DON'T OVERLOOK YOUR PSOAS FOR MAXIMAL SPEED

Aug 8

3 min read

Updated: Aug 8

Now I'm sure many of you have heard of the three hip flexors which comprise the Iliopsoas muscle group (Psoas Major and Minor, and Iliacus). Right now we are going to cover this very powerful and still misunderstood muscle group thoroughly. T he reality is that if you want to become your best athletically and remain healthy, then you need to emphasize the Iliopsoas in your training program regularly.

Reports from elite coaches years back showed greater cross-sectional areas of the Psoas muscle group in elite sprinters compared to non-sprinters. This shouldn't be surprising, given that most elite sprinters in this day and age carry substantially lower body mass.

Hip Flexor Strength and Speed Increases Top Speed

Here is an excerpt from a recent newsletter that I received compliments of Dr. Ramsey Nijem. You should definitely give him a follow if you aren't already. See here

"The sprint strategy shifted toward stride frequency

Once athletes passed ~7 m/s:

Stride length stopped increasing much
Stride frequency became the dominant strategy

To achieve this, hip flexors accelerated the leg forward faster and hip extensors reversed the leg faster during late swing

The main muscles driving leg shift are the Iliopsoas, Glute max, and Hamstrings.

These muscles created larger hip accelerations, larger knee accelerations, and faster swing mechanics.

The increase was massive between 7.0 and 9.0 m/s, and in some cases, muscle forces nearly doubled.

In other words, max velocity sprinting becomes a hip-driven movement problem, not just a force production problem."

Here are the topics that we will be exploring.....

#1-Psoas' Unique anatomy

#2-Specific role in athletic movement

#3-Influence on other local injury types

#4-Top Psoas strengthening exercises

Psoas Anatomy 101

When you break down and start to observe all the various hip flexors which pass through the front of your hip, you'll notice a few things. First, some of the muscles originate, insert, and function solely around the hip area (i.e. Iliopsoas, Adductor Brevis) while many others cross down towards the knee and operate at that location as well. This information becomes important since there exist "Sufficiency" rules concerning our working anatomy, which will dictate which muscles we are using and which ones are resting. Fortunately, the Iliopsoas muscles work at the hip and can externally rotate and flex the hip at a specific joint angle. The angle where the Psoas is most active is approaching 90 degrees of hip flexion up to 120 degrees. And when you consider that nearly every single flexion-based activity occurs well below 90 degrees, this poses a problem.

Athletic Movement

The Iliopsoas is going to be most influential in athletic movement, which involves primarily high-speed sprinting and hip turn-retreating-based movements, which can be seen in the video below. With retreating, there is going to be more of a focus on the external rotation of the swing leg as you open up the hips and transition backward to make a play.

Weak Iliopsoas=Local Hip Injury

If you or your athlete has ever suffered from IT-band syndrome, quad or hip flexor strains (i.e. Rectus Femoris Test), or pains then there is a very good chance that the Psoas is not contributing enough in training and competition. A simple way to potentially verify this find would be to perform a drill I innovated years ago called; The Standing Psoas Strength Test:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZsNsoofnEk

If you aren't able to perform this drill with a narrow resistance band, you are at the very least susceptible to hip flexor injuries. The body is indeed a Kinetic Chain, where each link is interdependent with the next. Weakness in your iliopsoas could also manifest in your hamstrings, abdominals, and lower back.

Best exercises to develop your Iliopsoas

Here is a brief list of exercises that are either anterior core-based, plyometric, or involve sprint development work to help target the Iliopsoas best. Keep in mind that utilizing deeper ranges of motion with your single-leg strength work (i.e., split squats, lunges, RFESS, and High Box Step-ups) will also do the trick. All of these will satisfy and check all the boxes for proper power development (power, speed, and strength) along the entire curve. Often, focus is placed on movement patterns with power training, but you can take things a step further and set yourself apart from many and apply the power training curve to muscle groups as well, so every single link in the chain is operating at its best over the course of time.