Leg lifts? Really?
What are they really doing? Many will tell you that leg lifts (any variation) are good for the abdominal region. Why they believe this is beyond me. I’ve never seen an anatomy chart that has shown the abdominal muscles attaching to the lesser trochanter (hip). In fact, leg lifts are great for facilitating already facilitated musculature. What does this mean?
Facilitated muscles are muscles that are shortened and have lost their ability to stretch. It’s more of a neurological issue vs. the sensation of just an area feeling ‘tight.’ The last thing we want to do with these muscles is shorten them any further. The hip flexor muscles, or the muscles that are responsible for that silly leg lift exercise, tend to be chronically facilitated.
After all, we tend to sit/drive all day and certainly, we are not going out of our way to exercise our gluteal region. We certainly do not need to tighten the hip flexors any further. If we are trying to target the abdominal muscles, we need better ways of doing it (likely coming soon to a blog near you). Continue Reading →