Let’s talk glutes! They play so much more of a role than just aesthetics. They’re a major muscle in the body and should be a prime mover for us helping to accelerate and decelerate in most movements! We run into issues today because we sit so much that our glutes get used to ‘being alseep’ aka doing nothing. Then when we go to work out we all feel quad dominant in our lower body exercises. So whether you want to connect to you glutes for proper form and less pain, to lift the butt or grow it, these simple things can help!
Wake them up in your warmup. I’m talking just a few minutes of isolated glute exercises here. So things like kickbacks, fire hydrants, band walks, clams etc. There are so many things you can do! So find the ones that you feel the most mind muscle connection and firing of you glutes and use them to get them ready for your workouts! This gets you in the mode to recruit them later in your lower body movements. When you’re already connected and the glutes are warmed up and ready to go, it’s a lot easier to make sure and be mindful of using them in your workout.
Be mindful of your weight staying out of your toes. When we allow the weight to shift into our toes in lower body exercises it’s almost always going to shift the movement to being quad dominant. Yes, I know, sometimes people want to hit their quads! But we’re talking all glutes today so keep that weight back in your heels and the balls of you feet! Remind yourself by lifting up your toes slightly if you’re having a hard time. Shifting your weight back makes a big difference!
Focus on form & adjust your stance. Form is so key! I talk about this all the time and you may be tired of hearing me mention it but I promise, when you have correct form you’re not only working the muscles that are meant to be worked, you’re getting more out of the movement! That being said, we are all built slightly differently. So my sumo squat foot placement may be slightly wider or narrower than yours or any random person we compare it to. It’s key to have good form and mechanics, know what you’re doing within each movement and then adjust for your own body. A slight shifting of your feet wider or narrower could really help you to turn those glutes on! So make small adjustments as you need to so that you really feel the muscles you want to work start working!
You may be thinking that this isn’t super important for you if your goal isn’t to build huge glutes but that’s not true! We all need strong, working glutes for optimal performance in daily life, workouts and pain free living! Making sure that you’re using your glutes can help prevent knee and lower back pain in daily life and prevent knee pain in a lot of lower body exercises as well. Soo give some of these a try and let me know what you think! I hope it was helpful!:)
Sweat, Smile, Repeat!
Niki
