Hi, and welcome to the Balance Body Athletic Training Podcast.
My name is Chrissy Romani-Ruby, and this is Zach, and today we will be showing you an
exercise to work on the posterior oblique system of the global muscles.
So if you work with athletes, you know that those global muscles can really pull your
athletes around.
And sometimes when they're out of balance, they can really destroy their core stability
and their alignment.
With this exercise, we'll be targeting the gluteus maximus.
So Zach, I want you to go ahead and come over here to the reformer.
We have a red spring on, so you are going to want some tension, especially if you have
a very powerful or a very heavy athlete.
So Zach will begin with his hands on the bar, he's going to bring one leg forward.
We're going to align that foot with his sitting bone, so they might have to actually help
themselves with their foot to get their foot up there.
If their flexibility is not real good, we would lower the foot bar a little bit to give
them a little more space.
So we're going to think about the knee being over the second toe, and Zach is going to
take his weight into his back foot now and lift his tail up and extend his back leg.
So we're going to extend the back leg.
You might want to scoot that foot just a little bit more forward, so you want to make
sure that you have that foot planted nicely on the bar.
Good, and let's push back slightly from your front knee, Zach.
So we're in a little more of a lunge position, and encourage the athlete to put weight through
this back leg and try to straighten it if they can.
That's going to take some flexibility.
So the front knee stays over the second toe.
The back of the pelvis reaches into the inner thigh of the other leg.
Now the exercise begins, and Zach's like, any time now.
So we're going to exhale as you pull that leg underneath you, bending the knee and the
hip.
Good, and inhale as you push away, and I'll notice how Zach is staying high here.
We want him to.
Exhale, pull under.
So I tell my athletes, it's like they're riding a bike, and they shouldn't see their
tail fall.
So if they start to fall, we're going to push that leg back out again.
So they come into where they can hold it, and they push away.
Just one more.
You're doing great, Zach.
And exhale.
Good.
Inhale away.
Great.
Now when they go to come down, they're going to bring the front foot down.
So it's like you're going into a plank.
Good, and then bring the legs down.
That's the safest way for them to come out without twisting in their hips or their back.
We're going to go ahead and do the other side so you can see it.
Let's bring this left foot up.
Good, and Zach's going to line that up with his sitting bone, and make sure that his knee
tries to stay over his second toe.
So think about this back foot being in a nice kickstand position so that they can weight
there.
If you have a larger athlete, you're going to go ahead and put that bar down some to
give them some more room here.
Now go ahead and inhale, Zach, and on your exhale, take weight in your arms and press
your leg back, fully straighten if you can.
Good.
That's it.
So we're going to try to tighten this thigh, reach the sternum out.
Well think about this sitting bone reaching into the center thigh, and that's hard for
Zach because he's tight there, but he's going to keep thinking about it.
Inhale as you pull your leg underneath you, good, and inhale as you push.
Good, keep in the back of the neck nice and long, exhale as you pull under, looks great,
and inhale away.
Now as they get more comfortable with the exercise, keep going, Zach, that's it.
You can make it more powerful and more reciprocal, so, but when they're learning, you keep it
slow and controlled.
Great job.
Okay, now to come down, Zach, you're going to waper through your arms, bring your front
leg down, and bring your knees down to the carriage.
Thank you for joining us today, and I hope to see you for the next Balanced Body podcast.
