Conditioning Research

Bret Contreras - the Glute Guy - with a new approach to the Clam Shell..... .

Just a couple of quick links connected by glutes..... Martin Berkhan (you must have heard of him) posted this on Twitter and Facebook, and it is interesting as a study: Low load exercises targeting the gluteal muscle group acutely enhance explosive power output in elite athletes. It is this idea of activating the glutes as a warm up and it now seems to have some support from research. I put a glute exercise in the Hillfit exercise routine - a hip extension / glute bridge - because I think that it is important to get the glutes firing, especially given that our habitual sitting posture tends to see those muscles under activated.  I was really focussing on a big 3 - squat (wall sit), pushup and row - but wanted to add a hip hinge/glute move. Interestingly I saw this post today from Mike Reinold on the kneeling hip thrust as a simple glute exercise.  I was messing with this tonight using bands

Bret Contreras specialises in glute training.   I've probably discussed before how the glutes are fundamental to much movement, especially athletic movement and how many of us are poor at using them for various postural and lifestyle reasons.  It is certainly something I discussed in the piece on the dangers of sitting in TGO this month. Anyway, here Bret  gives a couple of new moves he has discovered (he admits he might not be the first to have thought of these) He also points to a piece on Core Training that he has put together. I've not read it yet so no comment.

I've been thinking more about glutes after some chats with Colin and also while reading Tim Ferris's new Four Hour Body book .   I am realising more and more that under activated glutes are a big issue for me and lead to a bit of back pain. A couple of good resources on this in addition to those I've pointed to previously: This video and the explanation and video here of the Cook Hip Lift.   That one identifies something that really applies to me - when I do a one legged glute bridge with the right leg, it is my hamstring that cramps. Stuart McGill calls this inability to use the glutes "gluteal amnesia". The brain has literally lost touch with the glutes, so to speak. It could be that the psoas are "tight" and so it is a case of reciprocal inhibition. Or, the glutes are weak and so the psoas are tight. Heres the thing: It doesn't matter. Turn on the glues and solve the problem.

no comments on this....just find it interesting.  Hip hinge....glute activation I do like this guy's stuff

I've mentioned glute activation before:  here Here is an interesting study - women with knee pain are poor at activating their glutes during running. Gluteal muscle activation during running in females with and without patellofemoral pain syndrome. Time for some of these:

There is another good piece on firing the glutes here:  Hamstring Dominance The phenomenon of “gluteal amnesia” is most commonly due to overactive hip flexors.  When the hip flexors (psoas, iliacus, rectus femoris, tensor fascia latae) become tight from poor training and/or prolonged sitting/driving, their antagonists (gluteus maximus, primarily) tend to become weak.  This mechanism is known as reciprocal inhibition.  Basically, when the muscles on one side of a joint become tight, this alters the joint kinematics and shuts down the muscle(s) on the other side of the joint. Now you must be asking yourselves, what in the world does this have to do with tight hamstrings?  It has everything to do with it, of course!  The human body is an amazing piece of machinery and will find ways to accomplish movements regardless if some muscles aren’t functioning to their capacity.  It learns to compensate and calls upon other muscles to perform the movement to ...

I was skimming around different blogs this afternoon and came across this: How to Optimize Posterior Chain Power: Glute Activation There is some realy good material here. Excessive sitting shortens your hip flexors. This stretches the opposite muscles: your glutes. They become dormant. You can’t fire your glutes properly anymore. The solution is glute activation exercises. Here’s how. The image doesn't have much to do with the article.....but there are glutes:

I often see my pal Colin when I need some kinks working out of my back. As a body worker - massage with some of Tom Myer's Anatomy Trains approaches - he really know his stuff. He is currently using facebook to post interesting bits and pieces of remedial exercises and ideas on injury treatment. Go over to his page on facebook , and click "like" so that you can keep up with the stuff he is writing. (Also visit his blog ) Here is the latest post (which accurately describes my back problems!): When I get a new client one of the more common problem areas they come to me with will be their lower back. There’s also a pretty good chance that they spend most of the day sitting down so the source of the problem can, in some respects, be easy to identify. [ edit - by the way there is an interesting piece on sitting here ] Aside from poor posture and its associated problems one of the biggest contributory factors are the gluteals and gluteus medius in particular. When we a...

This follows on a bit from the post on Tuesday There is a discussion of all this stuff over here with some other helpful videos