Imho farmers walk as one of the most underrated exercises, I do them nonstop all forms suitcase, overhead , different grips, on stairs up/down .. and so on.. They are brutal.. u feel ur legs, core , shoulders.. gripes of course.. .. again underrated AF .. great video 👍🤙🏻💪🏻
Agreed! If you add in a set of a movement every 50-100 steps, it's an even greater smoker. Going around a couple blocks in your neighborhood can be crushing lol
I had to discover this on my own. I have issues with right knee (itb tightness) after surgery decade ago. I would notice when I would do lats (rows/pullups), that my knee would feel tight. This was caused by my lower lat/QL getting tight and then pulling up on my hip which then caused pelvic tilt, which caused by femur angle to change. I eventually figured out if I stretch my sides (QL) that I would almost get immediate relief. Strengthening the QL through isolateral loaded carries really helped increase stability. I also add that belt squat marches can help with this. Load them heavy and march, if you have pelvic tilt/lift from a tight QL the belt won't allow that side to ride up.
That’s insane. It beginning to realize the chain of events that’s giving me issues as well. I have had a tight lower back for some time. It has been giving my knee issues lately and even more recent hip problems smh
@@Josh-fz9rh Yep. As far as lower body lifts I do: hypers, reverse hypers, belt squats, sled drags and pushes and farmer walks. I try to limit the amount of spinal loading I do. Not worth it at this age.
What r your opinions of wood choppers to work that QL. Those cross body cable pulls that work rotation and anti rotation. I sprained my back but when to a physio and he diagnosed me to have severe tightness in my QL. Couldn't walk, could barely get out of bed cos I couldn't sit up from a lying position for 3 days at least, had to roll out of bed literally. Started doing a whole lot of anti rotation exercises and yoga. Seemed to have regained some strength as my lower back does not hurt like before. However still wondering other than farmer walks, r there any other exerciss that can directly strengthen the QL?
Oh my god bro i literally think i have this same exact thing except i didn’t get surgery. I always had a pinching in my right groin when sitting cross legged and i started doing stretches to stretch the outside part of my glutes and that helped but the problem was mostly still there. Now recently i started stretching the whole side area (lats QL etc.) and this has made a huuuge difference. Im not totally cured yet but holy shit the amount of progress ive made in the past few days is amazing. Wish i was stretching out my QL a loooong time ago 😂
Perhaps it's time for a second round with Siim Land, he has more muscle now and is on a book tour about musculature, despite doing an almost OMAD diet.
I love anything that involves 'movement under load' Farmers walks, suitcase carries, carrying bags of gravel, wheelbarrows, heavy tools, implements - if I need to get something heavy from A to B, I bloody CARRY it!
I cant agree more. Im 52 yo I play tennis a lot, too late to found out weakness my left QL I badly hurt my lower back with 2 nerves pinched. 5 weeks still recuparating from it.
I met this guy who only trained quadratus lumborum 5 times a week for 30 years. I followed him to the parking lot and instead of a car, he just started hulk jumping away
He definitely trains each side of his mo-psoas, to achieve a balanced walrus-nemius to hold the top lip platform up and avoid any chance of an uneven soup strainer
Have a hernia near that muscle and feel pain if I put too much pressure on the opposite side's foot. Sometimes God shows love in the most obvious of ways.
as a martial artist and a man at 70's , I was spoon-fed in the Asian way of looking at core strength, transabdominal pressure, cross slings...pelvic base ....yada yada ALL MY LIFE, Yet, not until I watched this video, had I discovered the under-rated part of the power chain!! thank you and keep. This video gives me a road map to be a better martial artist , a better bipedal entity living under gravity !! cheers.
Activation will probs depend on whether it’s unilaterally or bilaterally loaded as just loading 1 side would put more demand on the QL. Otherwise I’m not sure
Also. Weighted carries with weight only in one side. Im 6ft5 220 rugby player. Skinny by rugby standards. I held my own thru core strength. Not limb strength
I'm no expert on the various effects of weak or dysfunctional Quadratus Lumborum but I can say I injured my back years ago (likely deadlift but idk the pain set in the next day) and my mid back was fucked for years. What has really helped has been working, stretching and releasing my right hip area and Quadratus Lumborum. Traditional back advice fucked me up bad, because it all targets the spine and back muscles and fascia directly but not hip/pelvis issues that can refer tightness and pain to the back. I would greatly suggest anyone with back issues, especially if you feel any tightness or muscle imbalances between your legs and hips to try this avenue.
How did you know which side to do? I have ql pain on left but it is my right lower side(hip shorter functional leg ) that I’m thinking is causing the left sided pain etc..@@jmass4207
How do suitcase carries stack up? Like I imagine you get more core (especially QL) stability and strength doing it unilaterally. Or is there a significant benefit of being able to do more overall weight?
Unilateral overhead is the most demanding, mechanically. You can use very low weight compared to the other variations and still get the same benefit + shoulder stability
Excerpt from Dr. Austin Baraki's article on "Diagnosing Silly Bullshit": Any specifically named, usually smaller muscle (e.g. Quadratus lumborum, Psoas, Piriformis, Transversus abdominis, Gluteus medius, etc.), usually representing the “pet muscle” of a particular therapist or guru. They’ll always find a way to diagnose some vague “dysfunction,” “tightness,” “weakness,” or “imbalance” (more fun buzzwords) of their pet muscle in just about every person who walks in the door, because it’s been criminally underappreciated by the “mainstream” (thereby contrasting themselves as more “educated” and “holistic”). And of course, since they’re the self-proclaimed guru for that particular muscle, who else should be the one to waste your next six months of time with corrective exercise “progressions” and “mobility work”? » Bottom line: Perhaps instead of focusing on “activating” one tiny muscle with corrective exercises or obsessing over your Psoas, all you need is a coach who actually knows how to get you to lift symmetrically, how to valsalva effectively, or how to set your back properly in the context of the lift itself. You know, coaching. Radical idea, isn’t it? This is fun, isn’t it? I could go on with other abused buzzwords like “Torque,” “CNS,” “Dysfunction,” “Hip Hinge,” “Centration,” “Dynamic,” “Alignment,” “Dyskinesia,” “Maltracking,” and so forth, but perhaps I’ll save them up for a future piece. For now it’s time to move on. It should be noted that these buzzwords do have perfectly legitimate uses in the English language, so they don’t automatically imply that they’re swimming in a context of bullshit. Instead, they just grab my attention and make me think extra carefully about the words that follow, particularly when used in the contexts I described.
I agree with Baraki unless he is giving this advice to advanced athletes. I'm pretty sure he just wanted to apply this to beginner and intermediate strength athletes.. Trying to adapt Barakis quote to all athletes across all sports is obviously not going to work.
@@lordslavik haha to be fair, I have a love/hate relationship personally with farmer's carries. However, I disagree with Dr. McGill's philosophy to rehab, as McGill's narratives are typically not well supported in the research evidence and he appears rooted in the biomedical model.
@@abbott5580 If I'm interpreting Baraki's article correctly, I believe he is speaking to all people, regardless of one's anthropometrics or experience in a particular sport.
I don't really care about performance so I'm a bad example. But I did a ton of farmers walks and sled pushes, for whatever that's worth. They both had ZERO carry over to my other lifts. Now again I'm fine with that, but for those who think it will, didn't for me
Well farmers walk is a heavily underrated exercise. Develops Forearms, Neck, Calves and many more obviously. And sled lushes aren't bad either if you do then the right way for your knees according to Ben Patrick aka Kneesovertoeguy.
This is why I go over sub system training with my clients. The upper extremity can dictate the way the lower extremity functions. People don't even realize that the latissimus Dorsi is the only upper muscle that attaches the lower extrem to the upper extrem...
So what's the point? We're on earth not krypton. So if we want to perform at superhuman levels. We must artificially create a higher then what we're adapted to gravitational pull as we do everyday activities, and we must increase the load as we adapt to it. Hmmm?...sounds familiar. Look at the work of Steve Justa, Dr. Leonard Schwartz, Steve Reeves (especially after retirement), and Johnny "Wildman" Grube.
