Disclaimer: This is not medical advice. I make no promise and take no responsibility for anything you decide to do. This is simply what I did.
By now you’ve done part 1 and 2. Your hip should be feeling a lot better. If you still need to do soft tissue massage consider the TimTam massager. I did a review of it here.
I was told I don’t need to do any of the previous exercises if they are easy. I still sometimes do some of the exercises in part 1 if I feel I need to quickly activate the right muscles.
This phase is about stabilising through more dynamic and explosive movements. There are 4 exercises and you will do them ongoing.
The first 2 exercises you will begin at least 2 weeks after phase 2 exercises. Take more time working of the phase 2 exercise if you still find them difficult.
Exercise 1: Windmill
This is a very difficult exercise. I started with my knee pushed against a coach for balance. Or the hand of the leg that goes up can be gently holding onto a stick.
You begin the exercise by doing a drinking bird. Stand on on both feet with your weight evening balance first. Then shift all your weight to one side while remaining tall and straight. Then do the drinking bird motion.
You do not need to go body horizontal to the ground. Though that will be an end goal. Stop the drinking bird motion when you can no longer hold a tight straight body, this is where you will beginning the exercise.
The free shoulder and hip will move up together and then come down together. When you come down you should feel the hip of the leg that is on the floor being screwed into the leg.
Progression: Start with something to help with your balance and your body greater than horizontal to the floor. Eventually, you stand with nothing to assist your balance and your body horizontal to the floor. You can then add weight to the free hand.
2 sets of 15 is the goal, but it will probably take a while to build to it.
Exercise 2: Combine twist.
This is an extension of the exercise in phase 2.
Attach to the band to about knee height. When I turn in towards the band I imagine that my stick will eventually touch the band. Meaning it should be moving in the same plane as the band.
Start by having the stick end that is attached to the band turning into the band, then you can turn out.
Like the twist in exercise 2, you need to stay tight and the hip and shoulder move at the same time. It is quite a similar motion the throwing a rip uppercut in boxing.
Do 2 sets of 15.
Do the above 2 exercises for 2 to 3 weeks before adding explosive movement. These exercises are ongoing. I like to do them first thing in the morning.
Explosive Exercise.
You will continue doing the above 2 exercises. But now we will add explosive movement. If you have returned or still doing your outside sport I like to do this before the class has started. Do not start these exercises if you haven't done the previous ones.
The theme of these exercises is triple extension.
Exercise 3: side-step.
There are a lot of exercises similar to this has the band around the knee (aka monster walk). This is different, the band is around the ankle. I probably should have refilmed this as it doesn’t do a good job of showing what I’m trying to achieve.
There are 2 versions of this exercise one with straight legs and one with bent legs. In both of them, we are pushing off one leg, and going into triple extension. This is what will create the side-to-side motion.
Triple extension is having your ankle, knee and hip at full extension. If you were to do these exercises on tiles you would imagine that foot that is doing the pushing is pushing tiles away. Keep contact with the ground as long as possible, like you’re are building up the pressure to push the tile away.
It can be at a slower pace to what I’m doing here.
Do 2 sets of 10.
Exercise 4: Triple extension box.
There are two exercises you can do here. One with a single box and with a double box. I only do the single box one, as it is easiest to set up. The double box is an easier exercise. But since I didn’t find starting in a lunge (single box version) too difficult, I went straight to it.
Start in a lunge, weight slightly forward on the front leg. The back leg is actively pushing against the ground. The back leg then comes up in a straight line onto the box, ending with the knee bent and weight slightly forward. The leg that is still in contact with the floor goes into triple extension.
Opposite arm and opposite leg move.
Do not end with your body too verticle as you will not be loaded to do the next move.
I’ll explain the double box one as it’s good to get the concept of what we are trying to achieve. We are always trying to end in a position that loads us up for the next position.
When we do the double box, we start with one leg on the box — knee bent weight loaded. The back leg is an extension.
When we move to the second box. The back leg of box 1 becomes the front leg of box 2. The knee is now bent with weight loaded. The front leg of box 1 becomes the back leg of box 2, so it goes from bent to triple extension.
The idea is we keep loading ourselves up for the next movement. So if we had a hundred boxes we would keep going up them in this movement. You should not need to pause and reset, you should be ready to go.
My physio explained that when doing sports, when we do a movement we should always try to end in a position that loads us up for the next. This is what this movement is trying to achieve.
Like in the lunge version the back leg should be actively pushing. Imagine you have made contact with a person and are trying to push them forward. You would naturally go into this position with one leg forward and bent and the back leg pushing and in extension.
Do 2 sets of 12
These 4 exercises are ongoing. Hopefully, it will be enough for you to avoid surgery.
After spending a few weeks of doing the above 4 exercises. You can start to add traditional weighted exercises. e.g squats and deadlifts. I’d recommend you do 2 or 3 of the above exercise as a warm-up if you are going to start lifting.
Disclaimer: This is not medical advice. I make no promise and take no responsibility for anything you decide to do. This is simply what I did.
