Speaker #0Welcome to BioPolati's Deep Dive. Today, I invite you to dive into an exercise that seems of great simplicity, but that reveals an incredible richness when it is practiced with precision. The lift and lower. Together, we are going to explore the subtle biomechanics of this movement, understand the role of the gluteus maximus and the iliacus, and discover how voluntary cerebral control guides each phase. Settle in comfortably, breathe, and let yourself be guided in this journey to the heart of stability and motor control. I am lying on my back, the headrest adjusted so that my neck remains long, the arms heavy on the floor, palms facing down. My sacrum is well anchored on the carriage. It is my beacon. We are working in the sagittal plane, around a transverse axis that crosses the hips. and every detail counts so that the mobility unfolds where I choose it, without the lower back coming to compensate. Two springs, the foot bar in position one, the feet in the straps, ankles in gentle plantar flexion, toes lengthened without tension. The legs are first parallel, straight, in adduction on a diagonal, as low as my imprint can be maintained. I begin by inhaling. The inhalation makes the legs... slide toward the trunk, as if the breath were pulling the femurs into the acetabula. During this pivot, I stretch the hamstrings and I bring the pelvis toward neutral, keeping the sacrum down. I then exhale. I let the legs leave again on the diagonal far from me, and at the same instant, I imprint. I lower the sternum. I press the waist into the mat. I feel the obliques wrap around the abdomen to prevent the slightest pelvic tilt. Only five cycles, but five chiseled cycles. When the strength and the control are present, I can begin in neutral and remain there without losing the quality of the gesture. The biggest problem that is often encountered in this exercise is the inability to master either the imprint or the neutral. If stability is not acquired, it is always better to remain in imprint or else place a small pad under the lumbar spine. to give the back discrete and protective support. Sometimes the pelvis rotates, and this misalignment immediately creates a loss of control. In these cases, it is preferable to reduce the load, to remove a spring, or to work with less tension in order to find a clear and centered execution before seeking to progress. I then move on to the lateral rotation. Same setup, but I turn each thigh outward from the head of the femur. I inhale while maintaining this rotation to bring the legs toward me. I exhale while keeping the same hip angle as I leave again on the diagonal. The temptation to let the pelvis follow is great. I counter it by thinking of a wide and elastic belt that tightens my waist and of my multifidi that press vertebra against vertebra. This couple rotation stability is an excellent revealer of symmetry. If one side collapses, I feel it immediately in the axis of the pubis that deviates. At the heart of the movement, two main actors orchestrate the hip. The gluteus maximus, vast fan that takes origin on the posterior surface of the ilium, the lateral border of the sacrum and coccyx, and the sacrotuberous ligament, inserts on the iliotibial tract and the gluteal tuberosity of the femur. It is my great eccentric. break when I inhale and the legs return. It controls the hip flexion, prevents anterior pelvic tilt, stabilizes laterally via the tract. On the exhalation, when they leave far from me, it becomes concentric motor and supports the extension without ever tearing the sacrum from the carriage. Facing it, the iliacus, component of the iliopsoas, originates from the internal iliac fossa. and attaches to the lesser trochanter. It initiates the pure and clean flexion on the return, then works eccentrically to break the lowering without hollowing the lumbar spine. Between the two, a fine dialogue. If the iliacus races ahead, the pelvis tilts. If the gluteus maximus tightens, the knees lock. My role is to teach them to answer each other. This control is voluntary, but I want it to become fluid. I rely on a feed forward from the motor cortex that anticipates the sequence and on constant feedback. Pressure of the sacrum, the pull of the straps, the equal length of my two legs, the basal ganglia filter, the cerebellum refines the timing, and my proprioception adjusts the tone second after second. Concretely, this looks like a very simple instruction. Keep the sacrum heavy, breathe, let the legs travel. Behind the coordination is sophisticated. Transverses abdominis tightening the waist. pelvic floor lifting gently, obliques preventing any parasitic rotation, multifidi locking the lumbosacral junction. I now place my attention on the distal joints. I refuse the hyperextension of the knee. The legs are long but alive, a tonic microflexion, as if I were drawing the kneecap toward the hip, distributes the load between hamstrings and quadriceps, protects the ligaments, and keeps the central line. At the ankles, the plantar flexion remains gentle so as not to pull on the posterior chain. I prefer an energy that departs from the hip and propagates toward the feet rather than the reverse. If I feel that the diagonal becomes too low and forces me to arch, I raise the angle and I keep the respiratory quality. The amplitude serves stability, never the reverse. Here we are. We arrive at the end of this deep dive. The lift and lower reminds us that behind each gesture, even the most pared down, hides a deep dialogue between anatomy, breathing, and awareness. More than a simple lowering and raising of the legs, it is a global training of the body and the spirit, an invitation to build stability and freedom. Thank you for having accompanied me in this exploration. Take the time to integrate, to repeat, and above all, to feel. feel. I will meet you very soon for a new journey into the art of conscious movement.
