The psoas is a muscle that connects the lumbar or base of your spine to the front of your hips or pelvis. It can be a common cause of back, hip and knee pain. And it frequently ends up tight
Stretching the psoas with a basic lunge
The position of your hips in plank pose
The sun salutation sequence in yoga moves through a number of physical poses including plank and movements that resemble a press-up. We often mistakenly think plank and the movement of lowering down and pressing up are about arm strength. But
Tipping your tailbone is really about moving your pelvis/hips
The position of your hips and pelvis can have a big impact on your muscles, affecting stretching and strengthening. It can be a hard movement to master, especially since we don’t often think about moving our pelvis. There are many
Stretching the leg muscles (cyclists this one’s for you)
Several friends are riding the Tour Aotearoa, 3,000km of cycling from Cape Reinga to Bluff in 30 days or less. As their training rides have increased, so have the niggles of chronically tight muscles. The large muscles of the legs
Balancing on 1 leg is more than just your feet (video)
Whenever we think about standing balances – particularly on one leg, we tend to focus on the feet. It’s pretty obvious why. When you balance on one leg you can feel the muscles in your foot and ankle working hard
The best 2 minute glute and hamstring stretch [video]
With the silly season fast approaching, we’re all short on time. So a briefer email and option to skip to the second stretch in this video (supta padangusthasana). There are 3 stretches in the video, start at 3:20 and watch
A twist on the classic lunge
Getting back to the glutes, or the muscles in your buttocks and around your hip joint. These big muscles work hard and easily get tight. I’ve already featured some of the classic poses to stretch this muscle group, but sometimes
Tipping the pelvis (for the better glute stretch)
Last week, I featured a few of my favourite stretches for the glutes (or the muscles in your bum and around your hip). I often recommend tipping your tailbone (or pelvis) in one direction or another to find a better
Stretching the glutes
I can’t believe it. I searched back through 3 years of email tips and I haven’t written one about stretching your glutes! The glutes – short for gluteal muscles – are the muscles in and around your bum. They are
Position the pelvis to get the best stretch
Did you try the stretches for the thighs last week? Which one worked for you? You would have noticed that I suggested squeezing your buttocks in each stretch. But why does that affect the muscles in the front of your