![]() ![]() If you’ve progressed well through each of these added layers, then consider putting your front foot up onto a step or stool. ![]() I highly recommend pairing the Couch Stretch with a power band as its hard to get to the deeper tissue handbrakes without one. ![]() Similarly, try adding a power band to bias the deeper anterior hip joint capsule. This asks more of both hips and increases the demands of the stretch. If you’re ready for a more challenging position try the Couch Stretch down on the ground up against a wall. After all, we are attempting to undo decades of accrued hidden hip stiffness here. Interestingly, I encourage everyone to start with a chair as it can be quite challenging if you’ve never done it before. One of the best things about the Couch Stretch is that it can easily be scaled up for those who find it a little too easy. Take a look at the video below for some real-time instructions. The couch stretch can be challenging initially, so make sure you breathe comfortably, slowly, and deeply throughout. This will help make immediate changes to your tissue flexibility. While maintaining the positions from parts one and two, intermittently tense the area that feels tight for 5-10 seconds, before relaxing and pushing further into the stretch. You should feel this stretch more through the muscles of your thigh. Take care to extend through your hip and not your back. Maintaining a straight back, bring your trunk more upright and your bottom back towards your back foot. You should feel a stretch in the muscles at the front of your hip. Keeping your back straight, lean forward, squeeze your glutes and press your hip to the ground. Have your other foot on the ground at a comfortable distance in front of you. Place your knee into the back corner of a chair, with your shin vertical against the backrest. If you struggle with putting pressure on your knees, feel free to add a cushion or pillow to make it easier.Īs per the instructions below, the key to a good Couch Stretch is as follows: ![]() All you need is a chair, seat, bench, or couch and you’re good to go. The basics of the Couch Stretch are pretty simple. So, before we go deep into the benefits of the Couch Stretch, let’s go through how to do it. So let’s get into the stretch and discuss how to do it, when to do it, and how to scale it up once you start seeing some real progress. That common issues are usually a consequence of something else and the Couch Stretch gave me a powerful tool to help rectify a crucial piece of it. I was on my current journey of trying to figure out this broader perspective and Kelly’s Couch Stretch confirmed what I was beginning to understand. Mainly because I felt many lacked perspective and missed the mark. 1, 2003.Kelly and his Couch Stretch came to me at a time when I was seriously questioning traditional Physical Therapy ideas and exercises. “With new range comes new responsibility,” Tikkanen says.Īdditional reading: A Postural Error: A Costly Biomechanical Fault-Muted Hip Function (MHF) by Greg Glassman, published Jan. He instructs Dercentis to spend two minutes in each stretch and to consistently use the tools to make progress increasing mobility. “Everybody’s working the bottom, but they’re not working necessarily coming up all the way to full extension.” “We see a lot of elite athletes (who’ve) still got difficulties in coming up from the bottom of the squat,” Tikkanen says. Beginning with Starrett’s classic couch stretch, Tikkanen adds two more versions to help fix Derscentis’ tight hips. Tikkanen shows Derscentis a series of stretches taught by mobility guru Kelly Starrett. He addresses tight hip issues he identified in one of the seminar attendees, Diego Derscentis, a professional soccer player in Europe. “It turns out that even top athletes who are really really good at what they do they still need to stretch,” says seminar team member Jami Tikkanen of Thames CrossFit. ![]()
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