"The legs feed the wolf." ~ Herb Brooks
The stronger and more mobile your lower body is... the stronger your entire body will be. Only many, many, many Americans fall victim to "Lower Crossed Syndrome." Think of your body has having two opposable forces always pulling on each other.
In phase 1 I talked about the damage of sitting in a previous lesson and how it affects the upper body. The same goes for the lower body. When we live in a "flexed environment" the muscles in the front of the body become tight. While the muscles on the back of the body (... muscles responsible for posture, speed, agility, and quickness) become weak.
Leaving strength on the table...
When we sit all day, our hip flexors tighten. Particularly the Illiopsoas (aka: the 'Psoas'). Remember what I said about the opposing forces? Your glutes and hip flexors are neurally connected.
Meaning, when your hips become tight, your glutes becomes weak. Which means you're not going to get much out of your swings, skwats, etc. You're basically leaving strength on the table.
(... and who wants that? I know you don't!)
Not only that.
Your glutes are also there to protect your back. Well... if you can't access your glutes because your hips are tight... what's protecting your back? Pretty much nothing. So how do we combat this? By eliminated lower crossed movement viruses through the lower body flow.
Lower Body Flow (LBF)
The sequence...
- GFE
- Crab Foot Clap (x3) → Bent Leg/Straight Leg (x3) → Leg Scissor (x3) → Archer (x3) → (x3) Mixer
- Happy Baby Series (x3) → Lower Body Roll (x3) Rocking w/Post Leg (x5)
- Leg Swing from 4pt Crawl and PU (x3) → Bear Crawl (x5)
- Silverback 90˚ Hop (x3) → Crow (x3)
- Leg Swing from Roof (x3) → Scorpion → GU → Cossack Squat → Reverse and repeat on other side.
- Reverse GFE
The following Recovery Mechanism is designed to target your hips, feet, ankles, knees, and well, the whole lower body. Practicing this 1-2 days per week for roughly 15-20 minutes. Alternate with UBF each week of phase 2.
Alternate upper and lower body each week.
E.g., Phase 2 training…
- Week 5: Tuesday - LBF, Thursday - UBF, Saturday - LBF
- Week 6: Tuesday - UBF, Thursday - LBF, Saturday - UBF
Be diligent, commit to your practice.
Strength is a skill—a skill the MUST be practiced!
Have a great week.
hec g.