Nate
Level 6 Valued Member
These?
Yes. 2 leg is easier. On 1 legged, put your free knee in a 90/90 to keep pelvis straight. Those, or what I call Body Drag Curls are great too.
These?
If you can't, Rip's cue is this: point the thing that's in the front of your pelvis at your knees. Most men can do that, and that helps to find the muscles that need to be active when squatting and deadlifting.
Oh wow.Test for control of the pelvis can be done in the standing position. Pretend that you pelvis is a bowl of water. Pour water out the back (posterior pelvic tilt). How did you do that? You tightened your abs and glutes. Now back to neutral/level. Now pour water out the front. Can you do it? If you can, how did you? Erector muscles in your low back. If you can't, Rip's cue is this: point the thing that's in the front of your pelvis at your knees. Most men can do that, and that helps to find the muscles that need to be active when squatting and deadlifting.
Once you've got pretty good control of the pelvis in standing position, practice in other positions. Practice lying on your back with knees up. Tip the pelvis forward and back, slowly. Lots of people don't have good control of these muscles. Practice is helpful.
Then, what @watchnerd is saying, is do that same thing while sitting in QL straddle position. Tip your pelvis forward by contracting those same low back erector muscles. This should put you sitting on your sit bones, and in a better position to stretch.
I do well with stretches that let gravity to the work. That way you can breathe like Bauer mentioned and relax into the stretch. This one was recommendsd by a PRI doc & it did well for me.
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Thank you Anna for that pointer! I used this cue today during my S&S warmup and could squat deeper with a more stable spine and hip I didn't know how to activate the erector muscles in the low back before - and wasn't aware that they should be activated during squats. I think this is a game changer, as I've always felt uncomfortable at the bottom of a squat.Test for control of the pelvis can be done in the standing position. Pretend that you pelvis is a bowl of water. Pour water out the back (posterior pelvic tilt). How did you do that? You tightened your abs and glutes. Now back to neutral/level. Now pour water out the front. Can you do it? If you can, how did you? Erector muscles in your low back. If you can't, Rip's cue is this: point the thing that's in the front of your pelvis at your knees. Most men can do that, and that helps to find the muscles that need to be active when squatting and deadlifting.
I think this is a game changer, as I've always felt uncomfortable at the bottom of a squat.
Oh yes, I could feel an unusual stretch in the upper hamstrings"In effect, there is a war between the erectors and the hamstrings over control of the pelvis, and the erectors have to win if the back is to stay rigid and the hamstrings are to be stretched effectively."