Loading a Hinge

Hey guys, Coach Littlel is here to progress on my talk about hinging. So a couple of weeks back, I made a video on the movement of hinging, why it’s important, why it’s important that we do it correctly, and how to do it. And now, once we’ve mastered those basics, and we’re good at the motion of hinging, we need a way to strengthen it. So, here are a few ways that we would load a hinge. 

We’re only going to need dumbbells. The first way we load that hinge will be just a dumbbell Romanian deadlift, is what we like to call it. So, I’m going to have my dumbbells here. Of course, we want to ensure that we sink our hips and keep our chest up to pick it up like always. I will take those dumbbells and put them out in front of me. Many people like to hold the dumbbells by their side; we want to take those dumbbells. Put them out in front, just like we talked about last week. I’m going to take my feet, put them right under my hips and toes; they’re going to be pointed forward. Going to keep my chest up, and all I want to do is reach my hips back. 

Okay, I’m going to reach my hips back, usually stop right about at the knee, stand back up, and squeeze my butt. Okay, I don’t want to let the dumbbells come too far out in front of me because that will shift the weight onto my toes. Give me a little more quad, not as much hamstring. So I want to keep those dumbbells nice and close. Keep my chest up, and reach my hips back. Again, we’re looking for that nice big stretch in the hamstrings. Okay, if you do not feel that, we need to lighten the weight up a little bit and practice our PVC drill, rich hips back, fill that stretch, stand back up, and squeeze your butt pick. 

Once the dumbbells, you know the grip, become an issue because we’ve loaded it up so much that we would move to a barbell. Okay, we’ve lost; here’s a barbell, the same way. Another way that we like to load this position would be a good morning or a goblet good morning. So now, I’m going to take just one dumbbell. Can it hold it in this goblet position? So it’s kind of in the bottom of my palms, going to wrap my hands around that head of the dumbbell, and then I’m going to pull the dumbbell nice and close to my chest, and I’m going to do the same thing. 

Okay, I’m going to keep that dumbbell, make contact with my chest. Eyes up, chest up, and I’m going to reach my hips back again, looking for that same stretch, and stand back up. So what that’s going to do putting that dumbbell out front is now we’re going to challenge that lower back challenge that cores a little bit to keep me from folding, because as soon as I put weight out front, that way, it’s going to be pulling me into those compromised positions. So it will be more important for me to brace and keep that chest up. 

So, those are just a few of the ways that we like to challenge that Hinge Movement and strengthen that Hinge Movement. So once you’ve mastered the basics of being able to stand and hinge, we can start adding some weight to it. So, give it a try.