Your Tight Hips Betray You

The Couch-Stretching Series: Part 2

Your hips need help. They really do. Hips should be supple and have nearly no passive drag as they move through their available ranges. We consistently have to cue our athletes to keep their knees out in the deepest ranges of their squat. Forget adductor/glute strength, some of these athletes simply don't have the available hip capsule range of motion to externally rotate their femurs (keep the knees out) at full hip flexion (the bottom of the squat).

This couch stretch is a doozy and one to check out often. This looks a little like that pigeon yoga stretch, but 1) yoga could never yield elite fitness, 2) you can't watch TV doing yoga, 3) we don't apply a gapping force on the lateral collateral ligament of your knee as is prone to happen when doing pigeon on the floor, and 4) Eff Yoga.




Wind up your hip on either the side or the back of the couch. Adjust your hips/butt position so that you have the side of your knee supported by the couch. There should be no knee off of the couch (this will gap and stretch your precious knee ligaments.)
Try and keep your back straight as you fold forward to apply the stretch. The tendency is to round your lower back to ameliorate the tearing that is going in your hips. Don't give in.



Remember: Test, re-test. Try your squat before and after you do this stretch. Notice anything hotshot? And, 90 seconds 2x day gets you a C+ (I know you are just a C+ Crossfit student right?). Try your contract-relax techniques here as well.

Coach Kstar