RE: What does "extend your hip" mean?

The opposite of hip flexion. Flex and extend your fingers and you will get the idea.

I can understand flexing a limb but do not get how the hip could be extended or flexed.

The term extend at the hip would mean to move your whole leg to me but actually extending the hip seems counter intuitive.

Flexing your hip is lifting your femur toward your chest. Extending it is the opposite, moving your femur behind the plane of your torso.

Flexion/extension movements are referred to using the joint about which the body part is moving as the reference point.

Knee flexion: reducing the angle between the femur and the tibia/fibula

Knee extension: increasing the angle between the femur and the tibia/fibula

Elbow flexion: reducing the angle between the humerus and the ulna/radius

Elbow extension: increasing the angle between the humerus and the ulna/radius

Think of it this way:

Hip flexion: reducing the angle between the pelvis and the femur

Hip extension: increasing the angle between the pelvis and the femur

BisonHurdler wrote:

Flexion/extension movements are referred to using the joint about which the body part is moving as the reference point.

Knee flexion: reducing the angle between the femur and the tibia/fibula

Knee extension: increasing the angle between the femur and the tibia/fibula

Elbow flexion: reducing the angle between the humerus and the ulna/radius

Elbow extension: increasing the angle between the humerus and the ulna/radius

Think of it this way:

Hip flexion: reducing the angle between the pelvis and the femur

Hip extension: increasing the angle between the pelvis and the femur

Thanks BH,let me see if the normal angle between the pelvis and the femur is 180 degrees measured along the forward plane of the body lifting the knee like one would do to climb stairs is reducing the angle and trying to touch your heel to your butt is increasing the angle I got it.

If you mean something else I aint.

thrust your pelvis. Elvis is always the king!

You got it.

Now if you want a real mind bender we can argue about what it means to extend the ankle.

just a leftover hippie wrote:

[quo

Thanks BH,let me see if the normal angle between the pelvis and the femur is 180 degrees measured along the forward plane of the body lifting the knee like one would do to climb stairs is reducing the angle and trying to touch your heel to your butt is increasing the angle I got it.

If you mean something else I aint.

You've got the flexion part down, and you more or less have the idea of extension, but not necessarily what someone is talking about when they speak of "hip extension" in running.

When you lift your knee to climb stairs, that is indeed hip flexion. When your foot touches the stairs and you use your gluteal muscles to pull yourself up to the level of that step (and in the process bring your knee back towards its initial resting position), that action is hip extension.

Think of it in the context of the last part of your stride prior to toe-off.

"lifting the knee like one would do to climb stairs is reducing the angle and trying to touch your heel to your butt is increasing the angle I got it. "

Sort of, but hip flexion/extension has nothing to do with the knee.

Keeping leg straight swing leg forward and backward. Leg swinging forward is hip flexion. Leg swining backward is hip extension.

When thinking of hip extension think of it not from the standing position but from a flexed state. It's easier to think about that way since hip extension from the standing position is limited.

Many runners focus to much on hip flexion at the front of the stride. In jumping, running, and other athletics you'll hear a lot about 'triple extension'. This refers to the extension of the hip, knee, and ankle joints that cause powerful movements.

In running it's mainly the extension of the hip from the flexed position that is reponsible for much of the movement. Take a look at a sprinters glutes and hamstring development to see the result of power hip extension. Runners who focus too much on knee lift will tend to bounce up and down and remain more upright instead of pushing forward. Power and speed of the running movement is developed by what's happening under and behind you.

Alan

It's actually quite a meaningless cue. As if you have any choice about extending your hip when you run? Try not doing so and see how that goes.

yes an economist wrote:

It's actually quite a meaningless cue. As if you have any choice about extending your hip when you run? Try not doing so and see how that goes.

A very good point. We have relatively little conscious control of the "axial" muscles of our body during a complex coordinated activity like running. The best form advice I've ever been given is to concentrate on making your feet land and move correctly (you have much more conscious control of those muscles.) If you can work that part out, the rest will follow unconsciously.

Would this not be the same as saying not to "sit in the bucket", as it were? Hill work seems to take care of this naturally, and is touted to pretty much address all of the nasty form problems one has. I tend to agree.

Also, wouldn't it be appropriate to say something like "keep your body erect" in lieu of "extend your hip"? I think that strides would also tend to deal with this as well.

fagsdeserveaids wrote:

When people are talking about running form and they say "extend the hip" -- what does this mean exactly???

It means: "More...deeper...more...deeper, more, deeper, more, deeper, more, deeper, oh-yes, yes, yes, yes yes!"

At least that's what I heard.

[quote]Get Real Real wrote:

It means: "More...deeper...more...deeper, more, deeper, more, deeper, more, deeper, oh-yes, yes, yes, yes yes!"

But if you keep saying this while you run, won't people look at you in a funny sort of way?

Brent. wrote:

Also, wouldn't it be appropriate to say something like "keep your body erect" in lieu of "extend your hip"? I think that strides would also tend to deal with this as well.

Here's keeping the body erect, but with only limited (but powerful) hip extension:

.............. wrote:

Here's keeping the body erect, but with only limited (but powerful) hip extension:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHv3Ls3Zr2E

WTF? How is Jennings so fast running with that funny form?

Why sprinters have big round butts and distance people have a problem called Noassatall.

In running it's mainly the extension of the hip from the flexed position that is reponsible for much of the movement. Take a look at a sprinters glutes and hamstring development to see the result of power hip extension. Runners who focus too much on knee lift will tend to bounce up and down and remain more upright instead of pushing forward. Power and speed of the running movement is developed by what's happening under and behind you.

Alan[/quote]

What one should feel? Without a coach (and without a mirror), how can one know if he is doing it rgiht?

Our coach used to have us do a straight-leg bound like the video below except with the arms clasped behind the back so the ONLY momentum came from hip extension. Gives you a good feel for "correct" extension because if you do it wrong you won't make a whole lot of forward progress.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU7t5w0DbWE