What if I told you that everything you are doing in the gym is wrong? You’d probably get the look on your face as if you smelled something funky.
So maybe not everything but a maybe a good amount. One of the biggest movements for athletic performance and training is known as the hip hinge. A world renowned strength coach Dan John who is a huge groupie when it comes to hip hinging stated:
“It’s the hip snap, the hip slam and all of the various inappropriate terms coaches have used to teach young virgin ninth graders to tackle like NFL linebackers. Just learning the move right can open up hamstring flexibility. Doing it slowly with a massive load can impress your friends for generations. Learning to have symmetry in the movement can jumpstart you to an injury-free career.
And, to do it fast? It’s the one-stop shop to fat loss, power and improved athletic ability. Swings, the top of the food chain in hinge movements, are the most under-appreciated move in life, in sport and in the gym.”
Before you get into the swings or even deadlift, you must know how to do one exercise.
Hoʻoaʻa Exercise: The Founder Stretch
The Kū Method to training takes a deeper approach in looking for the purpose and intention behind an exercise. Hoʻoaʻa in Hawaiian means – to take root.
This exercise if the first progression to learn before you perform any hip hinge exercises. It teaches your body proper positioning and makes you more aware of the muscles involved in this movement.
You can try this exercise out right now as you are reading this and follow along. When people perform a deadlift most think of just bending down, grabbing the barbell and lifting it off from the floor. Pau.
Easy there tiger.
It all starts from proper positioning from the start. If you can’t get into proper position from the start then you don’t deserve to deadlift.
How to Perform Hoʻoaʻa:
Part 1
- Feet hip width apart and arms to your side
- Slowly push your hips back as if you are closing the car door with your butt
- Feel tension in your hamstrings. If you feel it in your lower back, try again and this time drive your heels into the ground
- Pull your shoulders back, palms facing down, and reach your arms down pulling your shoulders down and away from your ears and think of putting your shoulder blades into your back pocket
- Keep tension in your hamstrings and now you should feel tightness in your midd back, NOT your lower back
- Hold for 10 seconds
Part 2
- Now, stay in that position and bring your arms up over your head
- Arms are in line with your ears and palms facing each other
- Keep your shoulder back
- Hold for another 10 seconds
Perform Part 1 and Part 2 of the founder stretch with no rest in between. After 20 seconds, rest for 60 seconds and do 2-3 more rounds.
Who Can Benefit From This Exercise?
Everyone.
Majority of the people out there have a difficult tip performing a correct hinge movement because of inactive glutes and bad posture which leads to chronic lower back pain and maybe even some neck pain as well.
The intention of this exercises is to make your body more aware of the muscles involved in the movement and teach you how to properly root yourself into the ground. Before you start just doing a movement, it’s important to slow things down and make sure you have the correct set up and muscles performing the work.
