Swinging the leg through fully is what calls upon the gluteus medius for more strength to balance and stabilize the pelvis. Where people go wrong is taking what I call a “ false step.” Walking lunges should be done like you normally walk. When you walk it is one foot after another. You don’t walk, and then place your foot next to the other one. This is the false step I am speaking about.
False Step
One of the more challenging aspects of this exercise is balance, especially if your gluteus medius is tight and deconditioned. You may be wobbling a bit when lunging but that is okay, just take it slow and make sure you are balanced on the way down. As your glutes get stronger and more conditioned, you will start to balance much easier. I urge you to start off slowly, and focus on sweeping that leg through, rather than taking that false step. Remember, we are reprogramming the muscles. We are actually trying to help them remember what they already know. Like Ida Rolf said, structure is behavior, and proper form will allow proper function !
Sets/Reps: Build up to 5 sets of 10 steps with each leg. Build slowly. If you have never done this exercise before your gluteals will be very sore the next day!
The Four Way Glute Bridge
Your gluteus maximus muscle (the thick fleshy part of your butt) is what physiologists call a quadrilateral muscle, meaning with how the fibers align themselves there are four different angles to it all rolled up into one large muscle. It orients itself from the pelvis to the leg obliquely downward and lateralward. Here is a better picture of what I’m talking about:
So even though the glute max is one muscle, the fibers go in four different directions. This makes it extremely versatile, yet tricky to train properly if you are not attacking the individual fibers separately. To begin this exercise, we are going to hit the lateral portion of the muscle and then slowly work our way inside to the medial portion.
Muscles targeted: 4 segments of the gluteus maximus, hamstrings, and low back muscles.
How to perform: We are first going to start out isolating the lateral part of the lateral of the gluteus maximus. To do this, lie on your back with your hands in a T fashion.
Next, bring your feet as close to your butt as you comfortably can and make sure they are hip width.
Third, place something thin between your knees to squeeze while performing the exercise to make sure you your knee stay together.
From this position, raise your hips straight up to the ceiling, squeezing you knees together and then finishing off by squeezing your glutes.
Sets/Reps: Complete one set of 50 repetitions.
We are now going to isolate the medial part of the lateral. To do this we change the position of the feet from being hip width, to touching.
Keep something thin between your knees still to make sure they stay touching. Press your feet into the floor and raise your hips as high as you can, squeezing your glutes at the top.
Sets/Reps: Complete one set of 50 repetitions.
Now we are going to work the lateral part of the medial. To do this we want to move the feet back out so they are hip width apart, and then move the knees out so they are hip width apart.
Press your feet into the floor and squeeze your glutes as hard as you can on every repetition, raising your hips as high as you can.
Sets/Reps: Complete one set of 50 repetitions.
Lastly, to hit the medial part of the medial, you are going to move your feet together and then spread your knees apart as far as possible until your feet start coming off of the ground.
Press your feet into the floor and raise your hips as high as you can, squeezing your glutes at the top.
Sets/Reps: Complete one set of 50 repetitions.
And there you have it. This gigantic 200-repetition set should have your glutes burning like an inferno and will probably be the first time some of these fibers were stimulated directly. Word to the wise, I have had athletes and laypeople alike have their hamstrings cramp up on them while doing these exercises. Fear not if and when this happens. Just relax till the cramp goes away, or stand up, walk around, and shake your leg out. In some cases, the stimulation this exercise provides is just a tad bit more than the body is used to handling, but this is the point of exercising – to overcompensate so we don’t get injured!
Bent Knee Single Leg Glute Bridge
So far we have been doing a lot of two-legged exercises to strength the back and butt, which is not a bad thing. Doing even one of the previous exercises for the prescribed length, or repetitions is probably more glute work than most of you are used to, but to really reeducate and restore the proper function of the low back we want to separate the body to see if there is a weakness in there somewhere and for the most part the walking lunges we did just won’t cut it even though the effect from the soreness may be telling us otherwise.
The bent knee single leg glute bridge is just the right type of exercise to do this for us because it reeducates proper firing patterns all throughout our posterior chain. There are two levels to this exercise, start with level one, and as you progress and the exercise becomes easier, move to level two for an entirely different challenge!
Muscles targeted: gluteus maximus, hamstring, and lower back musculature.
How to perform: To begin level one of this exercise, lay flat on your back with your foot as close to your butt as you can comfortably get it, arms at your sides, and opposite knee in your chest.
From here, press your foot into the floor and lift your hips to the ceiling as high as possible.
Perform the prescribed number of repetitions on one leg, and then switch to the other leg.
Sets/Reps: 3 sets of 25 repetitions each side.
Level two of this exercise allows us to get into a greater range of motion. To start the exercise, lay on your back with one foot up on a bench or sofa, making sure it forms a 90-degree angle. Draw the opposite knee to your chest and grab your shin keeping your leg close.
From this position you are going to press your heel into the bench and raise your hips up to the ceiling, locking them out and squeezing your glute as hard as possible, holding the finished pose for a second before you return back to the starting position.
Do all of the prescribed reps on one side before switching to the other.
Sets/Reps: Start off with 3 sets of 15 repetitions. Once that becomes easy, increase to 3 sets of 25 repetitions .
Concluding Thoughts on Strength
Hopefully as you were looking at the pictures and reading the descriptions of the exercises you started to understand where you have gone wrong, and why you ended up on back pain boulevard. For most people, even doing just one set of any of these exercises is enough to cause a negative reaction. Most people will actually feel worse from an exercise that is designed to heal. Why does this happen? We’ll cover that a bit more in our “Ask the Coach” section. For now, I want to reiterate our model of healing chronic pain in the body I introduced in the previous chapter. Some of these exercises may provide an extreme benefit to you right away, some of them may be eye-opening and extremely uncomfortable, and there may be one or two your body just isn’t ready for yet. Whatever the case is, remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we didn’t hatch the idea to travel to the moon and accomplish that feat within the first year even. These exercises are designed to get you from a place of pain to a place of power and posture and everyone is starting off at a different point. We must be mindful that people heal differently too. Do not get frustrated. Keep your thoughts positive. Breathe.
Ask the Coach: Why does all of this stuff (rolling, stretching, strengthening) have to hurt? Is that good?
While “no pain, no gain” has been a term that has been the cause of a great many eventual injury, pain does have its capacity to heal; the problem is that pain is largely misunderstood. Thomas Myers, renowned for his work with the human myofascial system and forward thinker of massage therapy has the following definition for pain:
“Pain is sensation accompanied by the motor intention to withdraw.”
So if you’re not trying to run from it, then technically it is not pain, it is just sensation. To me, pain is not felt only as bad. There is a tremendous amount of good pain I feel through the training, and bodywork I do for myself. While most people share this sentiment, there are a few, not many, but a few that view all pain as bad and have an instinctive desire to avoid it at all costs. To these people I offer the following explanation.
There are three types of pain that we can experience. The first is pain entering the body. This can happen as we fall on a knee ice-skating or bang our thumb with a hammer when we miss the nail. It is usually experienced as physical pain but can be emotional too in the form of witnessing something sad, or horrific. The second type of pain is pain that is stored in the body. This type of pain is often not felt as pain. It’s called stress, fatigue, or a feeling of not being able to do something that you wish, want, or used to be able to do. The third type of pain is pain leaving the body. This is the pain we experience through rolling, stretching, strengthening, bodywork, yoga, or weird little exercises that reprogram our butt and make it burn really bad .
Pain leaving the body does so through sensation, but can more aptly be characterized as energy. This energy provides an experience in the experiencer that creates awareness. It is a teacher of sorts on what not to do to be in this position again. It is a reminder when we feel that familiar pain to reach for the foam roller or lacrosse ball as soon as possible because delaying only means more time, and more pain to be lost and experienced in the future. Every one of us has experienced physical pain in some form in our life. Every one of us is walking around with some form of pain stored somewhere in the body as well. Not too many of us are working on releasing this pain, rather we hold onto all of our trauma and drama, absorbing it like a sponge, unleashing it on those we love and hold dear because they are who we are in the closest and most contact with.
Manual therapy (mobility) can now be seen as an alternative way to release emotions, decrease pain, and almost make ourselves cry without actually crying. Stretching can rearrange organs and restore their natural order, helping us digest food better to make the most of our nutrition, bringing proper health and wellness to the entire system. Strength training (muscle reprogramming) can give us a newer, more profound sense of confidence. We may walk with a stronger stride, or not think twice about a random act of kindness (such as opening a door or carrying groceries), which can contribute to the greater collective good of humanity. Seen this way, bodywork seems as though it should be a response-ability for all mankind young and old, for those in pain, and those not in pain. It should be something sought after and revered, rather than something most turn a smug nose to. The problem is bodywork is challenging and takes time away from our tweeting, trolling of Facebook, or Instagramming. It isn’t sexy or cool to be seen rubbing a ball on your inner thigh. It isn’t cost-effective to go to a massage therapist and drop $80 to just talk about your relationship and leave covered in oil. To justify the cause we need an effect and I’ve worked with too many people who were ready to give up before they met me. I hope you are one of those people who see what I have prescribed to already be working. I hope you see its efficacy not blindly, but from the greater ease you are experiencing from your own movement.
Like I said before, I always have a goal and a mission attached to everything I do. My goal is to get you out of pain, and on to a better lifestyle. My mission on the other hand is to change the way your brain thinks about pain and make you realize you are holding the tools to reverse it in your very hands.