Exercise station 5 uses two well-known posterior chain training exercises. The first is the Poor Man’s Glute Ham Raise. The second is the Romanian Deadlift.
Poor Man’s Glute Ham Raise / Nordic Curl
As the heading above implies, Poor Man’s Glute Ham Raise is also called the Nordic Curl. We use a version of the machine of my own design that allows assistance as well as absolute loading. We also prepare the new or rehabilitating trainees for the Poor Man’s Glute Ham Raise by training them to hold absolute hip extension with supine hip extension bridging exercises.
Supine Hip Extension Bridging Performance
Lie supine (on your back), flex the knees, and place the soles of the feet on the floor. Leaving arms at your sides, press the feet into the floor and lift the pelvis into the air. The exercise may be performed in any of several techniques depending on the assignment from your WID #.
Poor Man’s Glute Ham Raise Performance
Kneel in the apparatus and fix the leg roller tightly over the ankles. The assistive device – if used – should be fixed approximately 30 degrees arc length forward of the perpendicular.
As the timer expires, fold the arms across the chest and dorsiflex the ankles to recruit the gastrocnemius muscles.
Keeping the hips in absolute extension, allow the knees to begin to straighten. The body moves forward as a result until the chest contacts the assistive arm. Place the palms on the assistive arm in pronation of the wrist to keep from death-gripping the device. Doing so keeps your hips in better extension.
Continue to extend the knees until they are straight and the body from knees to head is parallel to the floor. Reverse the trajectory to return to the top position, using the published technique from the WID # you are assigned.