The 4-Hour Body_ An Uncommon Guide to Ra - Timothy Ferriss [157]
2. PELVIC SYMMETRY AND GLUTE FLEXIBILITY
This is similar to “pigeon pose” in yoga, but using a table makes it easier to perform and harder to cheat. Place the leg as seen in frame 1 on a table top, knee bent 90 degrees. Lean directly forward (12 o’clock) for 90 seconds, then to both 10:00 A.M. (frame 2) and 2:00 P.M. for 90 seconds each. Notice that one hand is placed on the foot itself for support.
If your knee bothers you, you can rotate and slide the ankle off the table (frame 3), which is what I do. In this case, you place one hand on the ankle for support. If you work at a computer for long periods of time, this ankle-off version can even be used in coffee shops without making much of a fuss. Use a pillow or books to elevate the knee if it’s still strained.
Once you’ve finished the table “pigeon pose” on both sides, place your foot on top of the table (less coffee shop-friendly) and lean directly forward for 90 seconds (frame 4). Then place your hand on the inside of the knee (frame 5) and extend your arm as you lean away from your leg (frame 6) for 90 seconds. The foot on the table will naturally roll to its outer edge. Repeat on the opposite side.
3. REPOSITIONING THE PELVIS
This is designed to put the head of the femur (thigh bone) in the back of the hip capsule. Extended periods of time in the seated position can move this ball into the front of the socket, causing all sorts of mechanical mayhem and pain.
Get on all fours, knees under the hips, and remove all weight from one knee for 90 seconds to two minutes. Next, shift your weight about 4 to the outside of your support knee (frame 2) and rotate the foot in slightly as shown. In frame 2, no weight is on the left leg. Hold again for 90 seconds to two minutes.
Repeat on the opposite side.
4. PRE-WORKOUT (WEIGHTS AND OTHERWISE) GLUTE ACTIVATION
Start with ten repetitions of the double-leg glute activation seen in “Perfect Posterior.” Be sure your feet are approximately 12″ forward of your glutes, and make a note of how high you’re able to lift your hips.
Then perform 15 repetitions of the single-leg variation (shown below) on each side, pausing for one second at the top of each rep. It’s important to hold your non-support thigh as close to your chest as possible with laced fingers, while pushing hard into your hands with your shin. This non-lifting leg should be under a hard isometric (non-moving) contraction for the entire set. Be sure to keep the toes of the support foot up in the air, and drive from the heels.
Once finished, test the double-leg lift again. There should be a clear gain in hip height. If not, repeat the single-leg variety but contract harder at the top of the movement.
5. STRENGTHENING THE FEET AND ANKLES
Jog barefoot on grass for 30 minutes, three times per week.
This is the advice of Gerard Hartmann PhD, an Irish PT trusted by many of the world’s top distance runners, including Haile Gebrselassie, who’s broken 27 world records.20 Legendary Stanford running coach Vin Lananna, who has produced five NCAA team championships in track and cross country, also has his runners perform a portion of their workouts barefoot on the track’s infield.
But how do you run properly in the first place?
That’s where the Russian doctor comes in.
Becoming Biomechanically Efficient Technique
(Form and Tempo)
Motion is created by the destruction of balance.
—Leonardo da Vinci
There is a right way to run.
That, at least, is the contention of not only Brian MacKenzie, but also seven-time Western States champion and three-time “Ultramarathoner of the Year” Scott Jurek.
For Brian, the right way is one way: Pose.
Nicolas S. Romanov PhD, creator of the Pose Method, was born in 1951 in the unforgiving climes of Siberia. It makes sense on some level that he would become Internet-famous in 2005 for running on ice.21 How the hell can you run on ice?
According to Romanov, by applying