Whether you want to prevent lower back, hip, knee or even foot and ankle pain or you want to run faster, cycle further or lift more, you’ve got to get those glutes activated and working efficiently.
And the Booty Band is the perfect tool to help you do just that!
By using a band for these moves, you help yourself engage the glute medius to stabilize your hips and this can, in turn, help the glute maximus also fire better and become stronger.
The band is great too because it applies constant pressure, even increasing pressure at the point in the movement where you are the strongest.
Because of the nature of the bands, the range of motion on many of these moves and the PUMP the band creates, it really helps you establish that mind-body connection and use metabolic stress to drive muscle growth.
10 Booty Band Moves To Activate Your Glutes
Squat to Squat Pulse:
If you’re planning to include squats in your workout, this is a great way to warm up your muscles, improve your hip mobility and activate your glutes.
To do the Squat to Squat Pulse, place the Booty Band right above your knees and stand with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart.
Then squat down, sitting your butt down and back. Press out on the band as you squat to about parallel or below. Do not let your knees cave in as you lower down.
Drive back up to standing and make sure you press out against the band as you stand back up. Do not let your knees cave as you stand up. Also, make sure you aren’t rocking in on your feet. After standing back up, squat down again.
This time at the bottom, come up only a few inches to pulse up and then sink back down before standing all the way back up.
Throughout, really focus on pressing out on that band!
Repeat, performing the squat then the pulse at the bottom before another full squat.
Wall Sit:
If you’ve ever had knee pain, or if you’re an avid skier, runner or cyclist, the Booty Band Wall Sit is a must-do move!
To do the Booty Band Wall Sit, place a booty band right above your knees.
Then sit back against a wall with your feet about hip-width to shoulder-width apart and your knees over your ankles. Make sure your hips, knees and feet are all in line. Don’t let the band cause your knees to cave in. Press out against the band as you stay in that wall sit with your knees and hips about at 90 degrees.
Do not drop down below that parallel squat. Beginners may be up a bit higher if needed, but try to get your quads to about parallel to the ground. Hold here and think about what you feel working. And press your back into the wall, driving through your heels.
Donkey Kicks:
Correct imbalances as you activate your glutes with this unilateral move. It is also a great way to work on engaging your and activating your abs!
To do Booty Band Donkey Kick, start on your hands and knees and place a band right above your knees. You’ll be in a quadruped position with the band around your legs.
Your knees should be right under your hips and your feet should be flexed. Make sure your hands are right under your shoulders.
Then keeping one knee bent and foot flexed, drive that foot up and back toward the ceiling. Keep your core braced and squeeze your glute as you kick your heel up and back. Do not let your right knee flare out as you lift; however, you can kick slightly up and out to create more lateral tension on the band.
Make sure to really drive your heel up toward the ceiling. Extend your hip as you kick back. Don’t simply swing the leg back and up or hyperextend your low back to kick up higher. You want to squeeze your glute and feel your hip extending. Do not worry so much about height but about contracting your glute to almost “stop” yourself from kicking higher.
Hold for a second then lower back down and repeat.
You can also make it even more of a burner by pulsing at that end range of motion or create a bit more muscle tension by working through a fuller range of motion. You can also go down to your forearms if you find you want to arch your back or have wrist pain.
3-Way Seated Abductions:
Strengthen your glute medius from 3 different positions to activate both anterior and posterior fibers! Sometimes it isn’t about using a heavier resistance to create change, but about simply tweaks to your body position.
To do 3-Way Seated Booty Band Abductions, place the band right above your knees and sit on a bench. Start by sitting toward the front of the bench so you can lean back and put your hands on the bench behind you. Place your feet about hip-width apart.
Then press your knees open against the band as you lean back. Your feet may rock open but focus on using your glutes to press the band open with your knees. Do not let your knees cave in as you come back to the starting position. Complete all reps then move to sit up nice and tall.
Sitting nice and tall repeat, pressing out with your knees so you feel your glutes working. After completing all reps, lean forward and repeat the movement. You can hold on the bench outside your legs to lean forward or just lean over even lightly resting your arms on your legs.
Complete all reps in each of the 3 positions. Make sure you’re really focused on pressing your knees out to feel your glutes while controlling the band back in. To reduce tension, you can put your feet slightly closer together, but make sure there is tension on the band even in that starting position or the band may slip down.
Bridge with Abduction:
This is a great move to work on hip extension while activating your glute medius and maximus.
If you even include a “squeeze” as you bridge up and lower, you can help activate and strengthen your adductors as well, which can be beneficial for anyone with hip or knee pain.
To do the Bridge with Abduction, place the Booty Band right above your knees and lie on your back with your knees bent and feet together and flat on the ground just beyond your finger tips when your arms are stretched down by your sides.
Bend your elbows to 90 degrees and drive your upper arms down into the ground. Squeeze your legs together and even posterior tilt your pelvis, pressing your lower back into the ground.
Then bridge up, driving through your heels. At the top, push your knees out against the band as far apart as you can. Bring your knees back together and squeeze your legs together as you lower down.
Repeat bridging back up. Do not arch your lower back just to bridge up higher. Really feel your glutes working to bridge up then the sides of your butt working to press your knees open. You may even feel your inner thighs working as you lift and lower.
The band may lose tension as you squeeze your legs together but should become tight as you fully press to abduct at the top.
Alternating Side Taps:
This is a great abduction or lateral move to activate your glute medius and it requires less space than the traditional band side shuffle.
To do Booty Band Alternating Side Steps, place a band right above your knees.
Stand with your feet a few inches apart so there is just a little bit of tension on the band. Push your butt back slightly and soften your knees so you are in a slightly hinged position. Then step one foot out to the side. Step the other foot toward it without fully stepping together and losing tension on the band.
Then step that foot back out and bring the other back to the starting position. Keep alternating steps back and forth, staying in that slightly hinged position as you go. Do not step so wide your knees cave in. Make sure you can really press out against the band.
Plank Lateral Taps:
This is a great move to work your entire core with a little extra focus on those glutes! Beginners can always start by doing this move even off an incline with their hands up on a bench.
To do Plank Lateral Taps, set up in a high plank position with the booty band right above your knees. Your hands should be under your shoulders and your feet should be close together, just apart enough that there is a very little bit of tension on the band to hold it in place.
Holding this plank position with your body in a nice straight line and your abs braced, step one foot out to the side. Make sure you fully press out against the band and don’t just reach with your toe. You even want to think about leading with your heel slightly as you step laterally.
Don’t worry about stepping further out if it means swinging or sagging your hips. Also, don’t let your butt go up in the air.
Touch one foot laterally and step back together before stepping out to the other side. Alternate taps to each side, moving at a controlled pace.
Quadruped Straight Leg Lifts:
This move is another great unilateral move to work on activating your glutes and abs.
To do the Quadruped Straight Leg Lifts, place a booty band right above your knees. Set up on your hands and knees with your knees under your hips and your hands under your shoulders. Your feet should be flexed.
Straighten one leg out behind you. Keeping your foot flexed, lift your straight leg up toward the ceiling. Squeeze your glute and lift your leg until it is about parallel to the ground. Only lift higher if you feel your glute working and not your low back. Lower the leg back down to the ground and repeat. Lift the leg straight up and squeeze the glute at the top.
Hold for a second or two and repeat. Focus on keeping both hips square to the ground and make sure you don’t lean too much toward that supporting side or bend your elbows. You can kick slightly out to the side and back too to engage your glute medius more if you’re struggling to feel your glute maximus working (and instead feel your hamstring, right under your butt, or lower back taking over).
Complete all reps on one side before switching. You can even pulse at the end range of motion if you struggle to maintain engagement with a full range of motion to start.
Side Plank Leg Lifts:
This is a great move to strengthen your obliques as well as your glutes. It is, however, a very advanced move. Beginners may do this from their knees or even off a bench and may potentially not use the band to start.
To do Booty Band Side Plank Leg Raises, place the band right above your knees. Set up in a side plank from your forearm with your elbow under your shoulder and your feet stacked. You can drop your bottom knee to the ground if you need to modify. Lift up into the side plank and flex your feet (this is a key point to flex your feet and create tension down your leg).
Then, keeping your bottom hip up, hold in that side plank position as you lift and lower the top leg. Control the lift and lower so that the band isn’t controlling you and making you lower quickly. Don’t dip your hip or swing or rotate just to kick up higher. Hold as you feel your glutes working to lift and lower that top leg.
Also, watch your foot to see if you rotate the toe open toward the ceiling. While external rotation isn’t bad, it does change how the move works your glutes.
Tabletop Bridge:
The Tabletop Bridge is a must-do activation move if you sit at a desk all day as it opens up your chest as well as your hips while activating your glutes. And when you add a band, you get that glute medius firing too!
To do the Booty Band Tabletop Bridge, place a band right above your knees and start seated on the ground with your feet flat on the ground in front of you and your hands on the ground behind you.
Press out on the band with your feet about hip-width apart. Do not let your knees cave in as you bridge and lower.
Then squeeze your glutes and lift your hips up as high as you can. Press your chest out as you bridge up. You can lean your head back if it helps your neck or slightly tuck to look in front of you to help activate your glutes. Really feel a nice stretch across your chest and shoulders as you squeeze your glutes and press out against the band.
Keep your core tight as you bridge up, even using a slight posterior pelvic tilt to protect your lower back.
Hold for a few second at the top then lower back down and repeat.
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This one muscle causes more issues than we often realize. But because the pain and issues it often causes are “elsewhere,” we often don’t realize this nasty little culprit…
Ok…while no muscle is really “nasty” or “evil,” it is important we recognize the different roles specific muscles play in creating imbalances, compensations and injuries up and down our bodies.
And one muscle we need to pay more attention to is the TFL!
Too often we ignore the issues that can arise from a shortened or tight and overactive TFL or Tensor Fasciae Latae.
This muscle loves to try to take over for other muscles, especially our glute medius. And while often our IT Band, or sometimes even our hip flexors, get blamed, the TFL is ACTUALLY responsible for a variety of low back, hip and knee aches and pains!
The TFL – A Culprit Of IT Band, Low Back, Hip And Knee Pain!?
If you’ve ever had IT Band “issues” or IT Band Syndrome, you may want to take a closer look at your TFL.
A tight, overactive TFL can lead to increased tension on the IT Band, making it feel “tight,” and also cause irritation of the tissue between the IT Band and lateral aspect of the knee joint.
This can lead to knee aches and pains such as patellofemoral pain syndrome (this can also be called runner’s knee or jumper’s knee).
Tightness of the TFL can also restrict hip mobility and contribute to excessive anterior pelvic tilt. Both of these things can lead to hip and low back aches and pains.
And even though there is no direct connection between our TFL and ankle, guess what!?
Everything is connected!
A tight, overactive TFL has even been implicated in causing changes to ankle mobility because of how it also affects the knee joint.
Basically, if your TFL becomes tight and overactive, and you don’t address the imbalances it creates, potentially even because you are wasting time addressing “symptoms” of the problem (aka just focusing only on the point of pain), you can end up with compensations, immobility and imbalances that lead to aches, pains and INJURIES up and down your body!
What Does The TFL Or Tensor Fasciae Latae Do?
While you may be thinking, “Ok I get it. The TFL is a nasty little sucker and I need to relax and lengthen it, especially if I have any of those issues. Now just tell me how to do that!”
And I will provide you with moves below to help you do just that.
HOWEVER, it is important we understand the basic functions of this muscle so we can then be aware of when it may try to compensate during exercises and where we should be feeling the moves instead!
So what does the TFL do?
The TFL contributes to hip abduction (lifting your leg out to the side), hip flexion (bringing your knee up toward your chest) and hip internal rotation (rotating your hip to turn your toe and knee in toward your other leg).
At the knee it also contributes to tibial external rotation, which is when you turn your foot out.
And at your pelvis it assists in anteriorly tilting you pelvis, which, if the muscle is tight, can lead to excessive arching of your lower back.
Why is it important you understand these functions?
Because when you see the movements that the TFL performs, you can also start to see the muscles that may become weak and inhibited (or underactive) because your TFL is tight!
The most common muscle we need to activate, if our TFL is tight, is our GLUTES, especially our glute medius!
The glute medius is supposed to be our primary hip abductor. HOWEVER, if the TFL becomes shortened and overactive, it may restrict our glute medius from firing effectively and efficiently and even try to carry more of the load than it should.
Have you ever done Mini Band Monster Walks or Lateral Raises and really felt your hips burning?
That may be because the TFL is trying to take over for your glute medius instead of allowing it to work as it should!
So how do you avoid letting the TFL take over?
3 Moves To Help Relax The TFL And Activate Your Glute Medius:
The first step is relaxing that overactive muscle. But once you’ve relaxed that muscle, you must then make sure that you improve your mind-body connection to properly RECRUIT your glute medius to do the work it should.
That is why you need to FOAM ROLL + STRETCH + ACTIVATE!
Below is a foam rolling and stretching move for your TFL as well as an activation abduction move to strengthen your glute medius.
TFL Foam Rolling:
Relax this overactive muscle using this foam rolling move. Relaxing trigger points here may help you find relief too for a tight IT Band. Any time we hear “foam roll your IT Band” we should either focus on our lateral quad or our TFL.
To roll out your TFL, you can use a roller although a ball works best. The smaller and harder the ball, the more it will dig in. If there is too much pressure and you can’t relax while holding on the tight spot, use something softer or a roller without spikes.
Place a ball on the ground then position your body so the ball is just below and outside, or back, from your hip bone. Roll the ball around slowly to find a tight spot and then hold on any tight spots.
If you find a tight spot, hold on that spot and lift and lower your leg up and down. By lifting and lower the leg, you are flexing and relaxing the muscle, which will help loosen everything up as you hold.
As you seek out tight spots in your hip, bring the ball around front and right to the side under your hip bone. Again hold on any tight spots and even flex and relax your leg to help dig in.
You can work your way back out to the side of your hip, and even into your glutes as well, if you find any sore or tight spots. Remember you are holding and breathing to release not rolling fast back and forth over the spot.
TFL/IT Band Stretch:
I first learned this stretch when it was called the IT Band stretch, but the focus should actually be on your TFL. You may feel it all the way down the outside of that one leg even.
To do the Standing TFL or IT Band Stretch, start standing with your feet together. Then cross your left leg over your right leg. Bring the left foot over and back across until the big toe is even with the big toe of the right foot. You want your feet even so that your front leg (the left leg) is pressing the back leg (right leg) straight during the stretch.
If you struggle to balance or it is too much pressure on your knees to have your legs so tightly crossed, place the front foot a bit out in front, but make sure that you don’t bend that back knee as you hinge over to stretch.
Then reach your arms up overhead for a nice big stretch. After reaching up, hang over, reaching your arms down toward the instep of the back foot (right foot). Push your hips out to the right as you reach toward your right foot so you feel a stretch down the outside of that right hip and side. You may even feel it down your right hamstring and calf.
Hold for a breath or two. Then reach back up overhead and cross your legs the other way so your left foot is back. Again reach up overhead then reach down toward your left instep, pushing your hips out to the left. Keep alternating sides with a reach up overhead in between every time.
Try to touch the ground as you reach down while making sure to keep your legs straight.
If you really struggle to balance, you may need to stand with your feet together and not crossed over as you reach toward the outside of each foot while pushing your hips away.
The key is really pushing that hip out to the side. You can even change things up reaching overhead and even slightly back with the arm on the same side as the hip you are pushing out to the side.
3-Way Seated Abduction:
To target both the anterior and posterior fibers of the glute medius and make sure it is strong and activated from a variety of different angles, the 3-Way Seated Abductions is a great move to use before your workout. In our workouts, and even daily life, we need our glute medius to fire effectively with our body in a variety of positions, it is important we also do work to activate it with different degrees of hip flexion!
Also, if you feel your TFL only taking over during one position, you can make note of that positioning and even roll right prior to that version. You can even use the other two first to make sure your glute medius is fully firing before you get to that variation.
And while your TFL assists with hip flexion, sitting with your hips flexed where your TFL isn’t necessarily trying to flex more (aka relaxed because the bench is supporting you), say unlike standing where you may try to bend at the hips, may even help you prevent your TFL from taking over!
To do 3-Way Seated Mini Band Abductions, place the mini band right below your knees and sit on a bench. Start by sitting toward the front of the bench so you can lean back and put your hands on the bench behind you. Place your feet about hip-width apart.
Then press your knees open against the band as you lean back. Your feet may rock open but focus on using your glutes to press the band open with your knees. Do not let your knees cave in as you come back to the starting position. Complete all reps then move to sit up nice and tall.
Sitting nice and tall repeat, pressing out with your knees so you feel your glutes working. After completing all reps, lean forward and repeat the movement. You can hold on the bench outside your legs to lean forward or just lean over even lightly resting your arms on your legs.
Complete all reps in each of the 3 positions. Make sure you’re really focused on pressing your knees out to feel your glutes while controlling the band back in. To reduce tension, you can start with a lighter band or put your feet slightly closer together, but make sure there is tension on the band even in that starting position.
Don’t Just Go Through The Motions – Form Tweaks That Help Activate Your Glutes:
Now that you know this nasty little sucker is out there causing issues, and even have some good ideas of how to start dealing with those aches and pains, I do want to remind you that doing the “RIGHT” moves isn’t enough if you don’t feel the CORRECT MUSCLES WORKING!
That is part of the problem!
We do these abduction moves and our TFL tries to take over. Heck…it doesn’t try…we LET IT!
So doing more abduction moves for your glute medius can backfire if you aren’t feeling the right areas working. And simply having the move “look right” and performing a proper movement pattern, doesn’t mean you have a proper recruitment pattern.
As you do these moves, or any moves for that matter, make sure you FEEL THE RIGHT MUSCLES WORKING!
You want to use activation moves where your focus isn’t on lifting more to establish that mind-body connection so when you go lift heavy or run, those proper recruitment patterns are AUTOMATIC!
Assess where you feel working and tweak or change moves until you know that your glute medius is actually firing and your TFL isn’t just taking over.
Add in an extra round of foam rolling during your workout if you start to feel your TFL working. Reduce the loads or resistance you are using if you’re fatigued and compensating.
Or make small tweaks to even those activation moves to help prevent your TFL from taking over!
So what are some tweaks you can make? And how can you help yourself know that your glute medius is firing?
First, to help yourself focus on using your glute medius during abduction moves….
You need to know where you should be feeling it, right?
Place your pointer finger on your hip bone and your thumb back along the top side of your butt.
Where your thumb is?
Well that is where you want to feel those moves! Focus on feeling under your thumb working to start!
Now in terms of tweaking moves?
While your TFL assists with hip internal rotation, it also assists in external tibial rotation.
Often when people say they feel their hips during Monster Walks or lateral raises, you’ll notice their toes/feet start to rotate out.
By instead INTERNALLY rotating their foot, or turning their foot down and in, while the TFL does engage to internally rotate the hip, it sort of “keeps the TFL busy” during the lateral raises or abduction moves so the glute medius can act as the prime mover for those movements.
(In the picture above, the left shows external rotation vs. internal rotation on the right. You would want to set up like on the right and maintain that position through the lateral raise. It doesn’t have to be extreme internal rotation, just think slightly lead with your heel).
You can also often help engage that glute medius better by kicking slightly BACKWARD as you lift to the side. This prevents the TFL from flexing the hip and instead puts the hip in extension.
(Notice in the left picture I lift straight out to the side versus the right where I kick slightly backward as I raise out to the side. And SIDE NOTE: Especially if you are doing these for reps or adding a mini band, place your hands on a wall or something in front of you to balance. It also helps prevent you from rocking and engaging your lower back!)
Form, while important, isn’t this one solid thing we make it out to be! Try different body positions and tweaks to moves so YOU can establish that mind-body connection. Then start using variations from there as you gain more and more control!
Ready to prevent and alleviate lower back, hip and knee aches and pains?
Heard all too often you need to strengthen your core, especially your glutes?
Want to run faster, lift more, cycle further….and maybe even just build a strong, sexy lower body and butt?
Often one of the first “warning signs” of potential injury can be immobility…especially when you notice a lack of mobility only during specific movements or on one SIDE of your body.
Neck pain? Shoulder pain? Upper back aches and pains?
If a joint is restricted, it can lead to overload of other joints and overuse of muscles that aren’t meant to handle the load AKA compensations, imbalances and INJURY!
That is why it is key you address any restrictions in mobility you may have from say…YOUR DESK JOB.
Or commuting in the car. Or hunching over your phone as you text…
But improving your mobility isn’t as simple as just stretching.
Often we stretch and just feel like we tighten right back up because we keep replicating the same movement patterns and recruitment patterns that made us tight in the first place.
We may even foam roll having heard that foam rolling is like a massage and can loosen and relax tight muscles.
But again…it may feel good in the moment, but results never really seem to “stick.”
That is why you must include ACTIVATION MOVES and make your mobility work a 3-part process before you include more compound and strengthening or cardio exercises!
This doesn’t have to mean spending hours rolling, stretching and activating. Even just picking 1-2 moves of each for a quick 5-10 minute warm up can work wonders if you’re targeting your areas of tightness or weakness!
Below are 5 moves of each – Foam Rolling, Stretching and Activation – from my Arm Burner program to help you get started improving your mobility!
How To Improve Your Shoulder Mobility – Try These 15 Exercises
Foam Rolling:
Chest Foam Rolling:
Because so many of us spend so much time hunched over at a computer or seated in a car, our pecs or chest muscles can become tight and shortened.
This can lead to not only shoulder injury, but also be partly responsible for why your upper back and neck always feels tight! This can lead to the muscles of your upper back becoming over stretched and underactive.
That is why it is key that many of us start with relaxing our chest muscles!
To roll out your chest, you can use a larger foam ball against the ground or a smaller ball against the wall (You can also use a smaller ball against the ground just make sure to elevate it on some books especially if you have carpet!)
If you use the ball against the wall or even on the ground, place the ball right in the side of your chest by your shoulder joint. Do not place it on your shoulder joint.
Then reach your hand up overhead and back down toward your feet. If you are using the ball against a wall in a doorway, reach your hand out in front of you, bringing it up overhead and then down toward the ground.
Roll the ball from your shoulder along the bottom of your collarbone to dig out your entire chest. Hold on any tight spots.
Lat Foam Rolling:
While we often think of our lats as part of our back, which they are, they can also perpetuate our hunched posture and rounded shoulders partly because of their insertion point in our upper arm.
Tight lats can not only limit your shoulder mobility, but lead to scapular pain AND even perpetuate SI Joint Dysfunction, making them an important muscle to pay attention to!
To roll out your lats a roller is best although you can use a foam ball or even a tennis ball.
Start by lying on your side with a roller under one armpit. Extend the arm on the side with the roller up above the roller. Then rock forward and backward on the roller, rotating your chest toward the ground and then up toward the ceiling as you roll on the roller so it hits toward your ribs and then toward your back.
Hold on any tight spots you find then move it lower down the side of your back. Hold on any tight spots as you go and make sure to rock forward and backward as you make your way down your side.
As you work down your side, you may want to rotate slightly more toward your back. Work all the way from your armpit to about the end of your rib cage.
Be careful when rolling lower down your back into your low back. You do not want to arch over the roller and hyperextend your low back.
Trap Foam Rolling:
Our traps are often addressed as three segments – upper, middle and lower traps – as each portion of the muscle does help with different scapular actions.
This is important to note as for many the upper traps may be tight while the lower and mid traps may be weak. (Just to throw a wrench in things though too, I do go into how the upper traps are an interesting muscle as they aren’t always overactive and tight or underactive and weak similar to the psoas in the Arm Burner program.)
But I list the “traps” as an important muscle to roll out, partly too because with this foam rolling move, you can not only address tightness in your traps, but also the other muscles of your upper back, such as your rhomboids, which can become overactive especially if your traps are weak!
This move can be key for anyone who’s suffered from tension headaches in the past.
To roll out your upper back, traps and shoulders with a ball, stand with your back to a wall and place the ball to the side of the base of your neck. Press the ball into the wall and roll it down along your shoulder blade.
Hold on any tight spots. You may even want to pull your arm across your chest as you dig out under the shoulder blade.
You can also use the ball against the wall to dig out right at the top of your armpit behind your shoulder and all along your upper back from the base of your neck to the bottom of your shoulder blade.
If you want to apply more pressure with the ball, you can use a harder ball or use the ball against the ground instead of the wall.
Thoracic Extension:
This move helps relax the muscles along our spine to help us start improving our spinal, specifically thoracic, extension.
If we don’t have proper extension of our spine we will seek mobility from other areas. This can lead to not only upper body aches and pains, but also LOWER BACK pain!
A peanut is a great tool to use for this foam rolling move, or you can use a roller.
To work on your Thoracic Extension using a roller, place the roller on the ground and lie back over the roller with the roller at about your mid-back. You do not want to do this move with the roller in your low back or you could hyperextend your low back.
Cross your hands over your chest and, keeping your butt on the ground, extend your back over the roller. As you extend back over the roller, reach your hands overhead and relax your head and neck. Try to touch the backs of your hands to the ground behind you without lifting up your butt or putting the move all in your low back. Focus on extending your mid and upper back over the roller.
Sit back up and cross your hands back over your chest. You can then repeat, relaxing and extending back over as you relax your arms back overhead.
Perform the extension a few times, especially if the area feels tight, and then move the roller higher up on your back and, again with your butt on the ground, extend back over the roller. Hold for a second or two as you extend so that you can breathe and relax more over the roller.
Work all the way up your mid to upper back. Do not do this on your lower back. If you are going to work into your lower back, a peanut is a better tool that doesn’t hyperextend your lower back.
You can use a Rumble Roller, so a roller with “nobs” instead of a flat roller, if you want to dig in more.
Forearm Foam Rolling:
Our forearms are often forgotten muscles until we have to address them, whether to strengthen our grip to lift more, completely an obstacle course race or because of wrist and elbow pain and injury.
If you are spending a lot of time in the car, gripping the steering wheel or at a computer using your mouse or typing, it is a good idea to roll our your forearm, especially overactive flexors (the underside of your forearm).
However, depending on the elbow or wrist pain, it is important to note, you can also roll out your extensors.
To roll out your forearm, place a small ball or roller up on a table or desk. Place your forearm over the ball with it right below your elbow. You can start with the underside of your forearm down on the ball.
Then press down on your forearm with your other hand to press it into the ball. Start to make small circles on the ball to dig in more. Hold on any tight spots. If you find a tight spot, you can also tense and relax your forearm to help the ball dig in further. To tense and relax your forearm, you can flex and extend your wrist or even make a fist and then relax your hand.
By flexing and relaxing the muscles, you help the ball dig in and release the tight spot.
Roll the ball all along the fleshy part of the underside of your forearm. Then move to the outside of your forearm. Make sure to get the outside and inside of your forearm as there can be trigger points in both spots causing potential wrist and elbow pain.
Don’t waste time on any areas that aren’t tight or sore. Seek out and spend time on any areas of pain.
Apply as much pressure as you can handle and use as small and hard a ball or roller as you can.
Stretching:
Shoulder Flossing:
Especially if you are loosening up before a workout, you don’t want to HOLD stretches, but instead try to put the joint through a full range of motion so you can then strengthen through that full range of motion.
And shoulder flossing is a great way to start mobilizing the shoulder joint.
To do Shoulder Flossing, hold a band or towel in both hands with your hands about shoulder-width apart. You will adjust your hands in or out based on your mobility. Closer together requires more mobility, while further apart requires less. If you use a band, there will be some give so you can stretch the band if needed; however, with a towel there will be no give so make sure to set up correctly so that you can keep your arms straight through the full range of motion.
Stand up nice and tall with your chest pressed out as you hold the band in both hands in front of your legs.
Keeping your arms straight, lift your arms up overhead and then open them back up behind you. Reach them back toward the ground behind you, bringing them back down toward your butt. Then bring your hands back overhead and forward.
Because the band will stretch, it will give you a little play and allow you to open up wider if needed to get your arms in a full circle unlike the towel. Remember to hold in closer on the band as you gain more mobility and don’t need the band to stretch as much to allow you to complete the circle.
Half-Kneeling Thoracic Rotations:
Spinal mobility is key to helping us prevent neck and shoulder aches and pains. And we have to remember that our spine doesn’t only allow us to flex or extend but also rotate!
With Half-Kneeling Thoracic Rotations, you can improve your spinal mobility, open up your chest and even stretch your glutes a bit!
To do Half Kneeling Thoracic Rotations, set up in a half-kneeling position on the ground with both hands on the ground inside your front foot. Palms should be flat on the ground. If you are less flexible, you may need to come up a bit on your fingers as you rotate.
Then lift one hand and rotate your chest toward the front leg. Keep your front foot flat on the ground as you do it. Reach up and rotate your chest toward that front leg. Place the hand back down on the ground and then lift your other hand up toward the ceiling and rotate your chest away from the front leg. Really reach open and don’t let your front foot rock open.
You can even keep that arm against the leg to help you rotate. Place the hand back down and repeat the rotation toward your front leg. Move slowly and keep your front foot flat on the ground.
Kneeling Thoracic Extension And Lat Stretch:
This move can help improve your spinal extension aka reverse the constant forward flexion or hunched posture while also improving your shoulder mobility. It can stretch your lats and even your triceps.
To do the Kneeling Thoracic and Lat Stretch, place your elbows up on a bench about shoulder-width apart and kneel on the ground in front of the bench. Make sure you are back far enough that you have room to lean forward and over and drop your head between your elbows.
Then with your elbows on the bench, relax your chest and head over, sitting your butt back just slightly. Press your chest toward the ground and feel a nice stretch down your triceps and lats as well as through your thoracic spine. Try to extend your back as much as possible as you press your chest toward the ground.
You can either hold here and breathe to stretch deeper or you can come out of the stretch and then relax back into it and try to get further with each rep.
Suspension Trainer Snow Angels:
Since most of us spend so much time seated hunched over, we not only want to relax the muscles of our chest with foam rolling but also stretch them out!
I love this stretch too to open up the chest and improve your posture and shoulder mobility because it can also be a unilateral move if you find one side is tighter!
To do the Suspension Trainer Snow Angels, you will need a suspension trainer, rings or even towels or resistance bands anchored behind you.
Using a Suspension Trainer, hold a handle in each hand and walk away from the anchor point with your back to the anchor point. Extend your arms straight out to your sides at shoulder height and walk away from the anchor point so that you feel a stretch in your chest.
You may have to adjust slightly backward or forward as you begin to do the wave, depending on your mobility.
Then, standing still with your arms starting out at shoulder height, raise your arms up overhead. Keep your arms straight as you extend overhead and even lean slightly forward to increase the stretch.
Hold for a second or two and then bring your arms out and down to the side, lowering them all the way back and down toward the ground. Keep your arms straight as you bring them down.
Feel the muscles of your chest and even around your shoulder stretching as you lower your arms down.
Then bring them back up out to the side and back overhead. Move in a fluid, smooth “wave” as you lift and lower. This movement also sort of looks like you are drawing a snow angel behind you.
Move slowly to wave the arms up and down. Make sure you are far enough out and leaning slightly forward so that you feel a stretch. If it is too much and you can’t move your arms in a full wave, move back slightly or don’t lean in as much.
Hold at any point that feels extra tight for a breath or two.
Thread the Needle:
If you’re upper back and neck constantly feel tense, this can provide some more “instant” relief, even if not lasting relief.
You will feel this move all across your upper back and even gently in your neck.
While this can be a move used as part of your warm up if you alternate sides, pausing for only a breath on each side, it is also a great move to include in your cool downs or recovery workouts as a static stretch.
To do the Thread the Needle Stretch, kneel on the ground and then lean forward, reaching one arm overhead to place the palm on the ground as you reach the other one under your arm to relax the side of your head and body down to the ground. As you relax the side of your head and your bottom shoulder down, use the hand overhead to help rotate your chest open toward the ceiling.
You are “threading a needle” by reaching one arm through the “hole” created by the arm reaching overhead.
Breathe and relax into the stretch so that you feel a stretch down your neck and across your shoulder blades. Rotate your chest up and open. You can walk your top arm back behind your head to increase the stretch.
Hold and then thread the other arm under and through.
Hold each stretch for at least a second or two before switching. Sit back onto your heels if you can keep your head and shoulder on the ground.
Activation:
Single Arm Scapular Push Up:
Working on your scapular retraction can be key to keeping your neck, shoulders and upper back aches and pain free! It can also help you improve your pull ups as well while improving your shoulder stability.
The Single Arm Scapular Push Up is a great move to use too because it is a unilateral move that will allow you to address each side independently and correct any imbalances.
To do Single Arm Scapular Push Ups, set up facing a wall. Place one hand up on the wall at about shoulder height. Your arm should be straight, but make sure you aren’t shrugging. You can be at a slight incline to make the move harder by walking your feet back, but start standing more vertical to the wall so you can really focus on proper movement of your shoulder blade.
Then, keeping your elbow straight, press your chest toward the wall as you feel your shoulder blade retract back. You should feel your shoulder blade move toward your spine. Do not shrug your shoulder as you focus on moving the shoulder blade. Pause then relax back out.
Make sure you don’t shrug or bend your elbows or rotate to try to make the movement bigger. Keep your core tight and isolate that one side working. You will feel the muscles along the side of your back and your ribs working. You can even put the opposite hand below your armpit on the working side to feel those muscles working.
Back Of Hand Rows:
I love moves that hit a number of muscles or address a number of issues at once.
Not only is this move a great workaround if you do have elbow pain but want to continue working your back, but it is also a great activation move for your back while improving your wrist extension!
To do the Back of Hand Band Row, anchor a resistance band in front of you and either loop it or make sure it has a handle you can put your hand through. Place the band or handle around the back of your hand and point your fingers up toward the ceiling. Step away from the anchor point so that there is tension in the band with your arm extended in front of you.
Stand up nice and tall and press your chest out as you face the mini band. Your feet should be about hip-width apart. Make sure you aren’t shrugging your shoulders as you hold your arm out in front of you with the band around your hand.
Then drive the elbow down and back as you row the back of your hand and the band into right below your chest. Row low so that you don’t shrug your shoulder. Also, don’t rotate as you row.
Feel your back pull the band back. Don’t just use your arms. Also, make sure that your upper traps don’t try to take over.
Really press the chest out and drive the elbow down and back. Straighten the arm back out and repeat.
Focus on feeling your back pull the band and not just your arm. By focusing on what muscles should be working, you will improve your mind-body connection.
Also, make sure to keep your fingertips pointing up toward the ceiling to engage the extensors in your forearm.
Mini Pull Ups:
This is a more advanced activation move but one that is key if you want to be able to do your first pull up.
Often the hardest part of achieving that first pull up is that initial engagement – that initial retraction and depression of the shoulder blades.
It’s why you may not be able to go from a full dead hang to a pull up, but if you jump just a little over that initial hurdle you can pull all the way up.
The Mini Pull Up is the perfect way to really activate and strengthen your back so that you can retract and depress your shoulder blades and prevent your shoulder from becoming overworked and injured.
To do Mini Pull Ups, start hanging from the bar with your palms facing away from you and your hands about shoulder-width apart.
From this dead hang position, press your chest out and up toward the bar as you draw your shoulder blades down and together. Feel your back engage as you draw your shoulder blades together and press your chest up toward the bar. You will feel your shoulders “unshrugging.”
Don’t bend your elbows and turn this into a pull up. You are simply working on that initial retraction and engagement. Really press your chest out and retract your shoulder blades, bringing them down and together.
Again, do not bend your arms to pull up. Use your back and feel your back engage. You should also feel your shoulders go down as your chest lifts up.
Pause at the top then relax back down to a full dead hang and repeat. Remember, you are not bending your elbows to make this movement bigger.
Because this is an advanced activation move, beginners may need to keep their feet down for assistance.
Prone Snow Angels:
Improve your shoulder mobility and activate the muscles of your upper back as well as your rotator cuff with this move. It is also a great move to start working on your scapular mobility.
Clients with less mobility may even need to start with this move standing facing a wall.
To do Prone Snow Angels, lie face down on the ground with your legs relaxed. Place your hands behind your head and then lift your chest up slightly off the ground as with the cobra. Do not arch so much to start using your low back back but just enough to engage your upper back.
Then begin to straighten your arms up and out overhead before slowly moving them out to the side as if creating a snow angel.
As you bring your hands back and down toward your butt, flip your hands over, rotating your shoulders as you bend your elbows to bring the backs of your hands to your low back.
Then reverse the motion, bringing your hands back out to the sides then back behind your head. Make sure to keep your chest slightly up, but do not let your low back take over. Keep your neck also relaxed as you do this and really feel your upper back and the backs of your shoulders working to keep your arms off the ground as you perform the move.
Downward Dog Scapular Presses:
Work on your spinal extension, shoulder stability and the elevation and depression of your shoulder blades with these scapular presses. It can also help activate and strengthen your serratus anterior which is a key muscle for scapular stability and even shoulder health.
Especially if you want to improve your stability with overhead pressing moves, this is a key activation exercise to include!
To do the Downward Dog Scapular Presses, start in a high plank position from your feet and hands with your hands under your shoulders and your feet about hip-width apart. Then drive your chest back toward your legs as you push your butt up in the air. Drive your heels down toward the ground as you try to get your biceps by your ears and extend your spine.
Do not walk your hands back and try to really drive through all of your fingers as well as your palm. Do not rock to the outside of your hands. Pause in this Downward Dog position.
Then push the ground away to elevate your shoulders while staying in this downward dog position. Then relax back into the normal downward dog. You are trying to elevate and relax your shoulders. Do not come back forward into plank until all reps are complete.
It will be a small range of motion. Focus on moving your shoulder blades.
Need workouts and a program to get you on track and consistently working to improve your shoulder and scapular mobility snd stability? Then check out my Arm Burner program.
The Arm Burner Program – Avoid aches and pains, strengthen your upper body and improve your pull ups and push ups! LEARN MORE –>
With the growing popularity of functional fitness and quick workouts, there is a tendency to “demonize” isolation exercises and believe that hybrid and compound moves are all you need.
Isolation moves get a bad rap because they don’t provide as much “bang for your buck” AND don’t force muscles to be recruited and work together as we usually need them to do in every day life.
I’ve heard trainers say, “Muscles don’t operate in isolation.”
Which is most often true, but trust me….there is always an exception.
I know I’ve bicep curled a grocery bag from the car floor while grabbing Kiwi under my other arm…
Plus, isolation moves can play a very important part in our workout routine for a number of reasons. They aren’t just for bodybuilders who are doing bicep curls for aesthetic reasons.
First, a quick review of what compound, hybrid and isolation exercises are though…
Compound Exercises – Compound exercises are moves that work multiple large muscle groups at once and engage two or more joints.
Hybrid Exercises – Hybrid Exercises are moves that combine two or more exercises together that flow well with each other and allow you to work more muscles at once and even work your body in different planes of motion in a shorter amount of time.
Isolation Exercises – Isolation Exercises are moves that involved one joint and limited muscles, often focusing on smaller muscles.
Now…Why do we so often favor compound and hybrid exercises over isolation moves?
To sum it up – Compound and hybrid exercises work more muscles in less time and teach our body to move efficiently.
They focus not only on working more muscles at once, but also usually larger muscles and more joint actions. That means we can burn more calories and build more strength in less time.
They also train our body to be strong and recruit muscles efficiently and effectively to work TOGETHER.
This is key if we want to move well in every day life and be able to react quickly.
So yes, they are 100% the more FUNCTIONAL moves.
From running to lifting, more than one joint and muscle group is being used, which is why we can’t just train in isolation.
We need to learn proper patterning and sequencing to recruit the right muscles, in the right order, to the extent that is needed.
Therefore, it is ESSENTIAL we focus our workouts on hybrid and compound moves.
BUT, that doesn’t mean we should just ignore isolation exercises!
When and why should we use isolation exercises?
So if hybrid and compound moves are not only more functional but also give us more bang for our buck so we can build strength and burn fat more effectively in less time, why would we ever want to use isolation exercises?
Ever heard the saying, “You’re only as strong as your weakest link”?
This is where isolation moves can help.
Because these moves are focused on specific movements, or actions, and muscles, they can help establish the mind-body connection with underactive muscles.
They can also help you correct imbalances and even help you strengthen the “weak links” so you can lift more during compound exercises and run faster.
Isolation exercises can be perfect ACTIVATION MOVES.
Activation moves are exercises that target muscles that are underactive or that we may have a hard time recruiting properly due to poor posture, compensations, imbalances and injury (even previous injury).
For example, all too many people will suffer from hip, low back and even knee pain.
The all too common culprit? Tight hips and underactive glutes from sitting at a desk for 9 hours a day.
Often we will do the stretching and even the foam rolling for the tight muscle. BUT that alone isn’t enough.
We then have to get muscles that may have become inhibited or underactive working.
And the answer to this may be some targeted glute work. Some isolation moves done to ACTIVATE that sleeping giant.
These could be used as part of our warm up to establish the mind-body connection before we run or lift or even right prior to the compound moves so that we can feel the muscle pumped and more easily recruit it properly. (I even mentioned earlier you can use them as a form of active rest!)
The hard part is, sometimes we may not even truly be AWARE that we aren’t recruiting the right muscles. Or we may just have accepted the aches and pains thinking those muscles are weak.
Proper form DOES NOT mean we’re necessarily using the right muscles to perform the compound move. Actually sometimes the more athletic the person, the more they can “hide” the imbalance.
If a muscle isn’t working properly, and we aren’t able to recruit it efficiently, our body will take the path of least resistance to perform the move we’re asking it to do.
This leads to overuse of other, often smaller, muscles that aren’t meant to carry the load being placed on them.
That is why using the activation moves can be so key.
Because the activation movements are smaller and more targeted, it makes it easier to know that you are engaging the right muscles. And it makes it harder for other muscles to take over.
You can then create a “pump” in the desired muscles and establish the mind-body connection so that you’re aware of what muscles are working in your compound moves and make sure the muscles that are meant to power the movement are pulling their weight.
When designing our workouts, no matter a person’s goals or current fitness level, they are looking to move better and prevent injury.
By including activation moves to counteract our modern lifestyle, or even address their specific movement distortions based on their history, we can help them do just that!
So isolation moves are key to get the right muscles working and then even target those “weak links” to strengthen them.
You may think a deadlift or kettebell swing is WAY better than a glute bridge. They are more compound moves so don’t they provide more full-body benefit!?
But that doesn’t mean you ignore the glute bridge.
Not only can that basic move be used for activation when done with light resistance or even bodyweight, but it could be the perfect strengthening move for your glutes to improve your hip extension if you load it down.
And that glute strengthening work?
Well that could then improve your deadlift AND your running!
So sometimes including more isolated movements even AFTER your compound lifts, as accessory lifts, can help you strengthen those weak points to improve your overall strength and efficiency.
And then, of course, there is the traditional reason we use isolation moves – aesthetic reasons.
If you are competing in a fitness competition, you may need to use these moves to create a meticulously balanced physique. By isolating muscles, you can make sure everything is balanced.
Now what about using isolation exercises to target an area to spot reduce?
That’s a myth, right!?
Isolation exercises and spot reduction!?
So spot reduction is a myth…at least in the way people generally try to do it.
No amount of isolation moves alone will reduce body fat in an area.
That doesn’t mean though that we should ignore the fact that spot lipolysis DOES actually exist.
Studies have shown that when we work a specific muscle group with an exercise, we do mobilize more fatty acids from the fat cells near the worked muscles.
So what does this mean for spot reduction?
It means that isolation moves can help us mobilize more fatty acids from those specific areas to burn fat in those “trouble zones” preferentially.
HOWEVER…if we stop there with the isolation moves, we may have mobilized fatty acids from the areas we want to target, but those mobilized fatty acids won’t necessarily be utilized.
Therefore, we WON’T lose fat from those specific areas and we won’t see any spot reduction.
That is why our traditional way of trying to spot reduce, by doing tons of isolation exercises, doesn’t work.
After we mobilize the fatty acids with isolation exercises, we then have to use interval training or compound/hybrid exercises to UTILIZE those mobilized fatty acids.
We have to give our body a reason to use those mobilized fatty acids as energy!
To get spot reduction to work for us, we need to follow the targeted isolation moves with exercises and workout designs that force our body to use those fatty acids for energy!
What does all this mean? Isn’t diet 80% of the battle though anyway?
YES! There is still the fact that you can’t out exercise a bad diet.
To lose weight and change your body composition, you need to dial in your diet.
BUT if a client comes to you, or you are designing workouts for yourself, and you have certain “trouble zones” that never seem to change no matter how much you dial everything in, why NOT try using every tool at your disposal?!?
Why not start implementing a technique that could help you get better results?
And, as I’ve come to realize, most of those “trouble zones” we want to target also often coincide with underactive muscle groups like our abs and glutes that could benefit from activation (aka isolation movements) anyway!
Use isolation moves to activate AND help mobilize fatty acids so then you can get MORE out of your compound and hybrid exercises and potentially even reap the benefits of spot lipolysis!
So…What moves should you use?
Like everything in workout design, it all comes back to who the workouts are for – aka what are their goals and current fitness level.
But it is important to remember that compound, hybrid and isolation moves can, and should, all be a part of a well-rounded fitness program.
While I say that hybrid and compound moves provide “more bang for your buck,” it is important to remember that in some cases, isolation moves may be better!
Because if it is “bang for your buck” in terms of preventing injuries and compensations? Well then isolation moves are better!
Don’t be afraid to use a move just because someone said it wasn’t functional. Or that muscles don’t operate in isolation.
Remember to use EVERY tool at your disposal so you can achieve the results you’re looking for!
Rotator cuff injuries are all too common. And often when we have an injury, we think the muscle must have been weak and that is why they got hurt.
But all too often that IS NOT the case. All too often smaller, weaker muscles end up injured because they become overstrained and overworked.
So while we may need to rehab them to rebuild them after the injury, it is key we also understand that overworking them again is NOT the answer!
Your rotator cuff is an important muscle group to keep strong to support your shoulder. HOWEVER, all too often these small muscles become overstressed and overstrained.
These muscles can become overworked due to our poor posture. Therefore working on thoracic extension and shoulder mobility are key.
So while we do need to strengthen them, we also need to make sure that other bigger and stronger muscles are pulling their weight to support our shoulders and prevent them from becoming overworked!
First off, what are the 4 muscles of your rotator cuff?
Supraspinatus
Infraspinatus
Teres Minor
Subscapularis
So what do these muscles do?
The Supraspinatus abducts the shoulder, aka helps you raise your arm out to the side.
The Infraspinatus and Teres Minor externally rotate the shoulder. If your elbow was in by your side and bent to 90 degrees and your hand was out in front, it would help rotate your hand out to the side.
The Subscapularis internally rotates your shoulder. So if your elbow was bent in the same position as I described above, your hand would move in toward your body.
It is important to note that while these muscles all help stabilize your shoulder they all can contribute to different joint actions. That is why if you have had “rotator cuff injuries” it is important you know which one!
But these muscles are key for stability since your shoulder is a ball and socket joint. Think of it as if you had a golf ball on a tee and wanted to hold that golf ball in place so it could rotate but not fall off!
These muscles are also made up of mainly type I muscle fibers. So when you do want to work them for stability purposes, higher reps and lower loads will be key.
But remember, while keeping these muscles strong for stability is key, if your stronger, larger muscles aren’t working, or say that golf ball isn’t properly aligned on that tee, these muscles can easily become overworked which can lead to injuries such as tears!
So while you want to make sure activation moves are included for these muscles, preventing them from being overworked with foam rolling and stretching is key while also focusing on activation of larger muscles!
3 Key Moves To Prevent Rotator Cuff Overuse Injuries
To help prevent overuse of your rotator cuff muscles, you will want to make sure you have proper thoracic extension as well as shoulder and scapular mobility and stability.
In my Arm Burner program, I provide you with Burner Workouts that include foam rolling, stretching and activation series to help you address common areas of immobility and weakness due to our modern lifestyle aka the fact that we spend so much time sitting hunched over!
These help keep your body healthy and mobile BEFORE you end up with compensations, imbalances and injuries! They are also great prehab to keep previous injuries at bay!
Below are 3 moves that are important to include in your upper body training routines if you have a desk job especially!
1. Shoulder U Foam Rolling:
To do the Shoulder “U,” a bigger foam ball works best. Lie face down on the ground with the ball under your chest, under your collarbone and right beside your shoulder. Begin to roll out your chest. Hold on any tight spots in your chest as you move your arm from overhead down toward your feet.
Then roll the ball right along the muscles around your shoulder joint and then under your armpit. You can hold on any tight spots and relax and breathe. Continue moving the ball under your armpit to the side of your back, especially the muscles where your arm and back connect at the back and top of your armpit. Hold on any tight spots as you move the ball around your back.
You can roll it down the side of your back a bit and then up your back around your shoulder blade. Work up and down the shoulder blade then roll it back around front. And repeat a couple of times.
2. Active Foam Roller Star Stretch:
To do the Active Foam Roller Star Stretch, grab a foam roller or block that you can place on the ground under your knee. Start by lying on your back with the roller running parallel to your body and about the middle at waist height. Bend your knee, on the side furthest from the roller, and bring it up toward your chest so that your hip is bent to about 90 degrees.
Take the hand on the same side as the roller and reach across to the outside of that knee and pull your knee across your body to place it on the roller. Hold your knee down on the roller and even relax your lower leg down on it. You will want to keep your knee on the roller even if you do roll forward or backward a bit on it. Just don’t let the knee come up off of it.
Place your other hand behind your head so your elbow is open and out. Rotate to bring that elbow down on the ground by your opposite shoulder. Don’t just flap your arm but actually rotate your body.
Then lift the elbow up and rotate your chest back open toward the ceiling as you try to touch your shoulder and that elbow back down on the ground. You are trying to rotate as open as you can, twisting through your spine without letting your knee come up off the roller. Open up, pause and then rotate back closed. Repeat all reps on one side before switching.
3. Single Arm Scapular Push Ups:
To do Single Arm Scapular Push Ups, set up facing a wall. Place one hand up on the wall at about shoulder height. Your arm should be straight, but make sure you aren’t shrugging. You can be at a slight incline to make the move harder by walking your feet back, but start standing more vertical to the wall so you can really focus on proper movement of your shoulder blade.
Then, keeping your elbow straight, press your chest toward the wall as you feel your shoulder blade retract back. You should feel your shoulder blade move toward your spine. Do not shrug your shoulder as you focus on moving the shoulder blade. Pause then relax back out.
Make sure you don’t shrug or bend your elbows or rotate to try to make the movement bigger. Keep your core tight and isolate that one side working. You will feel the muscles along the side of your back and your ribs working. You can even put the opposite hand below your armpit on the working side to feel those muscles working.
Want to learn more about your upper body AND have over 700 workouts to help you prevent injury, improve your pull ups and push ups and build a strong, sexy back and arms?
GASP! Maybe there is something to this LOWER AB thing!
Fitness elitists will get really mad if you utter the term “lower abs.”
Because technically there is no lower ab muscle.
Technically it is all the same muscle the rectus abdominis that we are usually targeting with our core work, especially if we want six pack abs.
(I’ve had to turn away when another trainer tries to lecture me on using the term lower abs to secretly roll my eyes. I guess I could lecture them back…but why?)
Anyway…
All those “lower ab moves” we used to use started to get written off as simply hip flexor exercises since most of those moves done for lower abs include leg lower type movements.
And yes…your hip flexors DO work during those leg lowers.
But I just couldn’t fully accept that they had no impact on the “lower abs.”
My “lower ab” definition was best when doing more leg lower movements after learning the pelvic tilt and after doing hanging abs.
I felt the lower ab region really WORKING during those moves and I’m always extra conscious when testing movements to feel WHERE is activating.
Because guess what? Doing the right moves even without feeling the correct muscles working is going to do NOTHING except put you at risk for injury!
So feeling my “lower abs” working led me to include hanging abs and the posterior pelvic tilt in my Killer Core program.
If you feel the muscles activating, and have clients agree with those finding and feel their “lower abs” like never before, SOMETHING is going on.
So that led me to hours of pouring over studies trying to see if I could figure out what I, and my clients, were feeling.
Were we simply mistaking this feeling in our “lower abs” for our psoas working?
That’s when I found studies showing that different ab exercises DID, in fact, activate portions of the URA and LRA (upper and lower rectus abdominis) to different extents. (Study 1)
Which frankly makes sense considering we’ve shown, and even more widely accept, that exercises activate upper or lower pec fibers differently and even upper and lower glute max fibers differently.
Another interesting results I found in a study was that POSTERIOR PELVIC TILT actually had HIGHER LRA for groups that learned to perform it correctly and were even more active AKA all of us who’ve trained a lot and are looking for that true engagement! (Study 2)
This also made me realize how important it was to correctly teach the posterior pelvic tilt progression – a progression we often skip to jump right to the hardest leg lower move.
Ever feel your lower back taking over during leg lowers? Ever put your hands behind your lower back to correct this?
Well this is just putting a bandaid on the problem. This is why we end up only working our hips and quads, and maybe even lower backs, with these moves.
It’s why we DON’T work our lower abs to the extent these moves can work them.
When you want to work your lower abs, you need to focus on what is working. REGRESS the posterior pelvic tilt progression to maybe a single leg lower or bent knee march or even just a simple HOLD.
But regress until you can properly feel your abs working and then slowly progress!
Ok so maybe you’re now thinking “I buy the whole activating different aspects of the muscles, BUT leg raise movements are STILL hip flexor moves….”
Well guess what!?!
Hanging Leg Raises actually have the highest mean AND peak activation of the rectus abdominis! (Oh and this article not only confirms that but also the existence of differences in activation between the Upper and Lower RA!)
I would say it looks like my abs are working pretty hard here…as well as some other important muscles of my core!
So for you that are non-believers adamantly against any leg raise type movement who annoyingly try to correct anyone who even utters the words Lower Abs, just be open to the differences in activation!
And also realize that part of what makes a difference is what you force your body to feel working and how you even cue and coach the moves. Just like the double leg lowers…You sometimes need to regress to progress.
It may mean starting with a Hanging Pelvic Tilt to learn how to engage the abs to then help assist in the Hanging Leg Raises. Or it may be doing a bent knee raise to start. But the key is being conscious of what is working as you utilize these moves!
I almost feel like this adamant “there are no lower abs” makes us cut off our noses to spite our faces.
Why miss out on moves that can only HELP!?!
Don’t miss out on using these moves because the term we use is referring to a region of a muscle not a separate muscle.
Hanging Leg Raises, Pelvic Tilt…oh and even the Body Saw (a study also showed a longer lever plank like the Body Saw was great for the core!) are KILLER ab moves you NEED to be including!
Let’s not miss chances to get the results we want when we can FEEL something working!
It’s also another reason to THINK about what you actually feel working and constantly assess your recruitment patterns!
So take some time today and test out those moves!
Ready to work not only your LOWER ABS but your entire core?
Ready to implement some Hanging Abs, Pelvic Tilt and even long lever planks into your routine?
