Video Transcription
Hi everybody. Dr. Ryan here. Today we are going to be going over the third part of your lower body exercises. We’re going to be doing some foam rolling, we’re going to be doing bird dogs, and we’re going to be doing a figure four hip stretch.
Let’s get into it.
Foam Rolling
So this first set of exercises we’re going to do is actually a whole series with the foam roller. We’re going to focus on the low back, we’re going to do IT bands, your quads, and adductors. First thing first, we’re going to do low back. Make sure to keep the core engaged while we’re doing this one. So we’ll throw this foam roller down here. I’m going to sit right up next to it. Going to engage the core and lean back. And then we are going to roll down and up. So you’ll feel this on both sides. If one side is tighter than the other, you can kind of lean to that side just a little bit and get that side a little bit more.
The second one is IT bands. So IT bands are on the side of the leg here. They’re usually pretty tender, so kind of a little slower at getting onto this one here. So we’re going to go here. Going to have foot support and elbow support. The leg is going to go straight. We’re going to go down the leg and up the leg. Just like that.
The next one here is going to be quads. And this one, I like to do both quads at the same time. It’s a little easier and more convenient to do. So we’re going to roll back onto the quads here, onto the elbows, and we are going to go down and back. Now we can turn those toes inward or outwards just a little bit to hit some different levels of the quads. That’s always a good thing as well.
The last one we’re going to do is the adductors. The adductors are actually on the inside of the leg. Our goal is to keep the foam roller perpendicular to those, so, foam roller down, quad perpendicular there, and support yourself with the elbows. You’re going to go down and back, down and back. And that there is your lower body foam roller series.
Bird Dogs
This next exercise we’re going to demonstrate is called bird dogs. We’re going to have Caitlin start in the tabletop position here, and the hands will be under the shoulders, and the knees will be under the hips. From this point, we will have her extend her right hand out and left foot. Bring that back to the starting point, and then switch sides. Perfect. Caitlin, if you’ll do that one more time for us? You’ll notice that her hips do not rotate, and her upper body stays level as well. While you’re performing these exercises, that’s really what you want to focus on. And that’s your bird dogs.
Figure 4 Hip Stretch
Right, this last exercise that we’re going to go over is a figure four stretch for the glutes. The important thing about this is keeping a good posture while you’re doing the exercise, so you don’t hurt the low back. So first thing is, going to throw this leg up over the other. Just like sitting cross-legged. You are going to make the chest and hand go down at about the same rate. So we’re going to sit up nice and tall, push towards it, and back up. What we don’t want to see is this falling forward like that to compromise the low back. So nice and tall, hand up, push down at the same time, and off. And that is your seated figure four stretch for the glutes.
