Using the shin-box/jiu-jitsu position is a great way to assess for hip mobility and core stability, among other things.
In this video, you can clearly see that I have way more discomfort on one side where I can’t keep my knee down on the ground.
To address this issue, you can perform hip airplanes where you rotate in one direction from the single-leg deadlift position (I guess you’re supposed to do it with your arms out like an airplane…I normally hold onto something for support when I do these). I worked on external rotation on the side where the knee couldn’t stay down, before I switched legs to work on internal rotation.
It’s always important to retest afterwards because as you can see, the airplanes did not really improve my shin-box. That means I can rule out my hips as the underlying issue and move onto my core muscles. The asymmetry in my shin-box indicated that my left side is weaker so I decided to perform some suitcase marches with the weight on my right.
You can perform a few side bends prior to the march as I did here to activate that side of your body and to make sure you feel it working throughout. You can work that side even further by prying your hips off the weight for reps or time. The results were not significant as I only did these briefly but I did feel much more comfortable after doing the march. This tells me that my issue has more to do with my core strength rather than my hip mobility, and that I should train more lateral stability.
