Psoas Muscle Stretch..?
The Psoas Muscle
Psoas – a lot has been said about this muscle. A deep hip flexor located in the center of the body. It is in close proximity to various organs. It is involved in various functions.
If you want a True (Squared) Front Split, you can’t do it with tight psoas. Not going to happen. Many other techniques require a flexible Psoas. It’s a rather tight and “hard to get to” muscle. But its flexibility is an absolute must.
But How do we stretch it?
Well… Ask a yoga or dance teacher how to stretch the psoas, and you may get something like this:
This is a typical stretch that stretches the flexors of the hip. But is this a true Psoas Stretch? To answer that question we have to check with the science of Kinesiology.
The stretch shown above simply places the hip into extension. This means all the flexors of the hip are stretched indiscriminatorily. All 10 of them. Yep…
- Rectus Femoris
- Sartorius
- Tensor Fascia Latae
- Pectineus
- Psoas
- Iliacus
- Adductors (Yes, adductors flex the hip):
- Adductor Magnus
- Adductor Brevis
- Adductor Longus
- Adductor Gracilis
And if we want to be very technical, the anterior fibers of Gluteus Medius.
So you are stretching 11 muscles in that stretch! If ANYONE of them is tigher than the Psoas in that position, You are NOT getting the Psoas.
You see the dillema? There are 11 doors. Psoas maybe door 3 or 5 or 10. And you can’t even get past door 1 or 2.
Psoas Muscle Stretch: Zaichik Stretching Techniques have an answer
Psoas Muscle Stretch: You see, no two muscles do the same thing. Psoas does something no other muscle do:
- It Flexes the hip
- Adducts the hip
- Laterally Rotates the Hip
- Laterally flexes the lumbar spine.
No other muscle does that. Its close relative Iliacus does not even do that. It does everything Psoas Does, except for the lateral flexion of the spine. This allows us to separate the Psoas out.
Watch the video
Of course Zaichik Stretching Techniques is a lot more than just using the science of Kinesiology to target an individual muscle, as you see on the video. But that will be addressed in the upcoming articles. Let us show you how you can dramatically improve your Hip Flexors Strenght & Flexibility,
steadily, safely, painlessly and quickly with the use of the ZST.
Our programs are scientifically based and created by
a world-renowned fitness & flexibility expert Paul Zaichik
This program focuses on general anatomic hip extension flexibility
This means the movement of the hip in purely sagital plane. No actions in coronal or transverse plane take place. Each of the hip flexors is adressed separately together with other muscle groups, which can restrict hip extension.
Not all hip flexors and their synergists need to be targeted the same way for every possible technique or sport. Some skills require rotation, horizontal abduction or horizontal adduction together with extension. This program targets all of them as a general hip flexors routine.
One of the large problem with mainstream stretching techniques is that, if you can’t stretch, you don’t know what is holding you back. In terms of the hip flexors, it can be:
- Sartorius,
- Rectus Femoris,
- Tensor Fasciae Lata,
- Pectineus,
- Psoas or Iliacus.
- It can also be upper Adductors or even Gluteus Minimus. If one is tight, the rest will not move.
Zaichik Stretches allow you to get each one by itself and lengthen much faster, once you know where the problem is.
If you want to see how Zaichik Stretching techniques are used to stretch each of the hip flexors, this program have helped many people:
Amazing results! “Hip Flexors. I highly recommend this set of exercises as it targets the whole of the area of my ‘stiff hips/legs’. The exercises are explained very well at the beginning of each set of movements. Having said this I haven’t got through to the end yet as I progress slowly trying to ensure I am moving correctly. It is good to have two people showing the moves as sometimes a little difference can be seen in their flexibility.
This helps me understand that my flexibility is going to be particular to my body. After a couple of weeks I am feeling a difference for the better. I look forward to completing all the exercises and continuing for greater flexibility. I also look forward to getting more of these sets of exercises as I believe the ‘leverage’ movement is the key to gaining the flexibility to our muscles. Thank you Easyflexibility/Elastic Steel for such a comprehensive range of dvd’s to work my way through!” ~ Faye T.
You can improve your skills to achieve beautiful and functional front splits.
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