dragon door

In this fourth and final installment dedicated to better utilization of the hips, I show some crawling progressions to emphasize that we can sometimes skip mobility drills and just move instead.  But before we jump into part four, let’s briefly review the previous three pieces.  First, we looked at some basic stretches done in a variety of positions to loosen up tight areas around the hips.  In part two, we covered a very basic dynamic hip and hamstring mobility sequence to prepare field/court athletes or fighters for their active flexibility needs in competition.  In the third piece, I differentiated “linkage” from “leakage” using the Hanging Leg Raise Sequence, and I went on to show how plyometric-style HLR’s can help with patterning powerful hip flexion/extension for the sprints.

I reviewed the previous segments to set this piece up as continuing in the line of “linkage” discussed in part three.  In the HLR sequence, we used linkage to generate explosive power and dynamic control.  Today’s segment departs from the power focus and instead incorporates “linkage” to produce controlled efficiency of movement.  My aim today is to demonstrate quiet rather than explosive movement.

While your average guy on the street isn’t yet acquainted with the notion of mobility, it’s been a trendy word in the fitness industry for several years.  The few people who actually do mobility drills tend to stand in one place and make a series of circular motions through the joints from the neck down to the ankles.  While this is an excellent thing to get fluid moving into the joints and surrounding tissues, it’s debatable whether these isolated drills actually produce better mobility.  Today’s video, then, attempts to show how putting mobility in motion yields better results than isolating each joint while also being more fun.

There are six movements on the video.  All of them both require and improve mobility in the hips.  The first two are low crawls, one on the belly and one on the back.  The next two moves are creeping squats, the first done from a traditional squat and the other from a Cossack squat position.  The final two moves combine elements of the first four and add rolls.  The goal on each of the six movements is to move quietly.  If you can do them without producing thuds during the transitions, you aren’t leaking; instead, you’re moving efficiently.

In an attempt to elaborate on my notion of how linkage can create quiet as well as explosive movement, I’ll provide an exercise x-ray of the fifth move in the video: the creeping squat/roll combination.  I set up the move in a Cossack squat position.  From there, the flat foot shifts towards the ball of foot as the ankle extends to drop the knee to the floor.  The knee drop carries my momentum forward.  If I don’t rotate through my thoracic spine while flexing and rotating my neck, I’ll do a face plant.  So, I opt for rotation.  The previous movement clears the neck and spine so I can roll over the shoulder.  An internal rotation of the rolling shoulder (imagine the Egyptian shoulder mobility drill that screws the shoulders into internal and external rotation) allows me to take the impact of the floor on the backside of the shoulder (thus avoiding jamming into the A/C joint).  I roll across (not straight down) the spine to the opposite hip and back into the Cossack position.  I do a creeping squat Cossack switch to get the other knee up and repeat the sequence to roll over the opposite shoulder.  Basically, I have linked mobility drills sequentially from the feet up through the neck to produce movement.

In the RKC School of Strength, we emphasize the Turkish Get Up because it demands multi-planar movement through multiple joints while navigating the stability challenge of maintaining weight overhead.  It is one of those few, coveted “desert island” exercises because of its strength, mobility and stability demands.  If we hope to achieve the same great benefits from bodyweight exercises, we need to remember the mantra of “multiple planes, multiple directions and multiple joints.”  While focusing on the hips is a great place to start in this endeavor, we must remember that dynamic movement is produced by systemic integration.  Hopefully, the video that accompanies this piece can give you some ideas in making your movement more effective, integrated and enjoyable.

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Mark Bixby is a Dragon Door RKC Team Leader, PCC Instructor and MovNat Instructor.  He discovered kettlebells in 2002 and found that they are the quickest, most effective way to train.  A combination of past injuries and persistent low physical self-image had caused Mark to have severe posture issues and chronic back pain. Kettlebells taught Mark how to use his hips so that he didn’t tuck his pelvis and slump with his posture. He grew taller, stronger and more confident. More than six years later, Mark has accomplished huge gains in strength, flexibility and stability and he finds that kettlebells still present significant physical and technical challenges. Because the skill set can always be refined, kettlebells continue to push Mark towards higher levels of body awareness and fitness. Mark can be reached through: http://www.dkbfitness.com/.

Part three of this series on the hips continues the focus on dynamic hip action demonstrated in the second installment by implementing explosive hip drive into the Hanging Leg Raise sequence.  After reading this and watching the companion video, you’ll have more control in your HLR while also running faster and jumping higher.

One of the great aspects of the PCC was the camaraderie developed over the three days.  As we were sharing pull-up and flag stations, as well as spotting each other on handstands and bridging, we got to constantly coach and encourage each other.  This was most evident during the Century Test, where the 55 attendees rotated through four testing stations.  This meant that each of us had a cheering audience to encourage us through the Century.

Beth Andrews, Senior RKC and Iron Maiden (a title gained by doing a press, a pull-up and pistol with a 24 Kg. kettlebell) was the first person to pass the Century and gain her PCC certification. While the three guys next to her blew through their squats and pushups, Beth methodically did her own.   The guys got to the bars to start their 20 hanging leg raises before Beth, but she ended up finishing first.  While the Century isn’t a race, Beth’s hanging leg raises perfectly demonstrated the contrast between “linkage” and “leakage.”   Beth’s leg raises could have been done with walls right in front and behind her, and she wouldn’t have touched them.  She pulled her knees straight up, and pushed them straight down, deftly “linking” her movements into a total-body move.  Meanwhile, the guys started noticeably swinging a bit in the HLR and had to stop their reps and kill their momentum so they didn’t get no-counted.  They were “leaking.”  Determined to mimic Beth’s HLR during my Century, I stepped up to the bar, started the sequence and began rocking a bit by my 5th rep.  I “leaked.”  The question was where.

As I quickly discovered at the GAIN Conference (discussed in part two of this series), I was leaking from the ankles up through the hips.  Gary Winckler, Head Coach of the University of Illinois Women’s Track Team, led practical sessions at GAIN to demonstrate the importance of hip drive and ankle tension in the sprints.  Over the course of his illustrious career at Florida State and Illinois, Mr. Winckler has coached over 300 All-Americans and 13 Olympians in the sprints and hurdles.  He told us that the common coaching cues in the sprints—“stride it out” and “kick your butt”—had transformed sprint mechanics from being powerfully hip-driven to being weakly knee-driven.  Striding as far as possible, we extend our knees, driving our posture forward.  Then, to look pretty, we weakly flex our knees to kick our butts.  As Coach Winckler demonstrated, the point is to create power by pushing through the ground with powerful hip extension on one leg, while spring-loading the other leg in hip flexion and prepping it to drive down.  The up/down motion generated by the hips allows the runner to maintain the upright posture most effective for generating force into the ground.

While I made improvements on my stride working on the track, the lesson of hip drive didn’t really hit home until the next day’s session in the weight-room with Coach Jim Radcliffe of the University of Oregon (See part two of this series for more on Coach Radcliffe.).  As a powerful hip hinge is a huge part of running faster and jumping higher, Coach Radcliffe tries to teach it in as many contexts as he can.  He uses the hanging leg raise sequence to demonstrate how linking the hips/ankles into the movement can produce a more explosive leg raise without compromising posture.  For me, Coach Winckler’s advice on the track hit home on the bar.  A dynamic combination of hip flexion/extension and active ankles in the hanging leg raise cured me of my swaying motion.  He was right: I had been weakly flopping through the knees and not driving up and down through the hips.  After doing these dynamic hanging leg raises, I went back to the track, found the hip and ankle link, and produced the most powerful sprints I’ve ever run.

Please watch the accompanying video to learn this “plyometric” HLR progression.  You’ll better understand linkage in your HLR sequence and benefit in your sprints and jumps.

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Mark Bixby is a Dragon Door RKC Team Leader, PCC Instructor and MovNat Instructor.  He discovered kettlebells in 2002 and found that they are the quickest, most effective way to train.  A combination of past injuries and persistent low physical self-image had caused Mark to have severe posture issues and chronic back pain. Kettlebells taught Mark how to use his hips so that he didn’t tuck his pelvis and slump with his posture. He grew taller, stronger and more confident. More than six years later, Mark has accomplished huge gains in strength, flexibility and stability and he finds that kettlebells still present significant physical and technical challenges. Because the skill set can always be refined, kettlebells continue to push Mark towards higher levels of body awareness and fitness. Mark can be reached through: http://www.dkbfitness.com/.