The 1 + 1/2 rep method gives you more time under tension inside the hinge, more opportunities to reinforce the torso position, and more chances to repeat the exact motor strategy clients/patients need to own when the bar gets heavy.
To master form under load, clients/patients need a layered approach with emphasis on:
1๏ธโฃ Owning the pattern through repetition
โข 1 + 1/2 rep DLs or RDLs
โข Super slow + pause variations
โข End-range isometrics to reinforce
These build awareness and consistency rep after rep.
2๏ธโฃ Integrating the support systems
โข Thoracic extension that holds through both halves of the rep
โข Brace โ hinge โ breathe โ repeat
โข Foot tripod that stays loaded from top to half โ full โ back up
Repetition makes these elements automatic โ instead of something you have to cue every time.
3๏ธโฃ Respecting structure & building the pattern before the plates
โข Use 1 + 1/2 reps early in the cycle
โข Use them again when technique starts to drift
โข Add load only when every rep looks the same
A pattern needs to be trained with enough progressions, regressions, and accessory methods to actually support heavy load.
In order for your clients/patients to master form under load, for both prevention and performance, you need a layered approach:
1๏ธโฃ Own the pattern
โข Pelvic tilts, pelvic rocking
โข Hip hinge with dowel (noseโsternumโpubic bone contact)
โข Active straight leg raise / hamstring extensibility work
2๏ธโฃ Integrate support systems
โข Thoracic extension mobility + strength drills
โข Breathing + intra-abdominal pressure practice (brace before pull)
โข Foot tripod + full-foot pushing, not just โheelsโ
3๏ธโฃ Respect structure & build load intelligently
โข Choose stance and start position based on the individual
โข Use RDLs, rack pulls, and block pulls to bridge to floor pulls
โข Add volume and intensity only when form holds under existing load
This is how you get clients from chronically underloaded and fragile to pulling heavy, consistently, without the low back paying the price.
Most programs stop at mobility or core stability but SI joint symptoms often come back the moment someone does lunges in the gym or carries something asymmetrically in everyday life.
Why?
Because the SI joint gets its highest stress in single-leg or staggered patterns โ and most rehab avoids them.
Skipping load = skipping the most important part.
To truly rebuild SI joint resilience, you need to introduce functional loading that mimics gait and weight transfer.
This means smart, progressive exercises like:
โ Staggered-stance and single leg hinge variations
โ Step-up variations
โ Anti-rotation & anti-shear carries
These patterns teach the SI joint to distribute load, decelerate force and tolerate real-life movement demands
The SI joint is supposed to move โ not too much and not too little.
When that fine balance is lost, every step, hinge, or stand-to-sit motion creates shear, strain, and irritation.
And hereโs the part most programs miss:
โ Too much mobility creates ligament stress
โ Too much stiffness creates joint compression
โ Stretching alone does nothing to improve control
โ Manual therapy helps people FEEL better but not MOVE better
Without stability, the SI joint keeps getting overworked.
To rebuild SI joint stability, you need exercises that:
โ Create subtle SI motion first (mobility)
โ Teach pelvic control โ avoid excessive tilt
โ Reinforce force closure through muscles, not passive structures
โ Train unilateral and diagonal patterns
Think:
Band marches, pelvic tilting control, controlled weight shifts, and early gait-pattern drills.
If the hip flexors canโt generate force when the hip is DEEPLY flexed, the femoral head drifts forward in the socket โ and thatโs what creates the pinching feeling.
Strengthening in shortened ranges helps:
โ Improve anterior hip stability
โ Control the femoral head during deep flexion
โ Reduce impingement-like symptoms
โ Build capacity in a vulnerable position
In this exercises, weโre teaching the hip flexors to generate force in the zone where theyโre usually weakest โ deep flexion, shortened, and under load.
Remember, most clients/patients need more strength, not more length.
Most popular โgluteโ exercises force the hip into excessive adductionโฆ which increases compression on the glute med tendon.
Not a good recipe for a cranky tendon.
So instead of chasing โglute burn,โ pick exercises that let you overload the hip without collapsing into adduction.
What does that look like?
โ Frontal-plane hip loading (e.g., lateral step-ups)
โ Slow, high-load reps
โ Neutral pelvis & minimal drop
โ Positions where the hip stays OUT of the compressed range
โ Stable foot โ strong hip โ level pelvis
These exercises allow you to BUILD strength where it matters most โ in the ranges the glute med actually uses during gait, stairs, single-leg stance, and athletic movement.
๐ฅThe exercise in this reel is a great example:
A controlled, high-load pattern that teaches the hip to produce force without dumping into adduction or irritating the tendon.
This is the kind of loading that creates adaptation safely and effectively.
While most people jump straight to clamshells and glute stretches:
Lateral hip pain is often a stability issue, not a โglute activationโ issue.
When the pelvis collapses into excessive hip adduction, the distal fibers of the glute med get compressed against the greater trochanter โ exactly the mechanism that irritates the tendon.
What you need is to restore the pelvisโ ability to stay LEVEL in the frontal plane.
What actually achieves this?
Not clamshells.
Not TFL/piriformis stretches.
Not banded squat acrobatics.
But rather:
โ Weight-bearing stability drills
โ Frontal plane control
โ Positions that MINIMIZE hip adduction and compression
โ Strength-building patterns that load the hip without overwhelming the tendon
If you want your clientโs lateral hip pain to improve, the strategy matters far more than the โgo-toโ drill.
๐ Want to know why clamshells and common glute stretches often make lateral hip pain WORSE โ and what to do instead?
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Mai-Linh Dovan is a Certified Athletic Therapist and leading industry expert in functional rehabilitation. She holds a Bachelorโs degree in Athletic Therapy and a Masterโs degree in Exercise Science from Concordia University, where she worked in collaboration with the Department of Psychology and the Centre for Research in Human Development. With over 20 years of experience in clinical rehabilitation and strength and conditioning, she has developed a comprehensive and unique functional training approach with integrated rehabilitation.
She uses this approach with a diversity of athletes and clients from bodybuilders, powerlifters, CrossFit athletes, as well as athletes from many sports and recreational lifters struggling with various problems: recovery from cervical and thoracic fractures, low back and shoulder dysfunction, dysfunctional movement patterns. It has led many to unleash their full performance potential.
Mai-Linh is also the founder of Rehab-U | Movement and Performance Therapy, an online platform for innovative movement optimization and (p)rehabilitation tools and services for athletes and active individuals. The platform also serves as a resource for personal trainers, strength coaches, and fitness professionals.
It is using this innovative approach rooted in clinical strategies and geared towards prevention and performance, that Mai-Linh developed the Movement Optimization for Prehab and Performance Course. This course provides the principles to effectively assess and identify movement dysfunction as well as strategies, means and methods to build a rehabilitation- integrated intervention.
Dรฉcouvrez Mai
Mai-Linh Dovan est Thรฉrapeute du Sport agrรฉรฉe et une experte de l'industrie en matiรจre de rรฉadaptation fonctionnelle. Elle est titulaire dโun baccalaurรฉat en Thรฉrapie du sport et dโune maรฎtrise en Sciences de lโexercice de lโUniversitรฉ Concordia, oรน elle a travaillรฉ en collaboration avec le Dรฉpartement de psychologie et le Centre de recherche en dรฉveloppement humain. Forte de plus de 20 ans dโexpรฉrience en rรฉadaptation clinique et en entraรฎnement, elle a dรฉveloppรฉ une approche en entraรฎnement fonctionnel complรจte et unique avec rรฉadaptation intรฉgrรฉe.
Elle utilise cette approche avec une diversitรฉ d'athlรจtes et de clients tels que bodybuilders, dynamophiles, athlรจtes CrossFit, ainsi que des athlรจtes de nombreux sports et des gens actifs aux prises avec divers problรจmes. Cela a permis ร plusieurs de libรฉrer leur plein potentiel de performance.
Mai-Linh est รฉgalement la fondatrice de Rehab-U | Movement and Performance Therapy, une plateforme en ligne offrant des outils et services novateurs d'optimisation du mouvement et de (p) rรฉadaptation, destinรฉs aux athlรจtes et aux personnes actives. La plate-forme sert รฉgalement de ressource pour les kinรฉsiologues et professionnels de lโentraรฎnement.
Cโest en utilisant cette approche novatrice ancrรฉe dans des stratรฉgies cliniques et axรฉe sur la prรฉvention et la performance que Mai-Linh a dรฉveloppรฉ le cours ยซ Optimisation du mouvement pour la prehab et la performance ยป. Ce cours enseigne les principes permettant d'รฉvaluer et d'identifier de faรงon efficace les dysfonctions du mouvement, ainsi que des stratรฉgies, des moyens et des mรฉthodes permettant de mettre en place une intervention avec rรฉadaptation intรฉgrรฉe.