a band placed over your head. It’s important to NOT pull the band too far towards the floor. The idea here is to maintain tension and to keep everything “engaged” throughout the set; if you pull the band too far you lose this advantage.
From there it’s all about pacing: pull, leg up, leg down, reset, pull, leg up, leg down, etc. Get the motion through your hips and learn to dissociate from the lumbar spine.
Go SLOW!
This isn’t a race and it’s crucial to do this drill correctly in order to reap the benefits.
This would be an excellent drill to include as part of an extended warm-up prior to training, or as a “filler” exercise within the training session itself.
Reps of 6-8 PER SIDE would suffice.
Now I’m just going to sit back and wait to see how long it takes for someone from CrossFit to put this into some kind of METCON finisher where the active leg is dragging a Prowler or something.
Just kidding.
But I’m not.
Comments for This Entry
Travis Pollen
Love these -- did 'em (kipping) for my finisher just yesterday!March 3, 2015 at 7:47 am |
Mike "shoulder guy" Radlbeck
Great content as always! Thanks for dropping knowledge bombs . . . for free! What a guy. Don't ever changeMarch 3, 2015 at 7:19 pm |
TonyGentilcore
I'll try not to let things get to my head......;o) Thanks Mike!March 4, 2015 at 9:38 am |
Tom
What would you be looking at to determine if client is able to "extend/flex their hip while simultaneously dissociating hip movement from lumbar movement"? First time poster, long time reader. Great stuff. Thanks!March 3, 2015 at 10:16 pm |
TonyGentilcore
Basically looking to see if they can do the movement WITHOUT "moving" through their lumbar spine.March 4, 2015 at 9:39 am |
Adam Trainor
Thanks for saving me the 20-hours of course time, Tony. In the gym we see a ton of lumbar movement in places we shouldn't. For sure this move is valuable with initial assessments, but I want to try using it in a test/retest scenario, after applying some hip mobilization techniques. I would bet we can measure improvements pretty well like this. Thanks Tony.March 6, 2015 at 6:30 am |
Top Fitness Articles of the Week - March 8, 2015 - Personal Trainer Development Center
[…] Exercises You Should Be Doing: Core Engaged Active Straight Leg Raise — Tony Gentilcore […]March 7, 2015 at 6:56 am |
Shane Mclean
Love the "dig" at the end. You couldn't help yourself could you. Your also assuming crossfitters read your blog. It maybe a little over the top of their heads :) oohhhhh look out.March 8, 2015 at 10:15 am |
TonyGentilcore
Sometimes I can't help myself.....;o) But I do have a lot of respect for CrossFit. My "tone" has changed over the years. I'm less ornery, and I'm also less likely to yell at kids to get off my lawn...;O)March 8, 2015 at 2:24 pm |
Shane Mclean
Ha ha. How's Australia?March 8, 2015 at 2:30 pm |
Do You Even Read, Bro? 3/9/15 — Fulton Training Systems
[…] CORE ENGAGED ACTIVE STRAIGHT LEG RAISE- TONY GENTILCORE […]March 9, 2015 at 6:01 am |
Read, Watch and Listen - Fourth Edition
[…] Exercises You Should Be Doing: Core Engaged Active Straight Leg Raise. You may not have heard of this exercise or used it in this way before, so take a look and learn. […]March 13, 2015 at 6:56 am |
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[…] A core move you should do: Core engaged active straight leg raise […]March 13, 2015 at 7:01 am |
Colin Russell
Do you also like slow, controlled bird dogs to work on hip extension while disassociating hip movement from the lumbar?March 19, 2015 at 3:17 pm |
TonyGentilcore
For sure!March 20, 2015 at 10:55 am |
Colin Russell
Nice! I added these into my warmups last night. Felt that oblique, glute and scapular girdle action!March 20, 2015 at 11:40 am |