I firmly believe static stretching is often over-prescribed; an easy default recommendation for some fitness professionals too lazy to dig a little deeper.
“Tight” hamstrings? Go stretch those bad boys.
“Tight” hip flexors? Better go stretch!
Bad hair day? Yup, you need to stretch.
SPOILER ALERT: 👇👇 this is not the correct way to stretch your hip flexors.
I don’t feel static stretching is a complete waste of time mind you.
Sometimes (<– key word, sometimes) it plays a crucial role in helping people get out of pain and addressing varying muscular imbalances or postural issues.
SIDE NOTE: Most people don’t realize that what we deem as “stretching” isn’t really doing what we think it’s doing. In order for a muscle to really gain length you need to increase the number of sarcomeres in a series. This takes a…………..metric………..fuck………ton…………of……………………………………………….time.
I could be out-dated in my research vernacular, but I believe it takes upwards of 20-60+ minutes of holding a continuous stretch to actually increase it’s length to any degree.
What most of use are doing when we drop down to the floor to stretch something for 30-seconds is increasing our tolerance to the stretch.
And even if static stretching is deemed necessary, none of this takes into account the most important – albeit most overlooked – detail.
Performing it correctly.
Take the hip flexors for example. Everyone loves stretching their hip flexors.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Thing is: You’ll rarely see someone do it right. Instead, despite endless efforts – sometimes to the tune of weeks, months, and years of “stretching” – nothing ever changes.
Many people will still point to the same area that feels “tight.”
I’m by no means the first person to point this out: guys like Mike Reinold, Mike Robertson, Dr. Evan Osar, and Cobra Commander have been pointing this out for years.
SIDE NOTE #2: I’m actually more inclined to toss in some dedicated hip flexor STRENGTHENING exercises in lieu of stretching (but that’s for another time).
So lets take a look at how to properly stretch the hip flexors, shall we?
Get your mind out of the gutter, I’m talking about muscles here…;o)
The Difference Between Good & Bad Stiffness
Having “tight” or “stiff” muscles is often viewed as a bad thing. Not losing a match of Squid Game bad, but bad nonetheless.
When someone presents with a (true) muscular length limitation there are increased risks of injury involved – strains, tears, explosive diarrhea1 – not to mention an increased likelihood of faulty movement patterns up and down the kinetic chain.
But injury isn’t always omnipresent.
Take any NBA basketball player through the FMS (Functional Movement Screen) – specifically the Active Straight Leg screen – and you’re bound to open up a can of epic fail.
NOTE:I personally don’t use the FMS currently when assessing/screening new clients. I took both modules several years ago and gained a lot of insight and knowledge. But in the years since I have gradually weened away from the FMS for myriad reasons. I know a lot of fitness professionals who still utilize it though and feel it’s a relevant talking point in the context of this post.
Many would be lucky to score a “2” (which is an average score), and many would showcase a right/left asymmetry, which, as we all know, means a baby seal dies.2
As a result, we’re quick to go into corrective exercise overdrive and implement every strategy under the sun that’ll increase hamstring length.
Ironically, it’s “tight hamstrings” that allow many NBA players the ability to do what they do so well. Namely, jump through the roof.
In this case stiffness is a good thing. We don’t have to fix it.
Of Note:the ASLR screen isn’t necessarily a hamstring length screen to begin with. Sure, offhand, it can be a way to ascertain hamstring length…but what we’re really looking at is the ability to both flex and extend the hip.
Stiff hamstrings can affect the ability to do so. However, more importantly, the ASLR is about teaching people to get into better positions – improving stiffness in other areas – to “trick” the CNS into turning off the emergency breaks.
Get people into more optimal positions (nudge them into better alignment), and what presented as “tight” or stiff is no longer the case.
Core Engaged Active Straight Leg Raise
Here we engage the anterior core – increase stiffness – to promote more posterior pelvic tilt (decrease “bad” stiffness in lumbar spine) in order to improve ROM, in addition to getting movement from the right areas (in this case the hips).
Likewise we can throw the hip flexors underneath the bus. I think we all know someone who’s been stretching their “tight” hip flexors since 1997.
Newsflash: If you’re someone who’s been mindlessly stretching your hip flexors for that long, with no improvement, what the hell?
I’d garner a guess the reason they feel tight/stiff is due to protective tension (and not actual tightness).
The stretch you’re doing – what I like to call the BS Hip Flexor Stretch – is doing nothing more than increasing “bad” stiffness in the:
Lumbar spine.
Anterior hip capsule.
My eyes.
It exacerbates and feeds what’s causing the issues in the first place.
Instead, perform a REAL Hip Flexor Stretch by increasing (good) stiffness in the appropriate areas – the anterior core and glutes – and actually get at the crux of the issue.
Another prime example would be the lats.
Stiff lats can be a bad and a good thing.
When Shit Hits the Fan (I.e., Bad)
In mine and Dean Somerset’s Complete Shoulder & Hip Blueprint, we spend a large portion of time speaking about the lats and how, in the overhead athlete population (as well as in the general population), they’re often stiff/short and overactive.
As a result: Overactive/stiff lats will drive more shoulder depression, downward rotation, adduction, as well as lumbar extension in general.
Anyone familiar with PRI (Postural Restoration Institute) and their thought process and methodologies will recognize this “Scissor Posture,” where the pelvis is pointing in one direction (tilted forward in Anterior Pelvic Tilt) and the diaphragm pointing in another direction (due to an excessive rib flair and lumbar extension).
This is not only an unstable position to be in, but also keeps the nervous system “on” at all times, driving more sympathetic activity.
What’s more, with regards to shoulder health, overactive lats will make it much less likely someone will be able to elevate their arms overhead, as well as “accessing” their lower traps (which share a similar fiber orientation as the lats @ 135 degrees), which, in concert with the upper trap and serratus, aid scapular upward rotation, posterior tilt, and protraction.
Taking the time to coach someone to turn off (or down-regulate) their lats in order to flex, externally rotate, and abduct their shoulder works wonders.
Bench T-Spine Mobilization
Wall Lat Stretch w/ T-Spine Extension & Lift Off
When Lats Can Increase Your Overall Level of Badassery (I.e., Good Stiffness)
And now it’s time to turn those fuckers on!
Your lats are a MAJOR player when it comes to performance in the weight room and lifting heavy things.
It also behooves you to turn them on in order to improve your technique in the “big 3.”
With the deadlift in particular there are some significant advantages:
Another trick I like to use to help people learn to use their lats during a deadlift is to attach a band to the bar and a stationary object.
Trainees will learn very quickly what it means to “pull the bar towards you” and to keep the lats engaged throughout the duration of a set.
You can also peruse a few more options in this IG post from a few weeks ago:
…it’s not always end of days or something that requires going into DEFCON 1 corrective exercise purgatory mode. Whether or not stiffness/tightness is bad or good depends on the context.
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Pallof presses – and all their variations. While I’ve definitely curbed my views with regards to core training and the whole anti-everything mantra most of the fitness industry adopted in recent years (lets be honest: it’s perfectly okay for the spine to go into flexion every now and then. Loaded flexion is one thing, but lets try not to shit an EMG every time someone has the audacity to bend their spine. Life……will…..go…….on), I’d still be remiss not to note that the bulk of my core training, and that of my clients, revolves around stability and preventing “unwanted” motion.
Maybe a year or two ago my good buddy, Nick Tumminello, described a cool Pallof variation called the Vertical Pallof Press, which I thought was a simple – albeit brilliant – twist into the genre.
Fast forward to two weeks ago, another buddy of mine, Philadelphia based strength coach, Andrew Zomberg, asked my thoughts on half-kneeling or even tall-kneeling Vertical Pallof Press variations.
In a nutshell he was curious as to whether or not I’ve tried them or if I saw any efficacy in including them into my programming.
Of course!
Half Kneeling Vertical Pallof Press
What I like most about this variation are a few things:
1. It trains anti-extension.
2. With the half kneeling version, you can “encourage” a bit more posterior pelvic tilt by squeezing the crap out of the kneeling side glute. And when I say “squeezing the crap out of the kneeling side glute,” what I really mean is “squeeze that badboy as if you’re trying to crack walnut.”
3. Additionally, we get an awesome active “stretch” in the kneeling side hip flexor. I put the word stretch in quotations there because for those people who feel as if they have chronically tight hip flexors (despite going out of their way to stretch them to death with little or no improvement), it’s more likely the fact that the hip flexors are pulling “double duty” for an unstable spine. Hence, they feel tight because they’re firing 24/7 to prevent the spine from wrecking itself before it checks itself (Ice Cube fans will enjoy that reference).
In a sense, we could make a solid argument that the reason why many people feel as if they have “tight” hip flexors is NOT because they’re short/stiff, but rather their core is weak and unstable.
If you’re too lazy to read it: just know that working on core stability could help resolve those “tight” hip flexors of yours.
Outside of those key points, I’d note that the other things to consider would be on the technique side of things:
– Keep your chin tucked (make a double chin).
– As you extend your arms above your head, try to prevent your rib cage from flaring out.
– For those who need to work on improving scapular upward rotation (especially overhead athletes), once your elbows hit shoulder height, you could lightly shrug at the top of the movement.
– Try not to make this a tricep exercise. Those who tend to feel it more in that area are pressing the cable too far outward and focusing on elbow extension. Instead, you need to literally press straight up, preventing the cable from pulling you backward.
For an additional challenge, you can try a one-arm variation
Half Kneeling 1-Arm Vertical Pallof Press
All the same benefits apply here: it trains anti-extension, but because you’re using one arm at a time there’s also a significant anti-rotation component as well.
Too, it’s great for glute activation, encouraging more posterior pelvic tilt, and serves as an active hip flexor “stretch” (seriously, read Dean’s post).
About the only thing it doesn’t do is multiplication tables and buy you dinner.
And there you have it. Try it out today, and let me know what you think!
