I’ve a mild anterior pelvic tilt.
I’m trying to strenght my hams, abs, while I’m stretching my quads and flexors.
Today, a pilates teacher said I need to stretch my hamstring, bacuase they are tight! I need torso mobility that I do not have.
after reading “hips don’t lie” I’m confused.
Can I have hams stretching or not?
I know I need to strength hamstring…does it mean I can’t have stretching for them?
thanks
Hmm,
It seems to me that if you have some anterior pelvic tilt going on you would NOT want to stretch out the hammys, just strengthen them.
But how are you sure you have an anterior pelvic tilt anyway? Sloped down ASIS?
several people (chiro, metierian, rolfer) told me I ha APT.
I put a pic of mine, where u can easly see APT.
PS: even if I’m AT, I can’t flex over 60/70°, without “puShing back” my ass or rising my feet from the floor!
The “pilate teacher” told my I’ve tight hamstring…
Yeah,
That is a pretty obvious tilt alright. I don’t really understand why you would have tight hamstrings with that type of posture considering the tilt will be stretching the hammys out, not putting them in a shortened position. If It were me I would not listen to your pilates teacher.
Your quads on the other hand, as you had previously stated are probably pretty tight and you should make sure to stretch those out.
As far as you bending over beyond 60-70, I have seen cases where the lower lumbar muscles will get tight, which may be the preventing factor. So that may be worth an effort in stretching out if that is present in your case.
Another thing too is make sure you are strengthening your abs if you are not currently doing so, that will help the tilt as well. But make sure that you are not doing any sit up type ab strengthening that will tighten your hip flexors any more than they already are.
You were right: I can’t flex over 70° not because my hams but because my lumbar are tight!
From myke Rob’s article, I thought that my abs are weak and I need to strenght them…DO I wrong?
I can’t undesrtand if specific stretching is btter than complexive stretching (read: pilates; yoga; chi gong etc).
My chiro suggests that complexive stretching is better, because if you are streatched, the body will get a goos posture by himslef…
Im glad you got that figured out.
I am not familiar with “complexive stretching” so I can’t comment on it, but if you are seeing a GOOD chiro then just make sure to listen to him/her and make educated decisions.
I am also not familiar with which article you are speaking about, but generally if you have weak abs, it is a good idea to stregthen them.
Today my pilates teacher made a very accurated analisys of my posture.
She noticed that when I flex my torso, my fingers are at 20cm by the floor…She concluded that a) my abs are weak; b) my glutes are weak; c) I need to stretch my hamstring.
I’m really confused.
According to Eric Cressey, “The core and glutes are inhibited; the hip flexors, hamstrings and erector spinae are overactive. This results in anterior pelvic tilt and exaggerated lordosis (swayback)” ( http://www.musclewithattitude.com/readArticle.do?id=459379 )
While, according to Mike Robertson,they are weak!!! ( http://www.T-Nation.com/tmagnum/readTopic.do?id=1508257 )
Beyond this, according to Mike and Cressry, people wtih APT are"S shaped", while, as you can notice, I have flat neck and reduced cervical lordosis. I do not know if this can intefere with my hams…
So,I do not know what I have to do: do I have strencht or not my hams? do i have to stretch my hams? do I need to increas their strenght, while stretching them (4 ex., with PNF or something like that)?
I have not read those articles so I am not familiar with what those authors have to say.
I thought you had gone to a chiro and he had given you a plan of what to do? Good chiropractors will not only assess your vertebrae, posture, and follow clinical prediction rules for procedures, but they will also give you an exercise plan to fix your “weak spots”.
Did that happen? If not I would return to him/her and get re-assessed or go see someone else.
As far as your hams go I would not stretch them out any further. I would continue to stretch the hip flexors and strengthen the abs. You can focus on trying to actively posteriorly tilt your pelvis as well.
But please realize that I am just some stranger giving you advice over the internet. If your posture is causing you problems you should consult a professional.
I had some problems (that caused a stop) with my neck this winter…
over that, I neveder had problems with my back, legs and all that stuffs.
My chiro is very knowladgeble, but he only asses vertebras (from my exeprience, in Italy it is the only thing they do).
I want to improve my posture a) to avoid problems in the future; b) for esthetic purpose 
This study sounds interesting, because (if I had a good understanding), shows that APT can be correlated with both tight ans stretched hamstring.
An Electromyographic Analysis of Hamstring Tightness and Low Back Fatigue
“It was concluded that anterior pelvic tilt may not have been affected by the level of hamstring inflexibility of the present groups. Alternatives for future research were discussed.”
I would like if some expert people could interfere to tell us if I do wrong or not…
The following post is an abstract form
http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:YPT5_qV5U4kJ:www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-207866_ITM+tight.hamstring+pelvic.tilt+anterior&hl=it&ct=clnk&cd=14&gl=it
[IF I Do have a good understanding (sorry, but english is not my first lenguage), Toppengerg said that hams are short when lumbar curve is increased.
So, I figure that the whole pic and the relation btw hams and pelvic tilt it’s not so easy as some articles describe.]
Toppenberg and Bullock[7] examined the interrelationships of spinal curves, pelvic tilt, and muscle lengths (abdominal, erector spinae, iliopsoas, gluteal, rectus femoris, and hamstring muscles) in asymptomatic female subjects. Although they found no relationship between pelvic tilt and lumbar curvature, longer abdominal muscles and shorter erector spinae muscles were associated with an increased lumbar curve. Of the lower-extremity muscle groups studied, only the length of the hamstring muscles was related to the lumbar curve, and it was negatively related (ie, shorter hamstring muscles were associated with a greater degree of lumbar lordosis). Heino et al[8] examined the relationships among hip extension range of motion (ROM), standing pelvic tilt, standing lumbar lordosis, and abdominal muscle performance. No correlation was found among any of these variables. Flint[9] found that lumbar lordosis was unrelated to hip and trunk flexibility.
in your opinions, guys, does it make sense working out
hams, trying to increase flexibility and strenght/hypertrophy…or does it sound as making to opposite things togheter?