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*** If you are still struggling to work on the regular lower abs practice that first****
Factors of progression:
Standard
Variations
Now you know how important the glute max is for the strength and stability of the body and you learned the basic stretch for it. Now you also want to strengthen it.
Again this muscle has 4 different direct fibers that are part of it, so it has a lot of different ways to strengthen it. Start with this initial position and master it, because all the more advanced techniques use this as a base.
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If you are stopping after round 1, jump to 34:48 for the cool down. If you want to add a third round(you stud), go back to 22:09 and then go all the way through and finish with the cool down.
Lower to mid-back thoracic ELDOA’S
The Abs have a lot of responsibility to your body. They interact with all the other “core” muscles and provide stability and mobility throughout your trunk. If your abs are not strong and mobile then there is NO WAY that you will be strong, pain free, energetic or move efficiently. You will also not allow your internal organs to function properly as the abs “keep the contents in the container.”
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Hopefully by now you have been diligent and have practiced the upper abs at least 3 days a week and are much more proficient at it. And since you have, I want you to start to incorporate the lower abs.
Remember when I told you that the abs can move a lot of different ways? Well this one part can at a base move the trunk to the pelvis (upper abs) and then the pelvis to the trunk (lower abs).
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Most people don’t think that they need to train their diaphragm. But this muscle is really important in keeping your body balanced and functioning really well. Just think among other aspects your heart sits right on top of your diaphragm, your liver and stomach hang from it and it is the principal muscle involved in breathing. So if it is not in place, strong and flexible then you can forget about having energy, feeling comfortable, or moving well.
Parameters Segmental Strengthening:
To work the deepest abs muscle and the deepest orthopedic muscle you have in your trunk you need to work the TVA. This acronym stands for the Transverse Abdominis and this muscle is like the girdle of your body. Like a girdle the force of this muscle goes around the abdomen in a squeezing motion.
This muscle has a lot of really important connections and needs to to be aware and functioning.
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Factors of progression:
Factors of progression:
The Glute med is definitely one of the top muscles that needs to be strong. Its #1 job is to hold your pelvis in place. They are like the walls of your pelvis. If your walls are weak or imbalanced then the pelvis will be off. If the pelvis is off then everything above and below is compromised because the connecting “floor” is off balance.
Be really careful when lifting your leg up and down as it is very easy to cheat by rolling your body backward or bending your knee. Only lift your leg as high as the form allows. When you get the form down on this one your will know as a wonderful burning sensation will come over your hips. 
Factors of progression:
Factors of progression:
It’s important to always think about the whole being and the different linking areas in the body.
And when you want to work with those areas, work on the tissue that gives you the biggest bang for your buck. The Iliopsosas is one of those muscles. Since it affects three linking areas of your body, hip, pelvis, and spine, it would behoove you to start working on this muscle and get it down.
Now, you can target 5 different main areas on this muscle, but getting the 1st basic posture down is required and super beneficial.
Parameters:
From left to right: level 1,2,3
You core is not just your abs. You core is the core of your body. Basically your torso. Well your torso has a bunch more muscles in it than just your abs. Even if you master your abs (and that is a lot of work) you MUST work the other muscles in your torso.
You Longissimus is the first basic place that that you need to start at as it is mainly responsible for pulling your torso backward. Either the top part or bottom part.
Parameters:
From left to right: level 1,2,3
Now that you have practiced the upper longissimus let’s get you working on the lower part. Again just like all the ab muscles the back muscles have a lot of different ways it could be worked. Use this lower longissimus to connect to the upper you have been doing.
Parameters strengthening:
From left to right: level 1,2,3
Factors of progression:
Factors of Progression:
Factors of Progression:
Parameters:
*** If you can’t safely get your legs up while staying on your shoulders(not your neck) do only the lower longissimus MFS until you are ready.***
Factors of progression:
Factors of progression:
This exercises will generally open up and waken up the 10 joints your have in your shoulder girdle. It is a really great exercises if you are tight and weak throughout your shoulders. If you sit at a desk a lot then use this to break up that pattern of sitting and having your head going forward and shoulders slouching. Use before a workout or on its own.
The piriformis is part of your pelvic floor and works with the obturator internus you were shown before. So it is really efficient to work the two together.
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Parameters Segmental:
Parameters MFS:
You have already learned how to MFS the Obturtator internus and now you also want to solicit all of the muscle fibers and make it strong.
Factors of progression:
To balance and strengthen the back part of your body your lats need to have the proper strength and flexibility. They are important because they run from your upper arm all the way down (like a “V”) to your hips. They also have a direct connection to your pec underneath the armpit. They are really big muscles and can be trained in a lot of different ways.
Parameters Segmental Strengthening:
To have a healthy, strong, vibrant, well-moving, your lower back needs to be open, aware, and strong. The main area that needs to have this is your L5/S1 joint.
Even in a healthy back, it needs a lot of preventative work not to become unbalanced. Now factor in that most people’s bodies are unbalanced, and they will receive even more force. This is why it is the main joint that people injure when they hurt their lower back.
Luckily, one exercise will give you the most bang for your buck to strengthen, open, and make this joint more aware.
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This is a very important joint to keep open in regards to movement of your upper body and the health of your internal organs.
Parameters:
Really important area to keep free and open. It is one of the most challenging ELDOA’S, but one of the most necessary.
Parameters:
Parameters:
Parameters:
Factors of progression:
To effectively manage your pelvis so that it functions best, it needs to have a lot of strength, and the sacrum needs to be in place. One big bang muscle that can work on both is the Glute max. Your bum 
The deep part attaches to your sacrum, where it works with the piriformis to manage it, and it also attaches to the hip bone to help mobilize it.
4 fibers are associated with this muscle, and they all need to be strong and flexible. That means there are four different postures for stretching and over 12 ways to strengthen it.
Master this initial way of MFS first to make it a staple of your program.
Parameters:
The first posture is if it is too difficult or painful to grab your knee. The next, from left to right, level 1 and 2
Factors of progression:
This muscle is really important when working with the Rec fem(one of the 6 biomechanical quads).
Parameters:
Left to right level 1 & 2
One foundational area that needs to be in place and strong is your pelvis. It connects your upper body and lower body, and if it is off, it produces stiffness, pain, and overexertion of energy just to move around naturally.
It is the area where you have the most control because of the sheer number of stretches and exercises you can do on your own.
One primary muscle you want to work is the obturator internus. It is part of the pelvic trochanter and pelvic floor muscle groups (pelvis to hip), and it acts as a hammock for your pelvis.
The last thing you want to do is to get on a hammock that is weak or off-balance. That is why working with this muscle is vitally important.
Teaching Points & Parameters:
A foundational piece to keep the front of your body in place is your pec. It is connected through the abs to connect all the way down to your pubic bone. It also connects to the lat underneath the armpit which is behind it so that they can work together to balance the front of your body and the back of your body.
Parameters Segmental Strengthening:
If you are not able to naturally keep yourself within your gravity line then there is no way you will be balanced , you will have pain, not be able to move properly and use a lot of unnecessary energy just to complete your day.
To have an efficient gravity line means that your feet, spine, eyes and TMJ are all working doing their jobs and communicating to you bran proper posture. These areas all need their own training to be efficient, but all will use the gravity line squat in conjunction.
The gravity line squat uses all these aspects in a global movement so that they all start working together. This is why the squat is the most important global exercises there is and why it is in your foundational program.
*** Use this as its own workout!!!*** Do 3 sets for as many as you can (resting between time worked to double time worked) and then end with the “MFS Deep Glute Max,””MFS Rec Fem,” and “L5-S1 ELDOA.”
Parameters:
Updating your homework items. Please wait.
Factors of progression:
If, after round 1, you want to jump to the stretching, then go to 59:47. If you want to do another round, go back to 36:00.
To jump to stretching, go to 28:20. To go back for a 3rd round, go to 18:54
Factors of progression:
Factors of Progression:
*** If this is difficult to feel, you can practice one leg at a time. Just plant the foot down of the nonworking leg down with the knee at about 90 degrees keeping the same width.
To balance and strengthen the back part of your body your lats need to have the proper strength and flexibility. They are important because they run from your upper arm all the way down (like a “V”) to your hips. They also have a direct connection to your pec underneath the armpit. They are really big muscles and can be trained in a lot of different ways.
Parameters MFS:
A foundational piece to keep the front of your body in place is your pec. It is connected through the abs to connect all the way down to your pubic bone. It also connects to the lat underneath the armpit which is behind it so that they can work together to balance the front of your body and the back of your body.
Parameters MFS:
The middle delts main job is to hold your arm up because gravity is constantly trying to pull it down. Having weak delt is one of the main reasons people have shoulder pain because if it is not strong enough the supraspinatus and bicep ligament are put under to much strain and over time end up tearing.
And because the shoulder girdle is dependent on all the soft tissue elements being in place and having enough strength and flexibility to function correctly, doing this exercises and MFS will go a long way in keeping you strong, mobile, energetic, and out of pain.
Parameters MFS:
This muscle is important to keep really strong and moving well as it works with the rhomboids (butterflies) to form a really important joint behind the shoulder blades.
When both of these muscles are strong and working together you upper body strength will improve and will really help keep your posture.
Parameters:
The middle delts main job is to hold your arm up because gravity is constantly trying to pull it down. Having weak delt is one of the main reasons people have shoulder pain because if it is not strong enough the supraspinatus and bicep ligament are put under too much strain and over time end up tearing.
And because the shoulder girdle is dependent on all the soft tissue elements being in place and having enough strength and flexibility to function correctly, doing this exercises and MFS will go a long way in keeping you strong, mobile, energetic, and out of pain.
Parameters Segmental Strengthening:
This muscle is important to keep really strong and moving well as it works with the rhomboids (butterflies) to form a really important joint behind the shoulder blades.
When both of these muscles are strong and working together your upper body strength will improve and will really help keep your posture.
Parameters Segmental Strengthening:
If your shoulder blades are not back and in place then your whole upper body will be off balance. That is because they are the main factor in keeping the 10 joints in your shoulder girdle in place. If even one of those joints is out of place if effects the other 9 in a big way.
And if they are off it is going to make it near impossible to use the upper body in an efficient way.
Parameters:
Factors of progression:
One of the top things affecting peoples knees today is patella patellofemoral syndrome. It is a condition where the cartilage of the kneecap is rubbing on the thigh bone because there is not enough space and the joint doesn’t move very well. It is terrible because it hurts really bad and if all the cartilage ends up coming off the only thing you can really do will be surgery.
So it is probably a really good idea to prevent this from happening. Doing the patellofemoral proprioception before starting an activity is a great way to start doing this.
Parameters:
Hopefully by now you have been diligent and have practiced the upper abs at least 3 days a week and are much more proficient at it. And since you have, I want you to start to incorporate the lower abs.
Remember when I told you that the abs can move a lot of different ways? Well this one part can at a base move the trunk to the pelvis (upper abs) and then the pelvis to the trunk (lower abs).
Parameters:
Factors of progression:
Factors of progression:
The Bicep femoris is the most important of the three hamstrings because of its role in biomechanics (how you move). It directly connects downward through the lateral calf to the heal and upward through the pelvis leading up to the head and out to the arm.
So if it is not strong enough or too tight you will not move well, have pain, and exert more energy than is needed just to move around.
Parameters MFS:
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