Our activities can put some strain on our knees. At the end of a long hike, or maybe it was a bike ride, or maybe after working in the garden our knees can feel achy and sore. Grab a foam roller and try these 3 exercises to help bring some relief to your knees.
Do your knees need more love? There are 3 routines on the Koa Fit Online Platform for knee health and strength. Check them out here.
Hiking, biking, and playing through the summer is the best. But, between the miles on the trails and the miles in a car or plane, our lower legs can start to feel stiff. For your next adventure, pack a tennis ball and give these 3 moves a try.
To protect our low backs, it is important that we can generate a lot of power in our neutral spine position. But, unfortunately for us, life doesn’t always allow for us to move perfectly. That is why we need to train the low back’s capacity to move and to move while loaded.
When training this way, you are always walking the line. If you put too much load without building your body’s capacity up first, it will lead to injury. But, if we can train smart, and train our capacity and load together, then we become resilient. 🤩
Check out the 3 videos below to start moving your low back. They are in order of easiest (or lowest load) first and move to harder. Remember that when building capacity, the exercise may feel hard to do, but not due to weight like some other training you may have done. Stick with the exercise that feels challenging to do, before moving on to more load to keep your body safe.
If you are looking for full routines to help you get strong, check out the Koa Fit Online platform which includes 2 full-length routines for the low back + over 20 other videos to try. Click below to learn more.
For the last few months, we have been playing with our hip mobility. A lot of our focus has been on rotation. Why? Because no other movement can be accessed or gained without it.
The hips move in 6 ways – extension (leg moves behind you), flexion (leg drives in from of you), adduction (legs squeeze together), abduction (legs move away from each other), internal rotation (thigh spirals inward), and external rotation (thigh spirals outward).
Below are a few videos that work with hip internal and external rotation. This is a great starting point for anyone looking for more freedom in their hips. Want more? Check out my full hip mobility program featured this week on the Koa Fit Online platform.
This week, we are using a box (you can also use a chair) to assist us in some full-body stretches. Adding the box can help you focus on a deeper stretch in the body while giving you a more comfortable position to hold the stretch. Try these 2 out!
Try this introduction to hip internal and external rotation PAILs/RAILs. The goal of these exercises is to create more space in the hip capsule. More space = greater capacity of movement.
This week, we are looking at hip rotation. Try this hip internal rotation exercise to gain more mobility through the hip capsule. Then, follow it up with the cross-over step-up to strengthen that new mobility.
Let’s get moving…better. During this first week of mobility, we are working on our ankles and shoulders. Check out the videos below, give them a try, and let us know what you think.
For our last week, we have 3 new videos for you. Get your hips moving and give your low back and knees a break.
We are working on our hip external rotation this week. If you are stiff in the hip when trying to cross an ankle over the knee (say to tie a shoelace), these are for you. Work on the end-range of motion and strength these muscles for better stability when walking and to help relieve low-back tension.
Brenna Backe 