Long, Long, Ago..

In a Distant Land, Circa 2014

There was this dude.

Jaret Grossman.

At the time he was putting out these, fairly well done and if not enjoyable, tolerable motivational YouTube fitness videos.

Little did he, or we, know at the time that 2 of the stars of his videos, both, virtual unknowns at the time would become fitness superstars.

One was

Marc Megna

The other was future instafamous duck butt sensation

Jen Selter

And just to cut to the chase she’s had a LOT of influence on the whole fill your ass with cement in a Miami hotel room cause that’s not sketchy at all fitness culture that’s been around since circa 2014.

#BootyGainz:

This is kinda sad, cause it gives a lot of people the impression that glutes, the #boohtae, the budunka dunka, is all about the look, challenging the fabric of jeans and  not function.

*True Story: I once had a job interview and after the “formal” part we were shooting the sh@t about training because the one dude was a triathlete. He was having knee and back pain so I made a comment about probably needing to train more hamstrings and glutes. 

The three other ADULTS at this table became noticeably uncomfortable and quickly wanted the conversation changed away from “talk of any glutes”. It was a true WTF moment. 

Truth is:

Your Glutes May Be the most important muscles on your body.

Without functioning glutes you’re susceptible to:

• Foot issues
• Ankle issues
• Knee issues
• Hip issues
• Low back pain
• Mid back pain
• Upper back and neck pain

Seriously, a lot of pain issues people have today is because their glutes don’t do what they should, they’ve developed crazy compensation patterns and usually, eventually pain that follows.

Wait But What?

The glutes “set” the pelvis and control the femur, the long, upper bone of the leg.

Think of the pelvis this way.

The Pelvis Is Like a Bowel Of Water:

We Never Want the Water to Spill.

Probably not “never”, but damn close.

The glutes also control the Femur.

This includes external rotation (knees out) and hip extension (driving the hip forward or femur back). <—-Think when you drive the leg back when you walk/ run. The femur drives back but the crease at the front side of the hip, where the femur comes into the hip flattens out because the hip is driving forward.

Finish The Lift!

The #1 issue I see with lower body exercises AFTER we cure knee/ foot collapse is about 80% of people DON’T FINISH THE LIFT.

They don’t bring the hips through, stand on the glutes and FINISH THE LIFT.

There is no/ limited Extension Of The Hip.

Ya Gotta Fix That Sh@t.

Get that booty working and FINISH THE LIFT

The Kneeling Squat:

Checklist:

• HINGE through the hips.
• Keep the pelvis and torso neutral and stable <–don’t allow the belt line to “roll”
• Ribs slightly “down” at the top <—-or you’ll overarch to compensate for lack of hip extension
• Big toe in the ground the whole time
• Hip crease flat at the top.

Bro Tips:

• Knees under the hips is the more traditional set up, but moving the knees out (opening the hips up) and bringing the feet together in the back does tend to allow for more glute activation. Especially when you have trouble activating the glutes.

• If you have trouble with lumbar overextension (overarching), use a kettlebell in the goblet position.
• Hold the top position for a second and really contract the glutes HARD.
• Don’t use these for max effort lifts. They’re MUCH better when used in the 5-50 rep range with moderate loads to light loads.
  • That way you can really focus on hip position, bringing the hips through at the top and getting nice ass cramps good glute activation.