What's the difference between your hip and your pelvis? Where does the pelvis end and your spine begin? Why the heck should you care in your aerial training?
A lot of movements require the spine and pelvis to work together!
Hip Extension - Split, Lunges & Warrior Poses
In a split, we often get cued to "square the hips," which means bringing your pelvis into the proper alignment so we can practice extension of the hip (joint). If your pelvis tilts to one side, you're not working effectively on your hip extension. The same goes for lunges and similar movements.
Lower back flexibility & hip movement
Often, we tend to cheat with our lower back flexibility to fake hip mobility. The body knows its ways! If you lack hip flexibility, your body will compensate for this with lower back flexibility. If you are aware of this and you want this on purpose - go ahead! Most of the time, the lower back tends to be flexible, while the hip joint tends to be less flexible, which is why we need to work our hip more than our lower back. In poses like lunges, warriors, or any split stretch, and in backbends too, we want to increase hip flexibility.
The connection
The awareness of the hip, pelvis and lower back movements is crucial for engaging the correct muscles and controlled movement. The actions are closely related to each other and influence each other: If you're standing and tilting your pelvis to the back, the lower back will move into flexion, and your thigh bone in the hip socket will move into extension.
So here's the exploration! Belly Dance Class! 🙈🥳
Step in front of a mirror. Find your pelvis, hip, and spine (movements)! Tag a friend who should try this too! 🥰
Unlocked Standing Position:
To explore the pelvis and spine movement, we first have to get out of our "locked" position. Joints and muscles work best at their mid-range. If you stand with your butt out (anterior tilt of your pelvis), your muscles (e.g., hamstrings) are at their end range. The hip joint itself is also limited to one direction already. So first, let's move into a posture where we can support movement and stability (through gravity) best:
Take energy to your feet (build your arch)
unlock your knees
engage butt & core to tilt your pelvis a little
engage shoulders lightly and shift your head a little to the back.
From this position, move your whole spine together with the pelvis first, then try to isolate the movement of the pelvis: Move from anterior to posterior tilt and feel the relationship between your spine, pelvis, hip joint, and thigh bone. Once you've explored the movements in your standing posture, take the pelvis tilts into your lunges, backbends, and other complex positions.
Check out my online offers for physiotherapy & personal training plans here and on-demand aerial classes here! Also, send this blog post to a friend who needs to read this and comment below if you have any questions popping up!
