Glutes Are Core

Lets face it, we could all use a little bit more of both.

And the truth is, glutes ARE core.

But Roy,

“I thought only abs are core.”

Abzzz are core, but so are glutes.

How Are Glutes Core?

Abs are primarily meant to STOP motion through the lumbar spine/ “core”.

The problem with this is that the abs work best when the spine is in neutral.

We also call this the

Cylinder

or

Neutral Scissor Position

Neutral spine is RELIANT on a neutral pelvis…

Wait But What?

Yeah, the sacrum, the last segment OF YOUR SPINE is integrated with your pelvis.

INTEGRATED, as in, it’s the middle segment.

You literally can’t build a pelvis without a sacrum.

Guess what muscles flank the sacrum?

If you said GLUTES????

Winner, Winner, Chicken Diner

That’s right the glutes are on both sides of the sacrum.

They also sit directly under and cross the hip-joint.

The glutes are paramount in the function, positioning and control of the pelvis.

And a neutral pelvis is CRITICAL for optimal core functioning <—-especially when the spine is loaded.

And, movement in general.

Glutes = Core

But we often don’t “link up” the glutes and core naturally to create a solid, cylinder, core.

We’ll fall into excessive anterior pelvic tilt (hanging off the low back), collapsing the knees (using the IT band and TFL) to limit the femur at the hip or allowing rotation through the lumbar spine

All of which are some of the common movement strategies used when the “core” isn’t linking up, holding a neutral spine and locking the lumbar spine in place.

So we need drills to retrain the linking up of the glutes and core to create a solid, functional, lumbar sparing, force transducing, core.

The Value of Tall Kneeling Postures:

Via Gray Cook and Functional Movement Systems,

“The ankles, the feet and the knees really don’t have a big role here. It’s primarily the core: the hips, the pelvis, the spine and the torso. The arms can be used to assist and hold onto weight or help you balance. There’s something brilliant, something humbling, in those kneeling postures. When we take you off of your feet, all the better to see your mistakes. 

If you’re not really good on your feet, let’s say, with one of these standing postures but you look awesome on your knees, then, let’s do a little deductive reasoning. There’s probably a bigger issue going on below your knee than above your knee but if we see you hide it when you’re standing and we see it exposed when you’re kneeling, that’s when we’re thinking ‘hips.’ That’s when we’re thinking ‘core.’ That’s when we’re thinking ‘stability.’

Tall kneeling postures are the best way to target the hips, the spine and the upper thoracic spine.” 

Tall Kneeling Pallof Iso Holds

Almost anything done in tall kneeling will facilitate full hip extension (glute activation).

The pallof holds will provide the “core” with a anti-rotation force to get the abs, especially the inside obliques to activate and fire hard.

Checklist:

• Knees about shoulder width. Usually, wider is better than more narrow.
  • Knees can be hip width (straight up and down) but glute activation is usually less than if the knees are wider.
• Hips neutral (belt buckle parallel to the ground) and PRESSED forward (this does not mean over-arch the low back) <—no crease at the hip
• Outside hand grips the weight, inside hand covers the outside hand.
• Ribcage down, but chest up.
• Arms long (shoulders in the joint) armpits squeezed (lats on)
• Hands line up with the sternum (middle of the chest)

Bro Tips:

• If the inside glute doesn’t light up, you’re not in the correct stance
• Think about “Crushing the Tailbone” and PRESSING the glutes forward at the same time.
• You’ll find that the harder you can squeeze the glutes and lock into a neutral, fully extended hip, the harder the obliques (and total core) will fire.