Hinge Progression - From Beginner to Advanced
A Step-by-Step Guide to Improve Your Hinge Strength (Deadlifts, Nordics, and Sprint Performance)
The hinge movement is a fundamental pattern in human movement. It's the action of bending at the hips, driving them back while keeping a neutral spine, and it's crucial for many athletic and daily activities. In calisthenics, mastering the hinge is essential for developing strong glutes, hamstrings, and a stable lower back. This article will guide beginners through a systematic hinge progression, ensuring the safe and effective development of posterior chain strength.
Assisted Single-Leg Deadlift
Purpose: This exercise introduces the concept of unilateral training, focusing on one leg at a time, while also challenging balance and coordination. The support ensures safety and stability as you familiarize yourself with the movement.
Technique:
Begin by standing upright next to a wall or a sturdy object like a chair or table, which you'll use for support.
Plant one foot firmly on the ground and slightly bend the knee of that leg.
Hold onto the support with one hand, opposite to the leg you're standing on.
As you hinge forward at the hips, extend the other leg straight behind you. Your torso and the lifted leg should form a straight line.
Keep your back straight and head in a neutral position, looking a few feet ahead on the floor.
Engage your core and glutes throughout the movement.
Slowly return to the starting position by driving through the heel of the planted foot and squeezing the glutes.
Progression Criteria: Once you can perform 3 sets of 12 reps on each leg with minimal reliance on the support (using just fingertips for balance), you're ready to move on to the unsupported version.
Single-Leg Deadlift
Purpose: The Single-Leg Deadlift is a unilateral exercise that targets the hamstrings, glutes, and lower back, enhancing balance, stability, and strength in the posterior chain. It's a progression from the Supported Single-Leg Deadlift, challenging your balance and coordination without any support.
Technique:
Starting Position: Begin standing upright with feet together. It's ideal to be barefoot to feel rooted into the ground and maintain a tripod foot stance, which involves three points of contact: the heel, underneath the pinky toe, and underneath the big toe.
Soft Knee: As you initiate the movement, ensure the knee of your standing leg is soft and not locked out.
Seesaw Motion: As you hinge at the hip and lean forward, your opposite leg should lift behind you. Your upper body and the raised leg should move in a seesaw motion, maintaining a straight line from head to heel. The back leg only lifts as much as your upper body leans forward.
Hip Positioning: Ensure your hips remain squared to the ground. Avoid letting the hip of the raised leg open outward. One cue to help with this is to think of the standing leg slightly moving towards the center of your body, which helps in closing off the hip.
Depth: Hinge forward only as far as your hamstring flexibility allows. The movement is about pushing back into the hips, not just bending at the waist.
Progression Criteria: Once you can perform 3 sets of 10-12 reps on each leg with good form and without losing balance, you're ready to progress to more challenging hinge exercises like the Banded Nordic Curl Negatives.
Nordic Curls
Purpose: Nordic curls are a potent exercise for strengthening the hamstrings, particularly their eccentric strength. This exercise has been linked to reduced hamstring injury rates and potential improvements in sprint performance. It's a staple in many athletic training programs due to its efficacy in hamstring development and injury prevention.
Technique:
Positioning: Begin by kneeling on a soft surface, such as a mat or padded floor. Secure your feet under a sturdy anchor, like a barbell, a partner's weight, or specialized equipment.
Body Alignment: Maintain a straight line from your head to your knees throughout the movement. Engage your core and squeeze your glutes to stabilize your body.
Descent: Slowly lean forward, resisting the pull of gravity using your hamstrings. The goal is to control the descent as much as possible, emphasizing the eccentric contraction of the hamstrings.
Ascent: Once you've descended as far as you can control, use your hands to catch yourself and push back up to the starting position. Over time, as strength improves, the aim is to reduce the assistance from the hands.
Foot Engagement: Engage by pushing your heels towards your glutes, as if trying to curl your legs while descending.
Progression for Nordic Curls:
Partial Range of Motion:
Technique: Start by limiting the range of motion. Use objects like foam pads or gym blocks in front of you to control the depth of your descent. This allows you to get a feel for the movement without going through the full range.
Progression Criteria: Once you can perform 3 sets of 5-8 reps at a particular depth with good form, remove one block or pad to increase the range and challenge.
Full Range with Hand Assistance:
Technique: Perform the Nordic curl through the full range of motion but use your hands to catch and assist yourself both during the descent and to push yourself back up.
Progression Criteria: When you can control the descent for 3 sets of 5 reps with minimal hand assistance, you're ready to progress.
Full Range without Hand Assistance (Negatives):
Technique: Focus on the eccentric phase, controlling the descent as much as possible without using your hands. You'll likely fall forward at the end of the movement. Use your hands to push back up to the starting position.
Progression Criteria: Achieve 3 sets of 5 reps where the descent is controlled until almost parallel to the ground.
Banded Assistance:
Technique: Use a resistance band anchored in front of you to assist the movement. The band will help pull you up during the concentric phase.
Progression Criteria: When you can perform 3 sets of 8 reps with a particular band resistance, switch to a lighter band.
Full Nordic Curl:
Technique: Control both the eccentric and concentric phases without any assistance.
Progression Criteria: This is the pinnacle of the Nordic curl progression. From here, you can focus on increasing reps or even adding slight weight (like a weight plate on your back) for added challenges.
Additional Points:
The Nordic curl promotes improvements in eccentric knee flexor strength and muscle fascicle length, which are known risk factors for hamstring strain injuries.
The exercise can be regressed or progressed based on individual strength levels. For beginners, reducing the range of motion by placing objects in front can help. As strength improves, the range can be increased, and additional challenges like holding weights can be introduced.
The eccentric (lowering) phase is the most crucial part of the movement. Research suggests that focusing on this phase can lead to adaptations that might reduce the risk of hamstring injuries.
It's essential to ensure that the exercise is performed with super-maximal intensity, meaning it should be challenging enough that you can't easily pull yourself back up during the eccentric phase.