I feel I have inadvertently become the hip-exercise correspondent for Tom’s Guide, and that’s just fine by me. Like most people, I have not spent much time working this part of my body, which is, frankly, a dereliction of duty. Mobility, stability, posture, movement, weight-bearing, balance — there isn’t much we don’t ask of our hips, yet most of us ignore them, until they, rightly, begin to complain. So, when my editor suggested the Spiderman stretch (or lunge), I was delighted. I have already tackled the 90/90 hip stretch, the hip airplane, and the frog stretch, and I relished another chance to work my hips. But that wasn’t the only reason.
Spiderman, you see, is my favourite superhero. Of the big three, Superman is too powerful and earnest, while Batman relies too much on gadgets and needs to lighten up (thanks, Christopher Nolan). Trash-talking Spiderman is more relatable, if such a thing is possible, when the topic under discussion is ‘most ordinary superhero’. And, of course, he has a stretch named after him. As does Superman, of course, though it’s not nearly as dynamic. Batman does not, though, if you want to improve your brooding, he’s your guy.
