Flexibility, obviously, is a complex study and practice. Where it should begin, in my opinion, is with proper alignment.
As the alert reader will have noticed, recent pieces on improving extension of the anterior upper body bear a striking resemblance to my earlier piece on "how to stand up straight." I think this material bears repeating because so shockingly few people, in my observation, manage to employ good postural alignment as a matter of course.
This will also come into play as we look at yet another area: the front of the hip and leg. Of primary importance here is an understanding that in order to release and extend the front of the hip, it often becomes necessary to drop the front of the pelvis – which causes the lower spine to flex. Understanding these connections can help you pursue better extension while still protecting the vulnerable spine.
The biggest and most powerful muscles in the human body all connect at the base of the spine. The prime movers – the quadriceps, biceps femoris, and gluteals – are the power center, and inattention to proper support of the lower spine while activating these big muscles can – really – pull the spine out of alignment, in potentially dangerous ways.
For this reason, just as with upper-body extension, I advise undertaking this practice under the supervision of a qualified trainer. You probably won't need the supervision to be constant or ongoing, but there is a 90% chance that you will need to be prompted to correct your alignments as you learn the actions. Without the prompt, you won't correct, and you might hurt yourself. Remember, even with a full-length mirror, you can't see your entire body as you work it - so having an extra pair of eyes on you can be well worth the hourly fee.
Let's look at the front of the lower leg first.
Sit on a sturdy, straight-backed, solid chair (not a swivel chair, and not upholstered) with all your weight on your left hip and thigh, keeping your right leg free. Sit close enough to the front of the chair that you can put both feet flat on the floor. Use your left hand to grip the edge of the chair seat for balance, if necessary.
Now, track your right foot back along the floor, in a straight line, until only the forefoot is in contact with the floor. Press gently into the "ball" of the foot – the tarsal joints – until you reach maximum bearable discomfort, as you flex the foot.
Why do this? Because without at least 70 degrees of flex, you will not have full use of the foot. Your gait, speed, balance, and alignment will all be compromised. Work on this, over time, until you can bend those toes back between 70 and 90 degrees.
Now relax the foot and roll over the toes until the tops of the toes rest on the floor. Gently press into the floor to stretch the backs of the toes. You may also feel this along the entire front of the foot, and into the ankle - even up into the shin if you are really tight.
You want to breathe into this a little: most people never stretch the front of their lower leg, but ideally you can reach the point of having a straight line along the top of your toes, foot, shin, knee, and thigh. That's a fully plantar-flexed ankle and will enable you to access surprising amounts of agility, springiness, power, and speed.
Now we'll work further up the leg: release the pressure and slide your foot further back so that more of the top of your foot contacts the floor. You will now begin to feel a stretch along the front of the thigh and into the hip.
The trick: do not move your chest forward as your leg moves back! If you do that, you are not really moving through a full range. Keep your trunk fully upright, with all the good postural adjustments you made working through the rest of this series.
Relax, draw the foot back up, and change sides. Repeat the entire sequence.
Seem simple? Well, it is. The only complicated part to this is the paying-attention part. You really have to think your way through this – checking in with each joint along the way – so that you maintain the correct postural alignment. If you don't, you will end up letting the pelvis rock underneath you, which allows the thigh to move back without actually stretching those hip flexors (quads). You also risk hyperextending the lower spine.
Next time: the last in this series: intentional hyperextension of the spine, a.k.a. backward bend, for a deep hip flexor stretch.
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