Author Topic: Hip flexors (Read 23635 times)

$ick3nin.vend3tta · « **Reply #30 on:** February 21, 2011, 02:42:11 pm »

Quote from: bball2020 on August 09, 2010, 02:52:19 pm

Confused on what role hip flexor strength play in sprints and jumps ...like should they be trained per say?

Basically the hip flexors, (the muscles responsible for the knee drive) generate a very large amount of strength and power. This type of strength is needed to initially accelerate the knee and the thigh when the foot leaves the ground to a position where the knee is furthest away from the body.

Though it's somewhat counterintuitive, studies have shown that hip flexion strength is a better predictor of sprint speed than is hip extension strength amongst trained athletes (Blazevich & Jenkins, 1998). Similarly, other studies have demonstrated significant decreases in short sprint (3.8%) and shuttle times (9.0%) after a period of hip flexor training (Dean et al, 2005) and have found a link between larger illiopsoas (when compared to the quadriceps) and 100M speed (Hoshikawa et al, 2006).

To sprint fast you need to be as explosive as possible in this area.

Raptor · « **Reply #31 on:** February 21, 2011, 02:57:28 pm »

Any comments on how would you personally train for that?

$ick3nin.vend3tta · « **Reply #32 on:** February 21, 2011, 04:47:26 pm »

Quote from: Raptor on February 21, 2011, 02:57:28 pm

Any comments on how would you personally train for that?.

My main exercise for the hip flexors is using the bike.

Charlie Francis has his own Bike Workout that he used back in Ben Johnson's day: http://www.charliefrancis.com/store/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=19

Your leg frequency should increase significantly as it overloads the hip flexors. Good for dropping bodyweight too.

Whether you use stationary, road or a mountain bike, if you decide on using one, I suggest using clipless pedals which allows you to pull back on the pedal stroke not just push forwards.

Raptor · « **Reply #33 on:** February 21, 2011, 04:53:55 pm »

Interesting. Well in my particular case, I already have incredible stride frequency in sprints, so my beef with the hip flexors would be to use them to pull the non-jumping leg's knee up better in a unilateral jump, so I need explosiveness with that and strength, so my leg is easier to pull up and therefore the movement is faster.

adarqui · « **Reply #34 on:** February 22, 2011, 08:59:00 pm »

i would put the hip flexors for sprinting along the same lines as the 'calfs' are in jumping.. industry dogma & p-chain nazis swear against hip flexor/calf training, but they are extremely important, no doubt about that.

the bike idea is good if you have the straps to pull up.

beyond that, some slow TUT-level hip flexor training can be beneficial, ie:
- 4 way hip (for flexion)
- all types of leg raises/knee up core training, getting really rugged on those exercises will result in some strong hip flexion

some ballistic stuff could be beneficial too:
- possibly finally finding a use for those ankle weights: controlled exercises such as rebounding tuck jumps (MR tuck/MR halftuck), sprint mechanics drills (a-skip/b-skip/whatever), controlled high knee sprinting.
- pool work

with the ankle weight stuff, i wouldn't do any actual sprinting which causes a significant amount of deceleration of the tibia (at the end of the recovery phase), with ankle weights on that would just be too much torque.

pc

Zetz · « **Reply #35 on:** February 22, 2011, 10:42:52 pm »

As far as transition into sprints, I think the sprint mechanics drills are probably the most effective. They're also a pretty good addition to any warmup. Usually on our harder days in track I end up feeling a bit tired in my hip flexors even after just the warmup with sprint mechanics.

Zetz · « **Reply #36 on:** February 22, 2011, 10:44:03 pm »

Oh, and tuck jumps....

try doing those for a minute straight in the middle of a circuit and tell me your knees kept coming high... they didn't. Tuck jumps are beast.

adarqui · « **Reply #37 on:** February 22, 2011, 11:12:07 pm »

Quote from: Zetz on February 22, 2011, 10:42:52 pm

As far as transition into sprints, I think the sprint mechanics drills are probably the most effective. They're also a pretty good addition to any warmup. Usually on our harder days in track I end up feeling a bit tired in my hip flexors even after just the warmup with sprint mechanics.

ya man good point, those drills by themselves are good.. alot of track coaches have days where their athletes just spend a ton of time doing those drills, they definitely tax the hip flexors hardcore with all of that volume... but they don't lead to pulls because it's all nice & controlled..

Quote from: Zetz on February 22, 2011, 10:44:03 pm

Oh, and tuck jumps....

try doing those for a minute straight in the middle of a circuit and tell me your knees kept coming high... they didn't. Tuck jumps are beast.

yup, high rep MR halftucks are godly.. half tucks still get my hip flexors hard, full tucks just bug my back too much.

Zetz · « **Reply #38 on:** February 22, 2011, 11:20:29 pm »

Quote from: adarqui on February 22, 2011, 11:12:07 pm

yup, high rep MR halftucks are godly.. half tucks still get my hip flexors hard, full tucks just bug my back too much.

Happens to me on bad days too. (probably would have happened today but I let my ankle rest another day)

Can't really do full tucks during our circuits though.... too demanding to maintain the explosiveness and strength required to keep them up for a whole minute between other things.

LanceSTS · « **Reply #39 on:** February 23, 2011, 12:36:03 am »

Strengthening the hip flexors dynamically is important, also important is strengthening them in extension, especially as a prehab measure.

Paused or iso lunges done correctly, bss with the lead foot far enough away from the bench (paused), and standing roll outs with an emphasis on driving the toes into the floor and pulling are all good in this aspect.

Not only do they strengthen them in extension, they also provide a nice stretch under load, making them very effective to use before squatting/deadlifting/olympic lifts/ etc.

$ick3nin.vend3tta · « **Reply #40 on:** February 23, 2011, 06:17:42 am »

Quote from: adarqui on February 22, 2011, 08:59:00 pm

i would put the hip flexors for sprinting along the same lines as the 'calfs' are in jumping.. industry dogma & p-chain nazis swear against hip flexor/calf training, but they are extremely important, no doubt about that.

+1.

Calf's are extremely important for sprinting too.

Once you start getting into sub 10.5sec territory for 100m sprints you will start to realise you "jump" down the track not run.

Quote from: adarqui on February 22, 2011, 08:59:00 pm

the bike idea is good if you have the straps to pull up.

Instead of straps I would suggest clipless pedals. Basically the cleat at the bottom of the shoe (red part) just clicks into the pedal.

With regards to acceleration, increasing the strength in my glutes/quads as you have to overcome the inertia of the body, running 10-30m accelerations, increasing the explosiveness in my arms, cycling did an awful lot for increasing my acceleration due to the hip flexors getting worked.

Hip flexor training (Deanne 2005) n=11; 10yd time 15% improvement relative to control, this only has a significant effect within the first 10m.

Quote from: adarqui on February 22, 2011, 08:59:00 pm

with the ankle weight stuff, i wouldn't do any actual sprinting which causes a significant amount of deceleration of the tibia (at the end of the recovery phase), with ankle weights on that would just be too much torque.

I have heard stories on the internet of people seriously damaging there knees running with ankle weights, even on grass.

I think the better option would be resisted sprints (sleds), 20-40m with about 10-15% weight of your body weight.

Raptor · « **Reply #41 on:** February 23, 2011, 06:42:41 am »

Yeah, doing anything other than maybe some hip flexor training like leg raises etc with ankle weights is not smart in my opinion. However, the same applies to pulling on the pedals while on the bike - it just pulls the tibia away from the femur/knee/whatever. It would kill my knee.

By the way - in terms of calf training - what loads and rep ranges would you use for calf raises for both mass and strength gains? Would you go with something like 30-50 x bodyweight or 10-15 x heavy weight (barbell/dumbbells)? In other words - do you think they respond better at higher reps and lower intensities (loads) or lower reps and heavier loads?

In my experience, I've never had calf growth from calf raises, using either load intensity and volume. Instead, the best things for calf growth I have found were high plyo work like sprints and jumps. If that is true, then both extremely heavy loads (as those that occur in jumps and sprints) and high volumes (as those that occur in jumps and sprints) are necessary for calf growth and strength increases.

$ick3nin.vend3tta · « **Reply #42 on:** February 23, 2011, 05:21:29 pm »

Quote from: Raptor on February 23, 2011, 06:42:41 am

By the way - in terms of calf training - what loads and rep ranges would you use for calf raises for both mass and strength gains? Would you go with something like 30-50 x bodyweight or 10-15 x heavy weight (barbell/dumbbells)? In other words - do you think they respond better at higher reps and lower intensities (loads) or lower reps and heavier loads?

In my experience, I've never had calf growth from calf raises, using either load intensity and volume. Instead, the best things for calf growth I have found were high plyo work like sprints and jumps. If that is true, then both extremely heavy loads (as those that occur in jumps and sprints) and high volumes (as those that occur in jumps and sprints) are necessary for calf growth and strength increases.

Raptor · « **Reply #43 on:** February 23, 2011, 06:19:19 pm »

Well yeah, obviously, but for the tendon to deform and play it's elastic role, you still need strong calves, like you said, to contract isometrically.

However, for me at least, the biggest problem is still quad isometric strength since that's what prevents knee collapse, and I've always had a problem with that all my life. If I had that I'd be able to use a lot more speed, that's why I was saying that I need to find a way to train my quads to maintain/generate great isometric strength. One way, I think, is depth drops or isometric 1/4 pin squats, but I don't have any squat rack with pins where I train to do it.

$ick3nin.vend3tta · « **Reply #44 on:** February 23, 2011, 07:25:19 pm »

Quote from: Raptor on February 23, 2011, 06:19:19 pm

However, for me at least, the biggest problem is still quad isometric strength since that's what prevents knee collapse, and I've always had a problem with that all my life. If I had that I'd be able to use a lot more speed, that's why I was saying that I need to find a way to train my quads to maintain/generate great isometric strength. One way, I think, is depth drops or isometric 1/4 pin squats, but I don't have any squat rack with pins where I train to do it.

How about good ol' fashioned wall sits for quads?.

or.

Dead-start zercher squats?.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2OKweR-N-g" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2OKweR-N-g</a>

What are other people's suggestions for developing quad isometric strength?.

Adarq.org

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Author Topic: Hip flexors (Read 23635 times)

$ick3nin.vend3tta

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Raptor

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$ick3nin.vend3tta

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