Too often we let our age dictate what we can and can’t do.
What we are SUPPOSED to do.
But our age doesn’t define us.
We define how we get older.
Because we can’t stop that number from changing.
But we can adjust our lifestyle to lead our healthiest, happiest lives at any and every age.
What are you waiting for?
There is no right time…
No perfect moment to start something.
Honestly the right time to start something is when it feels like nothing is going the way it should.
Because these hard times are often the times we need to learn to handle if we want to create lasting changes, but the times we never learn how to navigate as we always only seek to make changes during times that are ideal.
That’s why in this episode I want to break down the importance of starting now and tips to help you learn to do the minimum and move forward even when life is trying to sabotage you while Michelle will share some great tips to inspire you to start working toward your goals TODAY instead of waiting for tomorrow or next month or a new year!
How aware of your body are you?
Do you think you have an amazing mind-body connection?
Well…here’s a test to find out!
I mention this because too often we’re doing the right moves yet not seeing the results we want.
And it’s because we’re going through the motions with our training, mimicking proper form.
But proper form doesn’t guarantee proper recruitment patterns.
Aka just because a move looks pretty doesn’t mean we’re using the right muscles or seeking out mobility from the correct joints.
And the more advanced an exerciser you are, the more you can easily cheat and compensate.
But this can lead to overload and injury and you not seeing the results of your training you want.
That’s why in this video, I want to take you through a quick test to assess your mind-body connection.
And I want to do this test for an area many of us actually struggle to activate correctly…
OUR GLUTES!
To do this test, you’ll just be performing what seems like an oh so simple move and is an essential basic…
The Bodyweight Glute Bridge.
To do this glute bridge assessment…
I recommend setting up your phone camera to film yourself from the side and even from the knees up on a second round through.
This external feedback can then help you adjust form if you need to tweak things to get the correct muscles working.
As you perform this move, you are going to ask yourself 4 key questions at different points of the move to assess different muscles and even imbalances between both sides.
If you have the camera running, you can verbally answer.
Otherwise you may want a piece of paper next to you to make notes on!
Then set up as you normally would for the glute bridge.
I like to have clients place their feet flat on the ground at a comfortable distance from their glutes and bend their elbows to drive their upper arms down into the ground.
Then you want to bridge up.
Pausing at the top of the bridge, ask yourself…What do I feel working the most?
Lower Back – Yes or No?
Glutes – Yes or No?
Hamstrings – Yes or No?
Quads – Yes or No?
Relax back down.
Repeat the move a couple more times pausing to assess. Then record what you felt.
Then next, AS you bridge up, ask yourself…
What do I feel working FIRST?
Is it your hamstrings, glutes, quads or lower back?
Write down which muscle you feel engage FIRST.
Next, as you repeat the bridge, assess both on the way up AND as you pause for a second or two at the top, to ask yourself…
Do I feel one side working more?
Yes or No?
And if yes, which side?
Even make note of whether or not you just feel one side MORE or if you ONLY feel one side truly engaging.
The final assessment you want to do, is focusing on WHERE you truly feel your lower back, glutes or hamstrings working especially.
Do you feel the top of your butt under your SI joint working?
Yes or No?
Do you feel in the meat of your glute working?
Yes or No?
Do you feel right under your butt working?
Yes or No?
Or do you feel the middle of your hamstring working?
Yes or No?
Make a note, yes or no for each.
Now let’s break down what this information helps you understand about your glute engagement…
This may come as no surprise, but what you should have felt driving this movement is your GLUTES.
However, many of us do feel our lower back or hamstrings working and even taking over for our glutes during this move.
We even sometimes feel our quads trying to engage although we can also feel them stretching as the glute bridge IS a hip flexor stretch.
But often we don’t fully realize what is driving the movement when we get caught up only trying to focus on form.
We even simply think, “Oh my lower back is just weak and needs to get stronger.”
But really this shows that other moves are taking over when our glutes should be engaging.
This means we need to address our mind-body connection.
So if you found your lower back, quads or hamstrings compensating, I want to share some tweaks to your glute bridge form you may want to consider.
Especially if you felt under your butt or your hamstrings working, this can mean your hamstrings are synergistically dominant.
Yes…under your butt is often that hamstring origin area becoming overworked.
And sometimes it is us not realizing that it is NOT our glutes but actually our hamstrings working right there that can lead to hamstring tendinopathy or tendinitis.
Not to mention our hamstrings constantly being overworked is why they perpetually feeling tight no matter how much we stretch.
And when they are constantly overworked this can lead to knee pain, hamstrings strains and pulls and even perpetuate your lower back issues.
So making sure the correct muscles are working during a fundamental more focused movement is key so we can lift more and run faster and avoid injuries with more complex movement patterns.
I will also share some tips as well if you found that you had an imbalance between both sides. Sometimes this can mean we feel only one side working or that we feel our glute on one side but actually our hamstring on the other!
But first, how can you adjust your form if you don’t feel your glutes working like they should?
Here are 5 quick tips…
#1: Focus on maintaining that posterior pelvic tilt from the start and don’t get caught up in bridging higher.
This can help you make sure you’re using your abs to protect your lower back AND the posterior pelvic tilt engages the glute max.
Also, often in an attempt to bridge up higher, we arch our back at the top over extending our hips further, which overloads our lower back and can engage our hamstrings.
#2: Drive your knees toward your toes.
Focus on pressing through your entire foot and as you bridge up driving your upper arms into the ground, don’t push yourself backward.
Focus on driving those knees forward to help you avoid overusing your hamstrings.
This can even help if you tend to feel your quads working too.
#3: Focus on STOPPING the lift with your glutes.
So often in trying to work through a full range of motion, we stop engaging muscles to power the move.
Instead of trying to get a bigger movement, try and really squeeze your glutes hard to prevent yourself from being able to lift any higher. This focus on that activation of the glutes will make sure you’re driving true hip extension while avoiding anything else compensating!
#4: Pause and adjust.
At the top of the bridge, pause and then try little adjustments. If you move your feet in closer to your butt does that help? Or does moving them further away help you engage your glutes better?
While technically moving our heels further away toward a straight leg glute bridge engages more hamstrings, you may find, due to hip tightness that having your heels in too close to your butt engages the hamstrings more or makes you arch your back or even feel your quads.
So as you hold at the top, assess what you feel working and play around with even your posterior pelvic tilt or trying to engage each side.
Even put a hand on your glutes to try and give that tactile cue to feel them working to make that mind-body connection!
That can allow us to get the positioning we need!
#5: Try other bridge variations.
Sometimes we need to first adjust the variation we use to recruit the correct muscles. Slight changes to our posture and positioning can really impact things and even tools can provide an extra stimulus to improve our mind-body connection.
Even doing a move we feel working our glutes correctly prior to the one we struggle with can help us established the mind-body connection in that second move.
Two great variations to try if you’re struggling to engage your glutes can be the frog bridge as the external hip rotation can often help.
Or the mini band glute bridge. Pushing out on the band can help engage our glute medius which can help us better engage our glute max.
The band can also sometimes help if you struggle to get both sides working together!
Now To Address An Imbalance Between Sides…
I do want to note we will NEVER be perfectly evenly BUT we do want to note when one side isn’t pulling it’s weight.
When we have an imbalance this can lead to our stronger side taking over during other moves. This can lead to injury on that dominant side.
It can also mean that we risk injury on our weaker side if it is fighting to keep up.
So we want to address imbalances as much as possible and be conscious of them.
This is where unilateral glute activation may be key.
You may consider extra work for that weaker side, even swapping in something like the single leg reverse hyper to get that glute working.
Or you may use something like the 80/20 glute bridge to help you focus on each side more independently.
We have to recognize how challenging the full unilateral or single leg glute bridge is, which is why I recommend the 80/20 version instead.
If you can’t control the two-leg bodyweight bridge, there is a good chance your weaker side will continue to struggle with a full single leg variation.
But modify the move or even add in unilateral work to make sure you aren’t feeling other muscles take over for that weaker glute!
Bonus Tip:
And a final bonus tip, which can be helpful whether you’re addressing an imbalance or even just your hamstrings, lower back or quads engaging when they shouldn’t…
Foam Roll those overactive muscles PRIOR!
The impact of foam rolling is short-lived, but by rolling that muscle that wants to compensate before you then do the exercise, you can help interrupt that mind-body connection so you can better engage the proper muscles.
Especially if you feel only the hamstring on one side, trying rolling that muscle prior to the glute bridge to relax it to make it easier to establish that mind-body connection to your glutes!
Just remember, changes to our mind-body connection and recruitment patterns won’t happen overnight.
Our mind and body will want to default back into patterns we’ve created over time that now feel natural.
But if we don’t work to address them in fundamental moves like this, we put ourselves at greater risk for injury when we lift heavy, run or cycle.
Not to mention we may not be seeing the improvements in our other training that we want because we aren’t using muscles as efficiently to power our training!
No you don’t have a lower ab muscle.
But you CAN target the lower portion of your rectus abdominis or your LOWER ABS to a greater extent based on the moves you include in your workout routine.
And one great way to target that area is with lower body crunches.
They’re simple and effective…if done correctly.
There are also a variety of ways you can regress and progress this move to match your needs and goals.
However, how you do this amazing move can really impact where you actually feel working and the benefits you get from it.
That’s why in this video I want to go over how to properly do this movement and some amazing ways to really feel those lower abs working.
But first I wanted to discuss two areas we often feel compensating during this exercise that can end up overworked and injured, leading to this fabulous move being hated on…
And they are our hip flexors and lower back!
Do you ever feel your lower back or hip flexors taking over when you do a lower body crunch?
This is because you aren’t properly bracing your abs!
While yes, any exercise that involves hip flexion (that bending at the hip) WILL work your hip flexors…
So often we rely on our hips over bracing our abs which ultimately ends up with us only feeling our hip flexors or lower back during this ab exercise!
To prevent this from happening, there are a few things you want to focus on….
Focus On These Tips:
#1: Set up bracing your abs, tucking your hips slightly up toward your ribs.
This posterior pelvic tilt will help you feel those abs engage and even engage your glute max a bit.
This glute max engagement inhibits your hip flexors from taking over as much.
#2: Initiate the crunch of your lower body through spinal flexion.
Too often this move will be cued just as tucking your knees in which leads to us only bending and extending at the hip to raise our feet up off the floor and lower them back down.
But really we want to curl in from our SPINE. This spinal flexion is what engages our abs to power the knee tuck up.
#3: DO NOT SWING OR USE MOMENTUM.
Slowly roll to tuck in and then, one vertebrae at a time, lower back down.
Do not release that ab brace at the bottom.
Keep your abs engaged as you touch your feet down!
By focusing on this ab engagement and spinal flexion you not only protect your lower back, preventing it from arching up, but you disengage your hip flexors through that glute max engagement and use of the abs to curl in over just bending at the hip.
Building off of this focus on engaging your abs even before you start the movement…
I wanted to go over some tips to implement this basic lower body crunch properly before I then dive into some fun modifications and variations to match your needs and goals.
How To Do The Lower Body Crunch:
To do the lower body crunch, you want to set up lying on your back with your hands down on the ground beside you or behind your head.
To help you brace with the posterior pelvic tilt, pushing your palms and arms straight down beside you into the ground can help.
Bend your knees and curls your heels in toward your butt. This active curl in as you flex your feet should even help you feel your hamstrings engage to further prevent your hips from compensating.
Tilt your pelvis, drawing your hip bones up toward your ribs. Press your arms down into the ground.
Then think about curling your ribs up toward your hips as your knees curl in toward your chest.
Do not let yourself just flex at the hip. Really focus on curling your spine to lift your butt up.
Move at a controlled pace, then roll back down to tap your heels down.
Do not fully release engagement of the abs at the bottom.
Then curl back in.
Focus on that exhale as you curl in to help you engage your abs!
Then repeat the move, again focus on that curl starting from your spine over just your hips bending!
Keep that heel pulled in tension to help you avoid only bending at your hips!
Struggling? Try These Modifications!
If you’re focusing on these cues and struggling with getting your abs to engage there are two things I like to do with clients that can help…
#1: Hold on to something overhead.
#2: Use a roller squeezed between your calves and hamstrings.
I’ve even combined these two things as a variation to really isolate those abs.
By holding on overhead as you perform the lower body crunch, you can help engage your lats, which can lead to better glute engagement as well.
This can help you create tension through your backside that protects your lower back during the move.
This pull down can also help you crunch your ribs slightly down toward your hips to better brace your abs.
It can also give you more control as you curl your knees in toward your chest.
And the roller can help you maintain that hamstring engagement to prevent your hip flexors from taking over.
By having to squeeze that roller into your legs, you prevent yourself from extra movement at the hips as well.
Combining both of these techniques may prove a killer combo even to really target those lower abs with a slow curl in and lower back down!
And the great part about this basic movement is there are so many ways you can change it up to match your needs and goals!
If you’re feeling really in control of this lower body crunch, you may still find the modifications provide progression through the same but different.
They can even help you isolate those lower abs in new ways.
Try These Progressions:
But you may also find you want to progress to a double leg lower with your legs straight or even a leg lower plus.
That bonus spinal flexion at the top of the basic double leg lower is a great way to work those abs extra as they are worked by that flexion of the spine!
You can even just simply add weight to the basic lower body crunch.
The benefit of adding weight is not only that the resistance makes it harder but also that, by holding a weight between your legs, you engage your adductors.
Because of the connection of your hip flexors to your pelvic floor, and your adductors are also a hip flexor, you may find that by squeezing a medicine ball between your legs you even feel your core working more with very light weight!
And if don’t have weight and want to work your upper body more, you can even take this lower body crunch up off the ground with hanging leg raise variations or even dip hold leg raises.
But with all of these variations, you want to make sure you target your lower abs by bracing those abs with the posterior pelvic tilt and actually flexing at the spine as you lift.
It is tempting to just let the movement only occur at the hip when you fatigue without your abs engaged.
Remember this will just lead to your hip flexors working, not your abs getting the benefits you want!
So regress if you feel yourself starting to cheat!
Using these tips you can really target your lower abs with the amazing and oh so simple lower body crunch.
Perfecting basic moves like this can help us see better results faster and really target those stubborn areas we want to work!
Try This Ab Burner:
And for a quick and killer burner using this move, try this 100 Rep Ab Burner…
This is great to use once a week in your workout progression.
Completing 1 round through the circuit.
CIRCUIT:
20 Heel Raised upper Body Crunches
20 Lower Body Crunches
20 per side Oblique Crunches
20 Full Body Crunches
For more killer workouts, and even ab burners, join my Dynamic Strength App!
–> LEARN MORE
I talk a lot about strength work for body recomp and fat loss.
Because muscle is metabolic magic. It truly stokes our metabolic fire.
More muscle means more calories burned at rest, which means better fat loss results. And us looking leaner as we do lose.
BUT….
Cardio has its place.
And many even enjoy it…even though I think you’re weird.
That’s why I want to talk about how cardio can help you achieve amazing body recomposition and talk about other key components to see better fat loss results!
