Better Glutes=Better Feeling Body

A Better Glute Means Better Core

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Not quite core training

I keep telling this story, but it is such a good one! It really got me to realize how powerful buzz terms can become. A few years ago a sweet woman I met (well into her 70’s) asked if I was a personal trainer. I told her yes and she lit up and immediately asked me how she could improve her “core”?!

She wanted me to improve how her transverse abdominis, diaphragm, glute medius, iliacus, and many other core muscles all coordinated together to improve movement? Of course not! She wanted a firmer stomach area!

What is my point? Many times we substitute terms for things that we THINK they mean. We try to relate complex ideas to things that make sense to us. That is why I have really tried (hopefully succeeded a little bit) in trying to simplify but give meaningful information here on our blog.

After all, I love the Apple saying, “Make complex things simple.” It is also what had always been the root of any good teacher. They can make complex subjects seem understandable. I hope I am doing a much better job. In all honesty, it isn’t easy.

Like in today’s post I want to talk about glutes. Sure just training the backside of the body may not seem all that complex and to some extent it is not. However, there sometimes is an oversimplification that all glute exercises are the same and they often neglect what is happening in the surrounding areas of the body.

In order to appreciate WHY we are talking about the glutes, let’s try to accept a few things. For one, the glutes are an important part of the “core”. This is due to the fact that the glutes control many aspects of the pelvis. The more stable or more control we can exhibit in the pelvis the more we can decrease excessive load on the lumbar spine. If we have a very unstable pelvis the low back tends to try to do more work. A big part of the idea of core training is to provide a more stable spine, not better looking six-packs!

The glutes make us look better. Not just ladies, everyone! I’m not talking about personal preferences, but in subtle ways. For example, people

We can do better glute exercises!

typically with little glute strength have very forward leaning pelvis’. This can give an exaggerated look of our stomachs being larger than their reality. Try it, simply purposefully try to tilt your pelvis forward and it will instantly look like you gained 10-15 pounds! If you can roll your pelvis the other way what do you feel? Yes, your glutes become more active!

Now, I am not suggesting you walk around this way all day, but your glutes should be helping to maintain what we call a more neutral spine. Thus, helping your alignment and thereby helping a bit of how you look!

The glutes can help your knees! Women because of their naturally different hip to knee angles are more prone to this, but I have seen this in men as well. The hip if weak can lead to the knee to be in compromised positions during movement. For example, we can see people’s knees collapse in a squat sometimes due to the fact their hips are weak. That is why in our DVRT live programs we teach a specific, but simple means of teaching people how to use their hips more when they squat or lunge.

So, how does DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training relate to working the glutes. Really it has to do with two things. The exercises we can employ and the progressions that come about.

In DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training, we work from stable to unstable progressions. That could be stability in the sense of starting training from the floor and getting us to more complex standing positions. It could be starting to hold the USB in one position and change how we place the USB upon our body.

The Front Loaded Ultimate Sandbag Rear Lunge is a powerful functional glute exercise, nice work by DVRT Master, Rich Mejias

The drills we can create via DVRT Ultimate Sandbag Training also allows us to load the body that is better sometimes to train the glutes. For example, spinal expert, Dr. Stuart McGill, believes in movements like lateral lunges as a means of hitting more glute medius (an often underused gluteal muscle). Well, not only can we perform a lateral lunge with the USB, but we can use the Shoulder position to extend the lateral forces upon the glutes and make them work even harder.

During lunging drills our glutes should be active, but we can make sure by making the body have to stabilize side to side as will happen with drill like Rotational Lunges. Squats should work the glutes, but ONLY if we can squat deep enough! This can be easily accomplished by using the Bear Hug Squat that allows almost everyone to achieve a great low squat.

When you see the 30 drills we are providing you today I hope you see not just more glute exercises, but much BETTER ways of stabilizing your body, building flexibility, helping the other muscles of the core (the trunk muscles and hamstrings), and many fun ways to progress your training!

Better Glutes=Better Feeling Body is a post from: Ultimate Sandbag Training System

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