Bend over to the front touch your toes, Swiss girl looking up boy Bend over to the front touch your toes bites

Stand with your feet together. Keep your knees locked. Slowly bend forward and touch your toes. Can you reach them? If not, that means your hamstrings are too tight and they need stretching. Just because the hamstrings are tight doesn't mean they need stretching.

Always look deeper before stretching anything. Decreased mobility and poor stability force your body to compensate with problematic movement patterns. This is a fancy way to say that everything is connected, and everything matters.

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The SFMA system looks at movement patterning to determine if you should be going down the mobility or stability rabbit hole. When a hip is locked down due to decreased mobility, hinging at the hip t efficiently becomes difficult.

The body will put the brakes on the movement and take the path of least resistance, demanding more movement from the lower back. Overuse of the lower back will leave you more prone to pain and injury.

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So how can you determine which hip is involved? Or is it both? To find the answer, break out the hips one at a time in the toe touch:. How did it feel?

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Did you go further on one side than the other? If the range of motion is less on one side, this indicates hip involvement.

Mobility restrictions will remain no matter what position you get into. Without proper hip hinge mobility, you will overuse the lower back and be more prone to injury.

Reduced hip hinge in less involvement of the powerhouse gluteus maximus muscle. RAIL stands for release, activate, integrate, and locomotion. If you were able to get further, this indicates an underlying stability dysfunction.

When you sit on the ground, you become more stable and the nervous system allows more movement because it feels safer. Poor stability motor control means decreased timing and rhythm in movements.

Altered motor control takes more effort, so durability and performance take a hit. Perform the toe touch test and follow the chart to determine a course of action for establishing better movement patterns.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock. Check out these simple workouts and fun exercises that can be done at-home with makeshift or no equipment at all. Not so fast. Topic: Fitness.

Can’t bend down and touch your toes? here is what’s wrong with your health

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