What are your Hamstrings?
Your Hamstrings are actually 3 muscles that attach from the sit bones at the bottom of the pelvis to the back of the knee. These muscles work to extend the hip (bring the leg behind you), flex (bend) the knee and they also assist in some hip rotation.
Are Your Hamstrings Tight?
Posture/Position of the Pelvis: if your pelvis is tilting forward (anterior), your hamstrings at rest are LENGTHENED. This does not mean "flexible" it means there's an imbalance and the hamstrings won't activate in an optimal way.
There are MANY reasons for chronic Hamstring "tightness". A muscle can feel tight when it is chronically shortened OR chronically lengthened. Muscles need to be able to properly contract and lengthen as needed. Here are some factors can affect the position and length of your hamstrings.
Static Posture/Prolonged Sitting:
When you sit for long periods of time, the hamstrings get used to being in a SHORTENED position and will have a hard time lengthening or loading which can cause a feeling of tightness.
Movement Habits/Patterns:
Imbalances within the hip and glute muscles can cause the hamstrings to over-work or under-fire. Think of it like a group project-are your Hamstrings trying to do the job of everyone else like an overachiever? Or are your Hamstrings the slacker, showing up late and doing the bare minimum?
Most likely if you have chronically tight Hamstrings, it's a combination of many of these factors.
What can you do to make an improvement?
Focus on a neutral pelvis, take movement breaks if you sit all day and learn to LOAD and STRENGTHEN your hamstrings instead of only trying to stretch them.
What is Lymph?
Lymphatic Drainage
There are 6 major areas of lymph in the body where blockages can occur. It's helpful to gently, manually move the lymph here. You can try gently rubbing the area, soft strokes, soft pumping motions, pat the area, dry brushing, use vibration, etc. These 6 areas done in order are called "The Big 6" which was coined by Dr. Perry Nickelston
Healthy lymph is so important for overall health. You can do so many simple and beneficial things for your lymphatic system with little effort. Subscribe to the website and follow along on social media to take the "Revive" Zoom replay focused on lymph.
Planes of Motion
What are planes of motion? We live in a 3D world and our joints are made to move in many planes of motion. The three planes of motion are: the sagittal plane, the frontal plane and the transverse plane. The sagittal plane consists of forward and back movements of the body, including flexion and extension of the joints. The frontal plane consists of side to side movements, including abduction and adduction of the joints. The transverse plane is twisting movements and rotation of the joints.
Why is it important to move and train in all planes of motion? For joint health and injury prevention. Healthy joints are mobile, stable and adaptable and they need to be able to move in all these planes of motion. We can't expect our shoulders to stay healthy as we age if all we ever do is lift our arms up and down (flexion and extension) we need to make sure our joints keep the ability to rotate, move out to the side, across the body etc. So many injuries happen during day to day tasks like bending down and picking something up. Even getting in and out of a car can be difficult if you've lost hip mobility. That action of stepping out to the side to get in or out of a car is hip abduction which is a frontal plane movement. We move in all planes of motion in every single in person or zoom class, so join me and keep your joints healthy.
Get to know your Hip Joint
What exactly is your Hip Joint? Your Hip joint is a ball and socket joint that connects the lower limbs to the spine. The ball is the head of the Femur (thigh bone) and the socket is the Acetabulum of the Pelvis. There are many actions of the hip joint including: flexion, extension, internal rotation, external rotation, abduction, adduction and circumduction.
Front View of the Pelvis and Femurs
Back View of the Pelvis and Femurs
Actions of The Hip Joint
Hip Flexion
Hip Flexion is the action of bringing the thigh (femur) toward the torso. Hip flexion happens throughout the day when sitting, bending over and walking.
Hip Extension
Hip Extension is the action of opening the front of the hip joint, this usually happens when our leg moves behind the body. Hip extension happens to the back leg when walking or running.
Hip Internal and External Rotation
Hip Internal Rotation is the action of rotating the thigh (femur) in toward the body. Hip External Rotation is when the thigh bone rotates outward, away from the body. We need to access internal rotation when we put pants on and external rotation when we put shoes on.
Hip Abduction
Hip Abduction is the action of bringing the thigh (femur) away from the midline of the body. Hip abduction happens any time we need to step sideways or get into a car.
Hip Adduction
Hip Adduction is the action of bringing the thigh in toward the midline of the body. Hip adduction is needed to sit cross legged or kick a soccer ball across the body.
Hip Circumduction
Hip Circumduction is a combination of the above joint actions, resulting in a circular movement. Unless you are a dancer, you probably aren't circumducting your hip on a regular basis, but if you come to my classes you are!
Improve Your Wrist Mobility
Wrist Flexion:
Wrist flexion is the action of bending your the wrist, so your palm faces in toward your arm. We use wrist flexion during everyday activities like playing piano, handwriting, pouring things, and carrying a laundry basket.
Wrist Extension:
Wrist extension is the action of bending your the wrist, so your palm faces away your arm. We use wrist extension during everyday activities like using a spoon, turning a door knob, and carrying a tray.
Mobilize your wrists with these wrist flexion stretches.
Mobilize your wrists with these wrist extension stretches.
3 of My Favorite Wrist Mobility Exercises:
The Countdown:
Start with your palms facing forward (wrist extension), spread your fingers wide. Try to lower down one finger at a time starting at the pinky. Try your best not to move multiple fingers at once. Cross your thumb over and bring your knuckles down toward your inner arm (wrist flexion). Repeat a few times.
Fists of Fire:
Bring your hands into tight fists. Open and spread your fingers, close back into a tight fist. Repeat and start to go as fast as you can. You'll feel why it's named fists of fire.
Wrist Circles:
Bring your hands into fists and imagine drawing circles with your knuckles.
Your Pelvis is a Bowl
Visualize your pelvis as a bowl of water. When your pelvis is neutral, the bowl is upright. When the pelvis is tipping forward (anterior tilt) the bowl would be spilling forward. When the pelvis is tipping backward (posterior tilt) the bowl would be spilling backward. The goal of this visual is to help you be more aware of what is happening at your pelvis. The position of your pelvis as you move has a huge impact on core stability, hip mobility and lumbar stability. You will learn all about the importance of the pelvis in my classes.
Pelvic Bowl Filled With Water
Anterior Tilt (Bowl Spilling Forward)
An anterior pelvic tilt looks like a big arch in the low back. It is hard to find Triple S alignment in this position.
Neutral Pelvis (Bowl Upright)
A neutral pelvis will look different on every body, it's great to learn Triple S alignment so you can feel it in your own body.
Posterior Tilt (Bowl Spilling Backward)
A posterior pelvic tilt looks like tucking the tailbone under too much, or excessive gripping of the glutes.
The Importance of Pelvic Stability During Pregnancy
Did you know that during pregnancy, the pelvis becomes more unstable due to quite a few factors. One is Relaxin, a hormone during pregnancy that allows for ligament laxity. This allows the pelvis to start creating more space for the baby to grow but it also allows your joints and ligaments to feel more loose than before. Another reason for pelvic instability during pregnancy is the change in your center of mass as the baby grows. The weight of the uterus pulls forward causing a change in the orientation of the pelvis. Another reason for more instability? The pelvic floor muscles. Your pelvic floor muscles start to stretch as the weight of the baby grows and more, which can lead to issues like incontinence if the muscles aren't able contract and lift.
All of these issues at the same time can cause an array of discomfort and disfunction during pregnancy like: SI Joint pain, Symphysis Pubic Dysfunction (SPD), Low back pain, and Pelvic Girdle Pain (PGP).
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These issues all have to do with the pelvis being less stable during pregnancy as the structures of the body continue to change. To improve pelvic stability, it’s important to strengthen the muscles that attach to the pelvis or work in conjunction with the pelvis: hips, hamstrings, glutes, inner thighs, deep core stabilizers, etc.
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-Glute bridges are wonderful to strengthen the hamstrings and glutes to support the pelvis.
-Squats are another great activity for strengthening and coordinating the muscles in and around the pelvis.
-360/Diaphragmatic breath is the simplest, most accessible way to coordinate the breath, core and pelvic floor to work together.
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Learning to stabilize the pelvis using your deep core muscles and pelvic floor together can do wonders for overall strength, comfort and mobility during pregnancy.
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I love helping pregnant and postpartum people move well, so if you'd like to work with me one on one, head to the contact page.
What Exactly is The "Core"?
Your “core” is often thought of or referred to as one area or muscle but it’s actually many muscles that work together. You can think of your core as the muscles from the hips to the shoulders that stabilize the spine. Our core is not just the abdominals, it includes muscles at the front and back body as well as the diaphragm and pelvic floor muscles. Core muscles can be categorized as stabilizer or mover muscles. Our deepest core stabilizer muscles are the closest to the spine, including the pelvic floor muscles, Transverse abdominis, Internal Obliques, Multifidus, and Diaphragm. Sometimes the Iliopsoas is also considered part of the deep core because it stabilizes the pelvis and lumbar spine. The mover core muscles include muscles like the Rectus abdominis (our 6 pack abs), the External Obliques, Erector Spinae, Quadratus lumborum, Gluteus Maximus, Medius and Minimus.
The function of the core muscles is to stabilize the spine against gravity and transfer load between the upper body and lower body. Our core muscles help to increase our overall stability and performance, they have a role in breathing and maintaining intra-abdominal pressure and a well firing core can help prevent injury.
Now that you know how many muscles are part of the “core” you can expand your movements and exercises beyond traditional “abdominal” work like sits ups and planks and start involving all those great stabilizer and mover muscles with squats, hip hinges, single leg balance and more.
Are you ready to strengthen your core? Join me for an in-person class in Pismo Beach, on zoom or book a private class with me. We focus on our functional core in every single one of my classes.
What Are My Scapula?
Your Scapula are your shoulder blades. The scapula connect to the humerus (the upper arm bone) and the collarbone to make up part of the shoulder complex. Many muscles attach to the scapula, allowing for various movements of the shoulder blade. These actions of the shoulder blade help to move the arms.
Here are 4 of the Ways the Scapula Moves
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Retraction: the shoulder blades draw in toward the spine. We use scapular retraction when we reach to get our seatbelt on.
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Protraction: the shoulder blades spread away from the spine. We use scapular protraction when we reach down for something.
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Elevation: the shoulder blades glide up toward the ears. We use scapular elevation (and something called upward rotation) to reach something up overhead.
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Depression: the shoulder blades draw down the back. We use scapular depression when we put something our pocket.
Scapula mobility is so important for the overall health of your shoulders. We want our scapula to be mobile but also stable especially since we spend so much time weight bearing on our hands in yoga. By improving the movement of our scapula, we can make sure we're supporting our shoulders as best we can. We move and strengthen our scapula in every one of my classes, join me!
How Can I Improve My Balance?
Your ability to balance comes from 3 different systems in your body: the vestibular system (part of the inner ear that senses motion and spatial orientation), vision (eyesight), and proprioception (touch). You can absolutely improve your balance by including these different systems in your training. It might be more simple than you think.
Here are my 3 favorite tips for better balance:
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Keep your hips, ankles and deep core strong. Our lower limbs absorb force from the ground and give feedback to the brain to help you balance. Your hips and ankles need to be adaptable to sense changes in the ground as you’re walking on different surfaces. Add in some heel raises throughout the day to strengthen your ankles and practice squats and one legged balances to strengthen your hips.
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Take your shoes off and spend time barefoot. The proprioceptors in your feet send messages to your brain about where you are in space. You can improve these proprioceptors by giving your feet more to “sense” on a regular basis. Do a little foot massage, walk barefoot on different textures, use a tennis ball or soft massage ball to roll the foot on. This all helps to wake up the proprioceptors in your feet and send faster information to the brain which can help you avoid losing your balance.
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Do more than trying to stand still on one leg. That is a great place to start, but for functional balance we need to be training our balance in different planes of motion, with different amounts of challenges to those 3 systems. With support try to close your eyes while you stand on one leg, add in movements like reverse lunges, look side to side while tandem (heel-toe) walking, add double leg to single leg balancing. Combine the systems and try some of these movements barefoot to get better messages from the feet to the brain.
We work on all of these aspects in my classes. Join me and strengthen your ankles, hips, core and overall body awareness (proprioception).