Do your joints get fussy after a long day? Does it seem like it takes a bit of doing to get loose in the morning? If so, you may need to dial in your diagonals.
Trust, me, I’ll get to what this is, to “dial in your diagonals” just flows nicely in a sentence. Kind of like that “Seinfeld” episode where George says he “loves to say salsa.” That connected in my brain, so it obviously makes sense.
If I haven’t lost you…
Our bodies produce movement through our core. When your diagonals are dialed in, movement is more fluid, you can generate more power and you’ve got a better stability foundation that gives you more strength.
Depending on how well your opposite hip and shoulder work together (your diagonal loading lines), you’ll either feel great and move well, or, well, you won’t. That’s not so good btw. That’s how you get to hear things like “the doctor will see you now” if you don’t connect these critical movement lines of the body.
Lucky for you, I know of just measures to address this before it becomes a thing. They are simple. They are basic. Also, they are certainly effective. Notice the word easy wasn’t on that list.
This week all you need is an exercise band (or cable pulley system if you’re going to do this at the gym) and something to anchor it to.
Once you’ve got that squared away, its go time for the wheels on the bus to go round and round. Yes, I’ve got young kids.
How to Set Up and Do The Single Arm Split Stance Exercise Band Row
Start with your feet in a split stance position and the heel of the back foot off the ground. Your anchor is the front leg, so place more load on the lead foot.
Begin to pull and squeeze your shoulders together like you are trying to smash a sewing needle between your shoulder blades. Return to starting position and repeat.
As soon as you start to pull, you should feel the front foot reflexively push forward activating the glutes anchoring your front side so the backside can move.
Think about pushing your ribs down toward your hips while pulling. By owning your ribs, you’ll feel your abs kick in right away keeping you from arching your back.
DON’T roll your shoulders forward when you pull. If you do, you’ll feel your biceps and the front of your shoulders more than you do the back muscles.
The video below is what it looks like:
This exercise is incredibly effective at working the glutes, pulling muscles and diagonal stabilizers of the core. To read the muscles that help you keep “low back occurrences” few and far between. Since most people get injured in their rotational plane (twisting, turning, etc), this is a good thing.
If you are someone who enjoys sports with a rotational component (golf, tennis, baseball, softball, etc), exercises like this are not a bad idea to do in your warm-up, in the main body of your workout or as part of light cool down.
Remember, its more important to train the muscles that prevent rotation, rather than the movement itself. Single-arm pushing and pulling will do that. Split stance positions amp this up even more.
If you live in the Mountain View area of Silicon Valley, let’s set up a complimentary fitness evaluation to dial in your diagonals. We will take a look at your:
- Mobility
- Core strength
- Current workout program to see where I can help you tighten it up.
Thanks a ton for reading, it is much appreciated.
– Al Painter from INTEGRATE Performance Fitness
