Unlock your movement potential with these five fundamental exercises designed to enhance mobility and reduce pain. From the Calcaneal Traction Roll to the Wall Squat with Low Reach, these simple yet effective moves are the building blocks to a more mobile and pain-free life. Each exercise is explained in detail, complete with step-by-step instructions and common mistakes to avoid. Master these basics before moving on to more complex exercises, and experience the difference in your mobility journey.
Read MoreTag: hip pain
3 Exercises That Fix 90% of Problems
THIS is why you’re so darn stiff Ever wake up feeling like a stiff robot (not the cool dancing kind)? Or deal with aches and pains impacting life? Know what’s frustrating? If it’s not pain from trauma or serious pathology, rarely do we know what causes pain. What do we do then? If we don’t know, it’s hard to figure out how to improve our movement and comfort. But I got your back (even if it’s not low back pain). I’m about to reveal one culprit responsible for 90% of the pain and movement issues seen out there. You won’t just get the cause either, but the solution.
Read MoreUneven Hips CAUSING Knee Pain? | Case Report
If you notice your hips don’t stay level during stairs, then check this out! Does your hip ever drop down and rotate funky when you are doing exercises like step-ups and downs? Do you ever wonder why? Well, we cover the why and some fixes in today’s post, where I go through a case study that dealt with this exact issue. And the fix only took 3 exercises.
Read MorePosterior Pelvic Tilt Exercises – You’re Doing Them WRONG!
There’s a subtlety to properly executing a posterior pelvic tilt. You’ll learn it today Posteriorly tilting the pelvis aka tucking the hips is a common strategy we use to enhance hip mobility and get the pelvis in a good position to load the legs during various exercises. But are you someone who feels “the tuck” mostly in your abs, stretching your back, or working your quads? I hate to break it to you… You’re doing it wrong Surprisingly, the posterior tilt needs to be WAY more subtle than you think to get the biomechanical actions we oh so desire. Why so subtle? Don’t worry, I’ll explain EVERYTHING you ever needed to know about the posterior pelvic tilt.
Read MoreHip Flexor Stretches Don’t Work – Try These 2 Exercises Instead
If hip flexor stretching is whack, what is better, Zac? It’s super common to feel hip flexor tightness from sitting or a bazillion other things. The problem is that your traditional hip flexor stretches don’t really work…At all. The reason why is NOT because your hip flexor muscles are this evil piece of your anatomy that hates you and cares little about your feeble attempts to stretch them. It’s because tight hip flexors are part of a bigger movement strategy that your body uses. And in order to get these muscles to let go, you have to teach your body a different movement behavior. One that takes into consideration ALL of the areas that influence hip flexor tension. What are they? Well fam watch the video below and read the blog to learn! What are the hip flexors? Are the hip flexors simply evil muscles that exist within your body to cause you all types of pain and problems? Uh, no fam. The hip flexors are several muscles that act to flex the hip (aka bring your thigh closer to your abdomen. If you’ve ever sprinted, walked, went upstairs, done marching exercises, or kneed someone in the gut (wild times in Vegas), then you can be thankful you have hip flexors big fam! For you anatomy nerds, some of the major players that complete this move include: Tensor fascia lata (TFL) Psoas major Iliacus Rectus femoris What other actions do the hip flexors perform? You’ll notice that the hip flexor
Read MoreTreating Back and Hip Pain with Breathing – Live Case Study
Ever have someone who hurts multiple areas, and you are unsure where to start? What if I told you that if you have a systematic approach, these people can be helped in a much easier manner than you’d think. But what if your assessment isn’t where you want it to be? Sounds like a problem, fam. Until now. Today you’ll see me assess a woman with back and hip pain, and I go through my entire assessment, outline my thought process throughout, and show how I coach this woman out of compensatory activities within her exercises. All of these are skills that I will be teaching the fam who are attending Human Matrix: The Code for Maximal Health and Performance. If you want to attend, there are still some sign-ups available for my courses this year: Seattle, WA – September 15-16 Kansas City, MO – October 27-28 Portland, OR – November 10-11 Some of the cool things you will learn in this case study include Why hip rotation is not an immediate decision-maker for exercises How to assess joint laxity so clients don’t fool your assessment Why is the infrasternal angle important for treatment selection How to cue clients out of compensation to enhance exercise effectiveness Why we should we see immediate changes after exercise selection My favorite manual technique for improving narrow infrasternal angles, which can enhance your client’s overall mobility How does the infrasternal angle relate to the infrapubic angle and more Enjoy the video and selected notes
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