how do you know if your glutes are activating properly? i have a 3x bw raw deadlift and about a 2.75 bw raw squat and laying down glute bridge is less than 2x bw for now.
would that be a sign of weak glutes or glutes that arent activating properly?
unfortunately, i never got a full response from brett in his spills
For me, glute activation as a warm-up, or a primer to squat or deadlift, has never been about weight. It is about making sure that the glutes are firing on command with movements like brigdes, kickbacks, bird-dogs, etc. . . It is almost one of those bodybuilder mind-muscle connection deals. But again, this is just how I think about it…
interesting you say that. on saturday i did some bridges and clam shells before i squat workout and or three sets did more or the same reps with twn pounds more - at least a recent 3 rep pr for me. i plan on trying that again before my next squat and dl workouts.
[quote]MElrodR wrote:
For me, glute activation as a warm-up, or a primer to squat or deadlift, has never been about weight. It is about making sure that the glutes are firing on command with movements like brigdes, kickbacks, bird-dogs, etc. . . It is almost one of those bodybuilder mind-muscle connection deals. But again, this is just how I think about it…[/quote]
i think people worry their glutes might not be activating properly if they seem to be having overtraining troubles with their lower back and / or hamstrings. do you get doms in your glutes sometimes?? how are your hammies / lumbar spine holding up??
For a very long time, I never got any soreness in my glutes. I even used a GHR 2 days a week, and it did loads for my hamstrings but little for my glutes. My glutes are even visibly small compared to my hams. Now, i do some activation drills in my warm up along with my regular mobility and stuff, and I can feel them working more on movements that previously only taxed my back and hams. Feel good, man.
I have forward tilting hips. Cressey. Brett and others frequently say people with forward tilting hips need to work on activating flutes more. My lower back is tighter than it should be. I strach hip flexors , flutes, lower back and ham strings frequently.
I sometimes wonder how much is enough. Louie says train the abs. There comes a point when the abs are strong enough, similarly there comes a point when your flutes activate enough. I just dont know what that point is.
Yes, I get sore in the glutes some times from squatting. Good mornings do it too. Glute bridges tool.
[quote]alexus wrote:
i think people worry their glutes might not be activating properly if they seem to be having overtraining troubles with their lower back and / or hamstrings. do you get doms in your glutes sometimes?? how are your hammies / lumbar spine holding up??[/quote]
i guess they are strong enough if they aren’t your weak link / won’t be your weak link anytime soon??
sometimes people are pretty good at giving advice on form. especially (i’m thinking) whether you seem to be driving properly with your glutes / hips on squats and using your glutes to lock out on deads etc.
the anterior pelvic tilt thing is partly about how you consciously hold yourself. not sure on the relationship between relaxed standing posture and lifting posture when someone has worked really hard on the latter but not really the former…
[quote]privatemedical wrote:
how do you know if your glutes are activating properly? i have a 3x bw raw deadlift and about a 2.75 bw raw squat and laying down glute bridge is less than 2x bw for now.
would that be a sign of weak glutes or glutes that arent activating properly?
unfortunately, i never got a full response from brett in his spills
[/quote]
Can you flex your glutes while sitting?
funny. but i cant flex my glutes very well when sitting. hmm i got to practice that one a but more.
[quote]hastalles wrote:
[quote]privatemedical wrote:
how do you know if your glutes are activating properly? i have a 3x bw raw deadlift and about a 2.75 bw raw squat and laying down glute bridge is less than 2x bw for now.
would that be a sign of weak glutes or glutes that arent activating properly?
unfortunately, i never got a full response from brett in his spills
[/quote]
Can you flex your glutes while sitting?[/quote]
Let us know how your workouts go next time you do them before and if they really work. I checked out the article on pubmed for myself and it wasn’t the strongest study simply because of how the other groups warmed up. I think there was a no-warm up group, a glute activation group, and another one that didn’t do too much beneficial stuff (i’d have to look at it again and have finals this week so don’t wanna take the time to do it) but there was something that could have been changed to make the study better (not that it was a bad study) but I’m gonna start throwing some in, just wanted to know how its going for others.
I checked out his article here one more time and what i thought was a weakness is that the control group did nothing, other group did whole body vibration, other group did glute activation. So results could simply be because the group performed a warm up of some kind compared to none with the others. Then again some could be related to the glute activation. Stronger study would have compared dynamic warm up with and without glute activation exercises to see if there was a significant difference. Anyways, I’d like to know how its going for you
[quote]privatemedical wrote:
funny. but i cant flex my glutes very well when sitting. hmm i got to practice that one a but more.
[quote]hastalles wrote:
[quote]privatemedical wrote:
how do you know if your glutes are activating properly? i have a 3x bw raw deadlift and about a 2.75 bw raw squat and laying down glute bridge is less than 2x bw for now.
would that be a sign of weak glutes or glutes that arent activating properly?
unfortunately, i never got a full response from brett in his spills
[/quote]
Can you flex your glutes while sitting?[/quote]
[/quote]
I’m hardly an expert, but I’ve always used that as a benchmark for myself since it’s pretty much the same position as the hole of a squat.
???
a squat is quite unlike a sit…
sitting is a leading cause of inactive glutes, weak abs, tight spinal erectors, tight hamstrings. sitting is a leading cause of anterior pelvic tilt.
squatting is not. squatting properly is part of the cure…
I should have been clearer. I was in a rush. Sorry.
In my INEXPERT opinion/experience, being able to flex my glutes while bent at the hips (sitting) has been a fairly good indicator for me of how “activated” my glutes are.
I agree with you about the bad effects of lots of sitting. In case you haven’t seen mobilitywod.com, Kelly Starret’s got a bunch of good videos on minimizing the damage. Here’s a good start: http://www.mobilitywod.com/2011/05/episode-251365-high-skilled-sittingabdominal-bracing.html
On a day I didn’t even plan on working out (no sleep for several days, flu like symptoms for a day, too much stress) I went in anyway. Did some glute activation stuff before front squat machine workout and set a pr. Two leg workouts with glute activation and two days of prs. Coincidence? I will be doing more glue activation stuff before my next leg workouts too. Can’t wait to try it on dead lift day
did some glute activation drills before deadlifting. hit a 3 rep pr. and then repeated it for a second set of three. for me, glute activation drills maybe just what i needed
Last post. On this topic Did some glute activation before my squat workout and hit a three rep pr. Followed it up with another set of three and could really feel it in my glutes. I thinks that four prs In four workouts.
Thanks for everyone’s help