Posterior Pelvic Tilting, Simplified

This sequence is absolutely golden for both learning and reinforcing posterior pelvic tilting:

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 90/90 hip lift with spinal rounding

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reverse crunch off wall

It looks like this:

You’ll note the two different arm positions.  The first tends to make the movement simpler because those struggling with engaging the abs to the point of turning the pelvis can press against the ground.  Since the arms are lifted in the second, they cannot contribute to the movement, nor can the the thoracic spine (signified by the shoulders popping up off the floor) assist in any way.

Things to look for:

1. popping off the wall with the feet

2. uneven left, right foot lift off or return

3. neck disappearing

4. ribs extending upward

5. waistline creeping away from the face

These are all signals that the abs are not engaged as we would wish.

I nabbed the set-up of this move from Dr. Dave Tilley.  His gymnastics based movement site is fantastic.

photo credit: hybrid perspective.com

You’ll notice that his athlete’s hands are above her head.  This elongates the lever in which we are trying to control.  (Getting hands overhead can be a beast unto itself).

Here I utilize the long, overhead position along with some very visible belly breathing.

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Posterior pelvic tilt with belly breath. Anterior tilt at start (lower back tunnel), hip lift and rounding of spine (mid back, then low back BEFORE butt hits ground). Pause about halfway through, take big belly breath, and continue the sink to the ground on the exhale. Fantastic drill from @thehybridperspective. Huge bang for your buck, especially when teaching groups. #pelvis #bellybreathing #posteriorpelvictilt

A post shared by Chris Ruffolo (@ruffolous) on Sep 6, 2015 at 6:11pm PDT

Note the start is in anterior pelvic tilt (upward curve of the lower back) and pronounced rib flare.  The ribs relatively disappear at the corrected bottom of the movement.  Again, observe how the waistband never tilts away from the belly button.

TO REVIEW:

1. Being stuck in anterior pelvic tilt leads to pain and dysfunction

2. Arm position can be manipulated to progress and regress difficulty of movement

3. Ideally we want to isolate the abdominals in creating posterior pelvic tilt

4. Learning to posteriorly pelvic tilt creates a neutral pelvis for those who are stuck in anterior pelvic tilt

5. The 90/90 set up is meant to learn/create posterior pelvic tilt, while the reverse crunch off wall is meant to reinforce that pattern

6. The goal of training posterior pelvic tilt is to be able to apply it to different movement patterns

#pelvis