Hi Kaitlin, thanks of all the links.  I have seen improvement with the quads after I did the gut smashing but the hams and hips have been very slow.  The hips have been a problem area for a long time for me I was taught to squat with feet out and walked with the duck feet and have been working on keeping things straight .
I have been doing the hip opener stretches  from this MWOD but hasn’t helped to much yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBHzXF-mVjY
 

When I did the gut smashing it really opened my hip flexors.  I had been trying to do the couch stretch but I could not get my upper body to come up to straight because of the tightness, now it is much better. 

With the gut smashing is it safe/ok to come across the spine or do I just want to smash on either side of the spine ?