Janus - I’m curious about your regimen using the FAI Fix. You said you held the frog stretch for 20 minutes at a time? Wow. What routine did you follow initially and and what is your current 10min maintenance program?
Firstly, I agree glute strength is not the be all and end all of this issue. It’s important but just one aspect. I was also add that my case is because I have/had serious lack of range of motion (ROM) which is why I benefited so much from stretching. However, I’ve read of yoga teachers having the same hip issues but for them of course ROM is not the problem but strength so everyone one needs to figure out their own specific problems, there is no one size fits all which is why I think PT doesn’t work always.
I started by trying all the exercises and stretches in FAI Fix. I made very good progress but still had a certain amount of pain and limitations I recall I just couldn’t do the goalie adductor stretch and 90/90s were very difficult. So I went back and reread all the information and realized that I probably skipped some of the tissue work and neglected my adductors. It was at that point I had 2 breakthroughs, one I started using the kettlebell instead of a foam-roller to breakdown what I know now was concrete hard adductors. At the same time by chance I was listening to a podcast where a strength and mobility trainer Pavel Tsatsouline was talking about how very long stretches where necessary to really extend the range of motion and almost reeducate the joint. So I tried that too basically starting at 3-4’ and each day trying to increase it. I found the seated pigeon and frog-leg to have most impact and easiest to do so I stick to that. In a couple of weeks I made massive progress.
Some of the other exercises that have helped the most are the hip 90/90s (they seem to cover stretching and activation all in one), I do all kinds of variations some from FAI Fix but others I found online. Secondly I do a lot of squats, just body weights ones working my way down a full, pain free squat which I can now hold for several minutes.
So at my ‘peak’ in terms of time/effort, i would do at least 45’ minutes in the morning of strength work and 30’ plus stretching in the evening . Those stretches would be mostly passive, not pushing too hard then just gradually relaxing into a deeper and deeper stretch. I did them either reading or watching TV.
So now I’ve reached the point where I’m pain free my minimal routine is that every evening for my hip I do at least 10’ stretching (5’ pigeon and 5’ frogleg but I’ll do longer if I can). However, I don’t want to be complacent so I also still try to do 20-30’ twice per week of hip specific exercises mentioned above. Lastly just fyi I realized my hip issues were due to neglecting them for so long and so now I’m working with a trainer to improve the ROM and overall strength of all my joints, apparently my spine and shoulders and very limited ROM.
Finally, I read the article above. I’ve not seen that one before but it’s in line with a number of studies which do seem to question if it’s always the right option.