How To Make Sure You Are Hinged, Demonstrated By Brenda Mee

I was at Axiom, just walking in when I spotted the trainers doing something with a long stick which included bending over.

One of the female trainers was doing it, which caught my attention.

Sure enough they had me trying it, thinking I wouldn't be able to bend much.  Wrong, I was able to hit a 90 degree angle with my knees straight and around 120 with my knees bent.  I found out my hip hinge was really good. In other words, I bend by using my hips rather than my back and that's how you're supposed to bend.

Here is what you do. Take a stick, a little over 3 feet. Make sure it's straight.  Hold it so it connects to your head, shoulders, and of course your hips.  Then bend over and see how far you can go with all three touching.  Do it both with your knees bent and straight.

How far you bend and keep all three places touching the stick, will show your flexibility and show how you can lift without using your back.  Back muscle strain is one of the most common injuries, especially in older people, not that I'm old so keep you comments to yourself.

When you bend over, most people use too much of their back and not enough hip and knees. This simple exercise will show you how much back and how much hip you use when you lift.  The goal is to use more hip and less back and avoid back strain. Watch Brenda's demo below and try it for yourself....well some of it.