the Most Underrated Glute Exercise

by Cori Lefkowith | May 12, 2021 | Blog, Bodyweight, Butt, Core, Exercises, Pain Relief, Warm Up

The stronger your mind-body connection is?

The more you can lift, the faster you can run and the further you can cycle!

Basically the STRONGER YOU ARE!

Strength is not just about brute force but also about neuromuscular efficiency – how quickly can you recruit the CORRECT muscles to perform a movement and produce force.

That’s why it is key we include exercises to really improve that mind-body connection and make sure we are able to engage the correct muscles whenever we need.

Because as much as we focus on form, proper form does NOT always mean you’re engaging the correct muscles.

Actually often the more experienced a lifter you are and the more athletic you are, the more you can mimic a proper looking movement pattern while compensating and recruiting the incorrect muscles to do so.

This can not only result in injury but often holds us back from lifting as much as we truly can.

It prevents us from being as strong as possible because we aren’t using muscles efficiently together. We aren’t making the correct muscles pull their own weight.

That’s why you need to include some isolation moves to activate those underactive muscles and make sure you’re engaging the correct muscles at the proper times.

One muscle that often needs to be the focus of our activation work is our GLUTES.

Our glutes are commonly underactive due to our modern lifestyle.

So focused activation work can help us improve our mind-body connection to better recruit our glutes during compound lifts and when we run or cycle.

One of my favorite moves, and a very basic and often underutilized move, is the Single Leg Bent-Knee Reverse Hyper.

This move is fundamental if you want to improve your hip extension and focus on isolating those glutes.

And it’s a really great way to test if your hamstrings tend to want to take over and compensate for your glutes.

Often our hamstrings can become synergistically dominant for underactive glutes and that can result in hamstrings strains, lower back, hip and knee pain.

So if you tend to feel your hamstrings even during moves like glute bridges? You need to give this reverse hyper variation a try.

To first test your glute activation, lie face down on the ground. You can relax your chin on your hands as you straighten both legs out. Then bend one knee to about 90 degrees. Flex that foot. Do not curl the heel in toward your butt as this will engage your hamstrings.

Then drive your heel toward the ceiling and extend your hip.

What do you feel firing first? Do you feel your hamstring first or your glute?

Do you feel both? Or can you just isolate your glute?

If you can just isolate your glute fabulous! Do 15-20 reps and pause at the top to really establish that mind-body connection and even get a little pump going.

If you can’t feel your glutes, try adjusting how you’re cueing and performing the move.

Here are a few tweaks to try.

#1: Focus on driving your hip down into the ground as you drive the heel back so you don’t rotate open. Think about almost pushing your hip bone down into the ground instead of just lifting up.

#2: Think about STOPPING the lift with your glute over just trying to lift up higher. You want to focus on that glute engagement over the movement itself.

#3: Kick just slightly out as you lift. Remember not to curl your heel in toward your butt. Our hamstrings are worked by that knee flexion so avoiding it can help. However, going too straight with your leg can also make it harder for some to focus on their glutes.

#4: Slightly abduct your knee or move it out to the side before you lift. This can better engage the glute medius to help engage that glute max. Just be careful you don’t rotate your hip open. Just slightly move the knee out to the side.

Try one of these tweaks at a time to see what helps. You may even find you need to combine all the cues to get that glute firing without the hamstring trying to take over.

As silly as it may seem, sometimes just changing how we cue ourselves to perform a movement with a very slight adjustment can really help us better establish that mind-body connection when we’ve struggled in the past.

Just don’t rush through the movement. Pause and assess. Be intentional with the exercise over just trying to get through the reps.

Doing the “right moves” without feeling the correct muscles working won’t get you the results you want.

Focus on activating your glutes.

SUMMARY:

Use this underrated glute isolation move as both an activation exercise but also a test of hamstring compensation. It is a great way to make sure your hamstrings aren’t trying to take over and work when your glutes truly should be.

Be conscious of what you feel working during your workouts and do not simply go through the motions.

The more we can truly create proper recruitment patterns and use the correct muscles efficiently and effectively, the stronger we will be.

Sometimes we need to take things back to basics to get results.

We are never above those simple fundamentals!

Working to improve your glute activation?

Check out my Booty Burner Program!

–> LEARN MORE

How To Fix Knee Pain – Do These 4 Moves

by Cori Lefkowith | Feb 25, 2021 | Blog, Butt, Exercises, Foam Rolling, injury-featured, Pain Relief, Stretches

Achy and sore knees are an all too common complaint.

And nagging knee pain can become a daily annoyance.

Knee pain can make walking up stairs or getting down on the ground uncomfortable and difficult.

It can make us fear moves like squats and lunges so much that we simply stop doing them all together.

It can hold us back from training intensely.

Knee pain can cause us to simply no longer enjoy the activities we used to love like running or jumping.

And the worst part is often we’ve done a ton of things to TRY to address the problem.

We’ve focused on all of the muscles right around our knee trying to strengthen everything to improve our knee stability.

But all too often this not only doesn’t provide lasting relief, but it actually BACKFIRES.

So if trying to strengthen the muscles right around your knees isn’t necessarily the answer, what is? How can you get rid of nagging knee pain for good?

First, there are two joints you need to be paying attention to instead of just focusing only on your knees…

Your ankles and your hips!

If there is immobility or instability at either one of these two joints, your knees are going to suffer the consequences.

All too often when we lack mobility in one area, we seek out mobility from another.

So if your ankles aren’t mobile? You’re going to search for mobility from your knees! Mobility your knees really aren’t meant to provide!

And instability at your ankles or hips is what can lead to improper alignment up and down your legs, causing muscles around your knees to even become tight and overworked, further perpetuating your aches and pains!

That’s why I want to share 4 essential exercises with you to address both ankle and hip mobility and stability issues.

4 Must-Do Moves To Prevent Knee Pain:

Improving your range of motion and stability at both joints can help you avoid perpetuating your knee issues and even alleviate the overload.

#1: Knee-Friendly Ankle Mobility Stretch

Improving your ankle mobility, specifically your ability to dorsiflex or draw your toes up toward your shin can go a long way in preventing knee pain during squats and lunges, not to mention when you run or ride!

Especially if you are suffering from knee pain currently, many ankle mobility drills can be uncomfortable as your knee will travel even past your toes.

That’s when this Knee-Friendly Ankle Mobility Stretch comes in handy.

Because the ball of your foot is up on a block or weight, you’ve put your ankle into dorsiflexion before you even shift your weight forward.

Most ankle mobility moves require your knee to move past your toe for the full range of motion.

But because of this starting position, your knee doesn’t have to travel forward that much for a full range of motion.

This can help alleviate some pressure on your knees as you work to improve that ankle mobility.

Keeping your heel on the ground with the ball of your foot up, shift your weight forward as much as you can. If your heel starts to lift, you’ve gone too far.

Then shift back and repeat.

#2: Single Leg Toe-Raised Calf Raises

It’s key you activate any weak or underactive muscles if you want to maintain the range of motion you are working hard to build.

If you don’t establish the mind-body connection to those muscles?

You are just going to keep perpetuating the same patterns of overuse, leading to your knee pain.

Having mobile, but also STABLE ankles is key if you want to avoid injury.

That’s why it’s key after you do any mobility work that you do activation moves to strengthen weak muscles and work to maintain that range of motion.

And especially if you’ve ever had issues on just one side, you want to address the imbalance with imbalanced prehab. Which may even mean doing this move on only one side or more reps on one side at least.

I recommend having your hands on a wall or something to help you balance so you can focus not only on driving off the entire ball of your foot for the calf raise, but also so you can focus on dorsiflexing your foot as much as possible as you move to your heel.

Make sure to move slowly lifting your toes toward your shins to sit back on your heel before lowering your foot to the ground to press up onto the ball of your foot. Do not just rock and use momentum.

You can also do this as a bilateral move instead if both sides need equal attention.

#3: TFL Foam Rolling

The TFL or tensor fasciae latae is a hip flexor muscle that is a common culprit of not only hip pain, but also knee and even ankle pain.

This muscle can have a far reaching impact because of it’s connection to the knee through the IT Band.

So if you’re a runner who’s had IT Band or knee issues, you need to include this move as part of your warm up!

When the TFL becomes overactive and tight, it can also try to compensate and work when your glute medius should actually be the prime mover. This perpetuates what has been called gluteal amnesia.

It can inhibit your glute medius from working correctly to support and stabilize your hip, which can also lead to further knee issues.

This simple foam rolling move is key to use even before a glute medius activation exercise as it will help you relax the TFL so it isn’t as likely to try to engage and take over.

Place a ball in the lateral side of your hip and lie slightly propped up on your side with the ball pushing in toward your hip socket.

Relax as you hold. To help the muscle relax and release itself, lift and lower your leg to tense and relax the muscle.

You can prop yourself up more or fully lie over the ball depending on how much pressure you want to create. Make sure you can actually relax as you hold. You don’t want to tense against the pressure.

You may even find standing to hold against the wall is better pressure to start.

#4: Extended ROM Side Lying Leg Raises

Improving your hip stability will help protect your knees. That’s why it is key you include moves to activate your glute medius.

The glute medius is a key hip stabilize, not to mention strengthening it will help prevent your TFL from becoming overworked!

Because a tight and overworked TFL can cause hip internal rotation and external tibial rotation, it can lead to our knees caving in during things like squats.

It can cause tracking issues so that your hips, knees and ankles aren’t all in proper alignment during even exercises like lunges.

Basically, it can lead to movement patterns that end in knee pain.

By strengthening your glute medius, you can prevent this improper movement pattern.

And that’s why moves like side lying raises or abduction exercises are so key.

By lifting this basic move off the ground to perform it on a bench instead, you can allow yourself to work through a bigger range of motion to strengthen the glute medius. This is even a great way to progress that basic move from the floor without adding loads.

Just be conscious you do actually feel your glute medius working and not your TFL taking over.

A great way to help avoid your TFL compensating is to turn your toe down toward the ground as you lift or even kick slightly back.

The internal tibial rotation can help inhibit the TFL while the kick back can slightly engage the glute maximus.

SUMMARY:

Using these four moves you can improve your ankle and hip mobility and stability to help prevent your knee from suffering the consequences of issues at these other two joints!

You can choose to include one or two of these in your warm up routine or combine all four for a quick mobility series. Even just 1-2 rounds through working for 30-45 seconds per move or side can go a long way!

Ready to say “Bye bye” to aches and pains? Check out my Injury Prevention Bundle.

Do the prehab work DAILY to keep those aches and pains away!

How to FIX Low Back Pain – Do These 4 Moves

by Cori Lefkowith | Feb 4, 2021 | Blog, Butt, Core, Exercises, Pain Relief, Stretches

If you’ve ever suffered from lower back aches and pains?

You aren’t alone.

Lower back pain is one of the most common injuries, with at least 80% of Americans suffering from lower back pain at some point in their life.

And the worst part? All too often it becomes a continual annoyance.

However, too often in our attempt to prevent future issues, we do exactly the WRONG thing,

So what do you need to STOP doing if you want to truly keep your lower back from continually aching?

And what should you be doing instead?

First let me go over what is often actually occurring leading to nagging lower back aches and pains.

While there can be many different causes, and you always want to get checked out whenever possible to determine what is causing your pain, often our issues stem from our lower back becoming overworked and overloaded.

This occurs because of postural distortions from our modern lifestyles and even compensations and imbalances caused by previous injuries.

That ankle or knee injury you had years ago?

That can create a sequence of events that finally led to overload and your lower back suffering the effects of the build up.

But instead of addressing these others areas of immobility or weakness?

We instead only focus on the point of pain – our lower back.

And often we assume our lower back hurts because it is weak.

We believe that weakness is why it fatigues during moves and why we often feel it during core work.

So what do we do?

We find moves to strengthen it – like Supermans.

But this is often exactly what we should NOT be doing!

While supermans have their place in a proper core strengthening routine, too often we turn to moves like this when we have lower back aches and pains.

And all these moves do is further overload and overwork our already tired back.

They perpetuate the overuse instead of addressing what is actually weak and the areas that actually lack immobility.

So what moves should you be doing instead?

4 Key Moves To Fix Lower Back Pain:

When you’re suffering from lower back pain there are 4 key things you need to address, thoracic mobility, hip mobility, ab activation and glute activation.

You need to make sure you aren’t seeking out extra mobility from your lumbar spine that should be coming from your thoracic spine or hips.

You also want to make sure that your abs and glutes are strong to protect your lower back and prevent it from becoming overworked.

Here are 4 great moves to help you address these 4 keys and avoid lower back aches and pains in the future!

#1: Kneeling Thoracic Extension Stretch

Ever realize you’re constantly hunching over? Whether it’s over your computer, in a car or even just while sitting watching TV?

This constant flexion can lead to limited thoracic extension and thoracic mobility in general. And when our thoracic spine doesn’t extend properly, we may then seek out mobility from other areas to help us mimic proper movement during an exercise.

So if you’ve ever noticed you arch your lower back to keep your chest up as you squat or you arch your lower back to press better overhead, you may need to work on that thoracic extension!

A perfect move to do just that is the Kneeling Thoracic Extension and lat stretch.

To do the Kneeling Thoracic Extension Stretch, kneel on the ground and place your elbows up on a box or bench in front of you. Set up far enough back that you can drop your chest toward the ground, extending your shoulders, as you sit your butt back toward your heels.

Pull a towel tight between your hands to help you avoid your shoulders rotating open as you lower your chest toward the ground.

Then drop your chest toward the ground, focusing on extending your upper back. Brace your abs and make sure you aren’t just arching your lower back as you press your chest down.

You may feel a stretch down the backs of your arms and the sides of your back. Pause for a second then relax out and repeat.

If you can’t get down on the ground, you can also do this as a half wall hang, placing your hands up on a wall in front of you.

#2: Lying Bench Hip Stretch

Stretch out your hip flexors as you activate your glutes to improve your hip extension with the Lying Bench Hip Stretch.

The psoas, a hip flexor muscle, plays a key role in our posture and pelvic positioning. When this muscle becomes tight it can limit hip mobility, which can lead to underactive glutes and your lower back becoming overworked.

Often to compensate for the lack of proper hip mobility, you’ll arch your back during moves. And because your glutes are weak? You’ll try to compensate by using your lower back to lift.

That’s why this a great hip stretch to include. It can really help you relax the psoas as you activate your glutes to control that hip extension.

To do the Lying Bench Hip Stretch, lie back on a bench with your butt right at the edge of the bench. Let one leg hang down toward the ground with your knee bent around 90 degrees as you hug the other knee in toward your chest. Wrap your hands around your shin, right below your knee to hug it in.

As you hug that knee in, squeeze the glute of the leg hanging down to really drive your hip into extension almost as if you’re pressing the heel of that foot through the ground.

Pause then tuck that knee up toward your chest before extending the foot back down toward the ground.

As you extend your hip, squeeze your glute and pause before repeating.

#3: Lying Jacks

If your glutes are underactive and weak, your lower back and hamstrings will try to pick up the slack and work when they shouldn’t.

And either of those muscle groups becoming overworked can perpetuate your lower back aches and pains.

That’s why it is key you activate your glutes so they engage correctly during compound lifts and when you run.

With the Lying, you’ll target not only your glute max, but also your glute medius. This will be key to improving your hip stability.

And you learn how to engage those glutes to even control hip hyperextension. Too often we allow our lower back to become the prime mover in this movement, when really our glutes should be in control.

To do this move, place a mini band around your legs above your knees. Lie on the bench and press your hips down into the bench.

Engage your glutes to lift your legs to about parallel to the ground. Make sure you’re pressing down into the bench and using your glutes over arching your back.

Holding at the top press your legs out and open against the band. Control the press open then bring your legs back together and repeat.

To modify you can do this off the ground. Just make sure you are truly lifting using those glutes and not arching your lower back just to get up higher!

#4: Anti-Rotational Dead Bugs

Being able to avoid unwanted rotation and correctly brace your abs is also key to protecting your lower back. If our abs are weak, our lower back may engage to help us perform the movement.

Anti-Rotational Dead Bugs is a key move to include to help you activate not only your abs but also your obliques to fight rotation and protect your lower back.

To do Anti-Rotational Dead Bugs, anchor a band down low and hold one handle in both hands so your side is to the anchor point. Lie flat on your back with your hands gripping the handle extended straight up toward the ceiling.

Make sure not to shrug.

Engage your abs with a posterior pelvic tilt, tucking your hips slightly up toward your ribs as you lift your feet up off the ground.

Fighting the urge to rotate toward the anchor point, keep your hands pressed out directly above the center of your chest. As you hold, extend one leg out as you keep the other knee tucked in. Slowly bicycle your legs, extending the other out as you tuck your other knee in.

Move slowly. This move is best done for time on each side!

SUMMARY:

If you’re sick of lower back aches and pains, STOP allowing it to become overworked. Improve your thoracic and hip mobility while learning how to correctly engage and recruit your abs and glutes to protect your lower back!

Ready to eliminate aches and pains?! Check out my Injury Prevention Pack.

Foam Roll + Stretch + Activate!

How To Awaken Your Glutes – 3 Keys

by Cori Lefkowith | Dec 14, 2020 | Blog, Butt, Pain Relief

You may be thinking, “Awaken my glutes?!” But if they weren’t awake, how could I stand up!?

While our glutes are working, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to stand up, that doesn’t mean they’re functioning well let alone optimally.

And the fact that you aren’t able to utilize that oh so powerful muscle group efficiently or effectively may be why you have lower back, hip, knee, groin, hamstring…even ankle aches and pains.

It’s also why terms like “dead butt,” “sleepy butt” and “gluteal amnesia” have become more and more popular.

So then why may we be struggling to awaken our glutes?

Unfortunately, our daily desk job, or work posture, may be partly to blame.

We often spend far too much time seated, which keeps our hips in constant flexion. This consistent hip flexion leads to overactive and tight hip flexors and underactive glutes.

You may be thinking, “Well I squat and deadlift if my workouts so shouldn’t that then activate my glutes?”

The simple answer is…

No.

And the whole “squat for a better butt thing” may actually be why you AREN’T seeing the glute results you want!

While squats and deadlifts are AMAZING and ESSENTIAL compound moves, we can often use improper recruitment patterns to try and mimic proper movement patterns when performing these moves.

Say whaaat?!

Basically, we’re using the wrong muscles to try and make the move look correct.

It’s why you may feel your lower back during deadlifts over your glutes. Or feel only your quads during squats. Or maybe even your hamstrings during glute bridges.

All of these muscles are becoming overworked trying to take on extra because your glutes aren’t pulling their weight.

And this compensation is what leads to overload of muscles that shouldn’t be made to carry the load of work they’re being asked to perform.

And that overload is what leads to injury.

That’s why I wanted to share 3 key tips to help you awaken your glutes BEFORE you lift, run or ride!

How To AWAKEN YOUR GLUTES – 3 Keys:

These 3 key tips will help you establish a more efficient mind-body connection to engage those glutes properly during exercises.

They focus on a key, but often missing component. of our warm up and prehab process – ACTIVATION EXERCISES.

Whether due to our modern desk job posture or even previous injury, all too often we have imbalances and compensations we need to correct.

These tips will help you do that to get those glutes firing!

1. Isolate To Activate

So you may be thinking, “What even are activation exercises?”

Activation exercises are very isolated movements that help you focus on only the muscle you actually want to work working.

These very isolated movements are the perfect way to make sure you’re actually engaging, or activating, the muscle you want to work.

In this case, your GLUTES!

Activation moves are isolation exercises done with bodyweight or very light loads. They aren’t the moves you focus on adding heavy loads to.

They generally have smaller ranges of motion and create peak tension on the glutes when the muscles are shortened.

These activation moves are often the “silly-looking” moves we dismiss because we think only women wearing leg warmers do them to get a bigger butt.

But these very targeted moves help us focus on what we feel working.

You want to think about these moves as a chance to use your MIND to engage the muscles harder not on trying to progress the weight you can lift.

You want to be thinking, “What do I actually feel working?” And actually KNOW what you feel working.

When you use these moves in your warm up, you’ll perform higher reps for fewer sets.

You want to create a “burn” or “pump” with these moves. This pump makes it easier for you to then know your glutes are working when you go into compound lifts or hit the trails.

But you don’t want to go to fatigue with these moves. You just want to feel your glutes working, feel that burn build, then stop and move into your training!

You also need to remember, you are NEVER above these basics. And the better your mind-body connection?

The easier it should be to feel those glutes working even with a very basic, simple moves such as the bodyweight glute bridge!

2. Activate And Stretch

Often when our hips feel tight, or we know we’ve spent far too much time seated, we turn to stretching.

But so often when we stretch, we’re only focused on relaxing the overactive muscle. We aren’t focused on then getting the correct muscles working.

It’s why it can feel like we spend all of this time stretching to just constantly end up tight again!

So while stretching is an important component of your mobility routine, it’s key we realize that by focusing on activation exercises we are also stretching out those tight and shortened hip flexors.

Through a process called reciprocal inhibition you are stretching out your hips by activating your glutes.

Reciprocal inhibition is a neurologic process where muscles on one side of a joint relax to accommodate the contraction of muscles on the other side of that joint.

Your glutes contract, which means your hip flexors then have to relax to allow the extension.

It’s why it’s so key we include those isolation activation exercises.

They allow us to focus on actually engaging our glutes to correctly perform hip extension and therefore relax and stretch those tight hip flexors.

Too often when we ask our body to perform hip extension if we haven’t first “awakened” our glutes, we end up arching our lower back to compensate or even end up creating other pelvic alignment issues in an attempt to mimic the movement pattern we can’t correctly control.

That’s why we want to include these activation moves to not only stretch but also engage those underactive muscles!

These activation moves allow us to improve our hip mobility AND our hip stability to prevent aches and pains so we can run faster, cycle further and lift more.

3. Use Different Postures And MultiPlanar Movements

When we think about our glutes, we have to consider all of the joint actions this muscle group performs – hip extension, hyperextension, abduction, external rotation.

That’s why it is key we address all 3 glute muscles and include activation moves that move our hips through multiple planes of motion.

You want to include things like lateral raises but also bridges and reverse hypers. You want to think about moves that are straight lateral raises to the side but that also include rotation.

And then you also want to consider different POSTURES.

While it may seem like a small tweak to a move, slightly different body positions can impact how easily we are able to establish that mind-body connection to engage those glutes. And different postures can even impact what aspect of each glute muscle we activate.

Based on our builds, and even previous injuries and mobility restrictions, we may find some positions harder than others to properly activate our glutes in.

This doesn’t mean we avoid these movements. It just means we need to build up to them or even include other moves FIRST to help establish that mind-body connection BEFORE we implement those moves we struggle with.

It’s why doing a seated clam type movement may be easier for you than a side lying variation.

While both are needed, as you want to be able to engage your glute medius through different degrees of hip flexion and hip extension, you also want to make sure to start with the move you can control and build up to the movement you struggle with.

If you just implement the other movement while NOT feeling the correct muscles working? You may end up making your aches and pains worse by PERPETUATING those improper recruitment patterns.

Basically, you’ll keep overloading the muscles that are overworked even while doing the supposedly “right” moves.

Being able to engage the correct muscles is key if we want to avoid injury and truly build functional strength.

It’s why we want to include a diversity of activation moves that work our glutes in multiple planes of motion using different postures!

READY TO AWAKEN YOUR GLUTES?

If you want results, you can’t just randomly string moves together “hoping” they’ll work.

You need to create a clear plan and progression.

And it’s not just enough to find the supposedly “best” activation moves and then just use those.

You need to actually be conscious of what you FEEL working during those exercise.

The “right” moves don’t get results if the correct muscles aren’t working.

Sometimes slight tweaks to form make all the difference…like turning down your toe and internally rotating that lower leg on lateral raises so your TFL doesn’t compensate for your glute medius!

Or like driving your knees toward your toes when you bridge up so you don’t feel your hamstrings or lower back taking over for your glutes.

That’s why I created my Booty Burner program.

I wanted to help clients activate their glutes with quick series they could even ultimately use as part of their warm up routine before their lifting sessions, runs or rides.

I wanted to help them establish that mind-body connection to improve their hip stability and mobility to avoid lower back, hip and even knee pain.

I wanted to show them how they could isolate to activate, activation and stretch and use different postures and multiplanar movements to get the amazing results they wanted.

I wanted to take all of the guesswork out of awakening those glutes to create those more efficient and effective recruitment patterns.

So if you’re ready to have a clear plan laid out for you with FOLLOW ALONG WORKOUT VIDEOS so I can coach you through the moves and help you modify as you need to actually get your glutes working?

Then it’s time to start my Booty Burner series!

These series, ranging from 3 minutes to 15 minutes are a great way to establish that mind-body connection and truly build strong glutes with a clear plan laid out for you!

Get the workouts and awaken those glutes TODAY!

–> The Booty Burner Workouts

The Surprising Cause Of IT Band Issues, Back, Hip And Knee Pain!

by Cori Lefkowith | Mar 24, 2020 | Blog, Butt, Exercises, Foam Rolling, Pain Relief

The psoas has become the sexy hip flexor muscle to talk about and work on.

But what if I told you that all too often the TRUE culprit of our back, hip, IT BAND, knee pain and even ANKLE pain had to do with ANOTHER hip flexor muscle?!

What if I told you that you should actually be paying attention to your TFL or your Tensor Fasciae Latae.

The TFL can be a nasty little sucker, compensating for a week glute medius, perpetuating IT Band tightness and impacting everything down to our feet and ankles.

It contributes to internal hip rotation AND external tibial rotation.

Because of its far reaching impact it is a muscle we can’t ignore.

However, the hard part about addressing TFL tightness and overactivity is that many of the moves we need to do to CORRECT the issue, can often PERPETUATE IT!

For instance, to help prevent the TFL from continuing to compensate, we need to include glute medius strengthening.

But ever notice how you’ll do Monster Walks and feel the front side of your hip working?

Ever push through thinking “Oh yea! Feel that burn!?”

Or maybe you don’t even think about what is working. You’re doing the “right moves” so you just believe you SHOULD get results, right?

WRONG!

If you’re doing the right moves but still allowing muscles to compensate, not only are you NOT correcting the problem, but you may be making it worse.

So when you feel that front outside of your hip working during those mini band walks? Guess what is not working as it should and what is also COMPENSATING for that underactive muscle!?

Well your glute medius is not getting the benefit of the exercise it should be getting and instead you’re perpetuating the overuse of your TFL!

So all of that rehab? It isn’t going to pay off.

While you need to strengthen your glute medius, you need to realize that all too often our TFL can compensate for a weak glute medius.

Because this muscle then becomes even further overworked and even shortened, it can lead to lower back hip and knee pain, not to mention even IT Band issues and foot and ankle problems!

Yup! Through our IT Band the TFL can create movement compensations down our entire leg!

And when we then see changes to our ANKLE mobility guess what happens? Those changes only further perpetuate those compensations back UP our kinetic chain.

It’s why you can’t just IGNORE aches and pains. The longer you ignore them and keep pushing through, the more you then just allow compensations and imbalances to build up so there is more to have to sort through later.

If you don’t address TFL issues, you’ll end up having to address issues from your feet up!

So how can we prevent our TFL from leading to all of these aches and pains when it wants to work during the exercises we NEED to be doing to correct it?

Here are three tips to help you quiet down that TFL and get your glutes activated! And to then implement these tips, check out the quick series I’ve included at the end of this post!

As you go through implementing these tips, be CONSCIOUS of what you feel working. Don’t just rush through the moves! Be intentional with your prehab moves!

3 Tips To Strengthen Your Glutes And Prevent Your TFL From Compensating!

#1: Treat the TFL like a toddler. Keep it distracted so you can get work done!

Basically, you want to adjust movements to help make it EASIER to establish that mind-body connection.

One way to do that is to “keep the TFL busy” by internally rotate your foot during lateral raise, or abduction, movements.

Because the TFL performs hip internal rotation, you can almost “distract” it with that movement AS you use the glute medius to perform the lateral raise.

So if during lateral raises you notice you often feel the front of your hip, turn your toe down toward the ground.

You may even notice often that your toe is turned out toward the ceiling.

The TFL contributes to tibial external rotation.

So internally rotate your foot is the OPPOSITE action, which can help “shut off” the TFL. Not to mention when you internally rotate your tibia, you often then even internally rotate our hip by extension.

Maintaining this internal rotation, you can then perform your lateral raise movement.

If you still are struggling to feel your glute medius, you can even kick slightly back as you raise up OR put your hip into extension, driving back into a slider or wall AS you perform that lateral raise movement.

This hip extension and slight kick back will engage your glute max, which will also hinder the TFL from taking over and allow you to potentially better activate your glute medius. This works because the TFL is a hip flexor so by putting your hip into extension, you can inhibit it from working!

#2: Change the hip flexion during those abduction moves.

When you’re first starting to “rehab” an issue, you need to use the moves you feel the most and build off of those.

Basically you want to take the path of least resistance to establish that mind-body connection.

If you feel a move working those glutes, use that first THEN even dive into other moves because you’ve already established that mind-body connection.

To find that move that helps you establish that mind-body connection, you may need to adjust the exact POSTURE you use during basic abduction moves.

By adjusting the amount of hip flexion or extension you perform the move in, you can find a way to maximize your glute medius engagement and minimize your TFL compensation.

It isn’t a clear cut and dry rule of what posture is best so you may want to play around to see what matches your personal recruitment patterns.

For some more flexion may “distract” the TFL because it is a hip flexor.

However, for some, more hip flexion may perpetuate it being overactive during those abduction moves.

In this case, putting the hip into more extension may be key to inhibit the muscle.

While you of course want the glute medius to be strong in both a slightly more hip-flexed or hip-extended state, you do want to start with the move you feel working correctly to make sure you establish that mind-body connection.

The fact that hip flexion can play a role in how much you’re able to engage the TFL is why that oh so “basic” clam exercise can so often backfire too!

The clam is a traditional glute activation movement. But this seemingly simple move is so often butchered. First off, you may find you need to use that internal rotation of the tibia I mentioned in the first tip to help.

Secondly, you may adjust how much you pull your knees forward or straighten your legs out.

The key is being conscious of what you feel working to then ADJUST your exact amount of hip flexion.

A great way to play around with different amount of hip flexion during even a bilateral abduction move is even seated on a bench.

You can lean back, sit up tall or even lean forward to different degrees to not only strengthen your glute medius in a variety of postures BUT also find the exact position that works best for you.

We have to remember to focus on what we feel working so we can work around our own biomechanics.

#3: Foam roll and stretch BEFORE you activate.

If you struggle to activate a muscle, you may find that foam rolling and stretching the muscle prior to doing activation moves is oh so key!

While people debate the benefit of both techniques, with one of the main arguments against them being that the benefits are short-lived, that doesn’t mean you can’t use these “short-lived” benefits to your advantage.

By rolling your TFL and then stretching to improve your hip mobility, you can inhibit this overactive muscle, even if just temporarily.

If you interrupt that mind-body connection between your TFL and brain, and restore muscles to their proper length-tension relationships, you can then help yourself better establish the mind-body connection to the muscle you DO want to work – your glute medius!

So if you find your TFL is being a pesky little sucker and compensating for your glute medius no matter what posture or tweaks you do, try relaxing and inhibiting it IMMEDIATELY PRIOR to doing the glute activation moves.

Interrupt that communication so you can establish a new connection to those glutes!

A lacrosse ball is a great way to relax that TFL and even a simple half kneeling hip stretch with reach can improve your hip extension.

BONUS: If you have an imbalance do imbalanced prehab!

The one other key thing to note is if you have an imbalance, you need to do imbalanced rehab.

So if one side is constantly tight, you need to address that one side specifically.

You also want to assess if it is glute weakness on that SAME side or if there is even weakness on the OTHER side perpetuating the issues and leading to the TFL becomign overworked!

Of course seeing someone to asses you is key but KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. So now you can be aware of what you’re doing in your workouts and therefore why you are, or aren’t, seeing the results you want to seek out the help you need.

Using these tweaks you can help yourself strengthen your glutes and prevent your TFL from constantly compensating!

Now try implementing them in this amazing series below!

Quick Hip Mobility Series To Prevent IT Band Issues, Back, Hip And Knee Pain!

This Avoid IT Band Issues Series uses foam rolling and stretching to address your TFL tightness and overactivity. It even works to relax your peroneal (the outside of your lower leg) to make sure you’re working on any issues from the ground up.

It then uses two great abduction moves to activate your glute medius!

The Avoid IT Band Issues Series

Complete 1 round through the circuit below, spending a minute per move on each side.

CIRCUIT:
1 minute per side Peroneal Foam Rolling
1 minute per side TFL Foam Rolling
1 minute Standing TFL Stretch
1 minute per side Lying QL Stretch
1 minute Bridge Abductions
1 minute per side Lying Side Raises

Need more amazing series to improve your hip mobility and prevent lower back, hip and knee pain?

Join my 28-Day Booty Burner program!

The Metabolic Muscle Builder – Booty Builder Workout

by Cori Lefkowith | Jan 28, 2020 | Blog, Butt, Workouts

Want strong, toned glutes and legs? Then you’ll love this Booty Builder workout from my Macro Hacks program!

When our workouts and diet work together, we can get better results faster. That’s why if you want to lose body fat AND build muscle, you want to make sure you’re creating progressive overload in your workouts and challenging your body with not only heavier weights, but also different tempos.

We often turn to cardio when we want to lose weight or body fat, but actually focusing on BUILDING MUSCLE is oh so key to help us look leaner and keep our metabolism healthy and strong.

And you also want to make sure you’re including movements in multiple planes to also help you develop functional strength and avoid injury.

It’s key too, as we increase our weights and workout intensity, that we do NOT forget the prehab work. Get the correct muscles working and your body warmed up so you can work hard from that first rep of your workout.

Try this Booty Builder and feel those glutes, and legs, working!

The Booty Builder Workout

QUICK WARM UP OPTION:
Complete 1 round through the quick stretching flow below as well as 1-2 rounds of the activation. Complete all 5 moves of the activation on one side before switching sides.
STRETCHING:
5-10 reps per side Runner’s Lunge Flow
ACTIVATION: The Side Lying Series
15-20 reps per side Lying Leg Raises
15-20 reps per side Lying Front Kicks
15-20 reps per side Lying Back Kicks
15-20 reps per side Lying Front to Back Kicks
15-20 reps per side Lying Bicycles

WORKOUT:
Complete 1-4 rounds through the first circuit. Do not rest between moves but rest 90 seconds-3 minutes between rounds so you can try and increase weight while feeling your glutes work. Then rest 2-3 minutes and move into the Triset. Complete 2-3 rounds through the triset resting 45-60 seconds between rounds. Then rest 1-2 minutes and complete 1-2 of the exercise, resting 45 seconds in between rounds. If you’re looking for added calf and core work to target those two stubborn areas (and have time!), include the Calf and Core Burner. Complete 2-3 rounds through, resting only as needed between rounds.

CIRCUIT:
6 reps Dead Stop Pause Barbell Band Hip Thrusters
6 reps Fast Reps Barbell Band Hip Thrusters
6 reps Top Pulses Barbell Band Hip Thrusters
20 reps Top Hold Band Hip Thruster Abductions

TRISET:
8-15 reps per side Step Up to Reverse Lunge
8-15 reps per side Band Hip Rotations
8-15 reps Glute Bridge and Curl

EXERCISE:
20 reps per way 3-Way Seated Band Abductions

CALF AND CORE BURNER:
15-20 reps per side Single Leg Calf Raises
15-20 reps per side Single Leg Seated Calf Raises
15-20 reps Bench Two-Way Leg Lowers

COOL DOWN

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