perplexed

Perhaps the common denominator between us three is tight adductors? My adductors are *extremely* tight. Even though my piriformis is on the looser side now, my butterfly stretch is horrible due to my adductors, and my middle splits are horrendous. The advanced p. stretch is my absolute favorite piriformis stretch. I agree with you pogo about changing the angle, but once my chest moves past the midshin toward the foot, my adductors get brutalized, haha. I guess we have to work on groin flexibility more as well!

Does advanced p pose stretch the front leg adductors in any way? As my torso got close to or started to hit my front foot, the less I felt a piriformis stretch and the more brutal it was on my adductors. After a round of ballistics I'd feel very sore and weak in either my adductors or gracilis ( can't pinpoint the spot). My legs would feel like jello and i'd have difficulty walking around. Next day I'd be fine, but then I'd have adductor DOMS.

Ok cool I'll modify the plan according to your suggestions. Thanks Nathan for taking the time to help me! My jiu jitsu guard will owe a lot to you and everyone else on this awesome forum!

I see. I think I will program as follows: 2-3x per week Go into advanced p pose- 4 reps of 10 second contractions, trying to lift front foot off floor and pulling my trunk toward my foot with straight lower back. 5 second rest. Repeat for 3 sets Go into figure four stretch. Pull my foot to my face. While holding foot against my face, I will contract as hard as I can for 10 seconds ( direction of contraction is foot toward face) while slowly stopping assisting from my hands. At first, by the end of the contraction my foot will be pretty far from my head, as I don't have the end range strength yet. After 10 seconds, use my hands to pull foot back against face and rest for 5 seconds. Repeat for 4 reps. 3 sets total. What do you think of this routine Nathan?

@Nathan this sounds exactly what I've been looking for! To utilize end- range-closing, would that be starting in a figure four stretch and then contracting hard for 10 seconds, trying to bring my foot to my face, without using my hands? Or would I use my hands to slowly bring my foot to my face while contracting with the stretch for 10 seconds?

Hi everyone. I made a post a while back about pigeon pose with a 90 degree front leg and kit's advanced p pose. Anyway I have made great progress with my external rotation range, so thank you all! I can lie on my back and easily bring my foot to my face. The thing is, the ultimate goal is to be able to bring my foot to my face, in a controlled manner, without using my hands. I will link a GIF of bj penn, well known for his leg dexterity, swiveling his foot by his face effortlessly. I think I have enough passive ROM, but without my hands my leg dexterity is bad. I'll attach a pic of my max external rotation without using my hands. If I can train to mimic bj's level of leg dexterity, I will be ecstatic! I don't know how to accomplish this, though. Can't thank you all enough! One thing that may or may not be a factor. For some reason, it is still difficult for me to sit cross legged. My outer hip muscles (the TFL and glute med area, not piriformis) tense up hard for no reason and prevent my knees from dropping. If I do some pissing dog holds and exhaust the muscles, this issue disappears, but it is only a temporary fix. I have to do pissing dog every time to get around the tensing issue. Here is the GIF of bj penn: https://goo.gl/images/KL1UVv Here is another video. Bj can also ballistically throw his leg behind his head https://youtu.be/COd4P5Srl6o

Hi everyone, I just wanted to post an update. I've finished my first week of my new ballistic routine and everything feels good. I bought a yoga bolster and am doing advanced p. Ballistics. I had a question about the advanced p. movement, though. Should I do the pulses without supporting myself with my hands on the floor, or should I use my hands for support?

Thanks MarkusO! The foam roller elevates me a bit higher than my bolster and makes it easier to keep good form without supporting my position with my hands. Definitely adding this to my piriformis routine.

Sounds great! I'll use contract/relax in the advanced p. and then start ballistics once I get more comfortable in the position. Thanks for all the help kit and nathan!

Thanks for your time and guidance Kit! I guess my yoga terminology isn't the best. When I was talking about pigeon pose, I was placing my front knee at 90 degrees, following the form in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2msg4jdu0vk What you said about bending my lower back was true. A combination of not enough external rotation and holding too much weight forced my body to bend the lower spine and recruit the lower back muscles. I was trying to run before I could crawl. Before combining the advanced p. pose with ballistic stretching, I think I must first be able to lower my knee to the ground in the 90 degree angle pigeon pose shown in the video, while keeping my hips nice and square. Right now, I don't even have access to that ROM. My knee has to be elevated 3 inches in order to keep good form. Could I ask for your recommendations on how to get my knee flat on the ground? Should I just keep holding a 5 minute static stretch each day and little by little lower the knee support, maybe combine with C/R a couple times per week to maximize the benefit?

Hi everyone. I've been trying to find this info online but I haven't found anything clear. Short background. My hip mobility goals require a loose and actively flexible piriformis. Right now I'm holding a static pigeon pose with an upright chest, square hips, and my knee on a 3 inch yoga block for 5 minutes every day(I definitely feel a nice deep stretch from this, but no DOMs). I've been stretching various parts of my legs for about 1 year now and I've noticed my body responds to loaded and ballistic stretching extremely well for increasing ROM. Contract/relax and static stretches don't really work too well for me. My goal is to be able to hold good form in pigeon with no yoga block, and then begin a ballistic cycle trying to get my chest to my foot. I'd love to supplement loaded stretching for my piriformis too. I tried holding kettle bells in pigeon and the advanced p. Pose, and then hinging to bring my chest toward my foot, but feel most of the strength work coming from my lower back. I'm scratching my head trying to think of ways to load specifically the piriformis in order to increase active hip mobility. I'll owe bringing my feet behind my head to you. Thanks!