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Establishing Foundational Control/Mobility

 

 

Glutes, glutes, and glutes!

 

Or is it...

 

Mobility, mobility, mobility! ...that our industry is fascinated with in our training? The reality is both are important for function and achieving our clients’ fitness goals. Unfortunately, most people don’t realize the interconnection of these two concepts, nor how to develop them to their full potential!

 

The 3-D Muscle

 

Physical therapist and one of the father’s of functional training, Gary Gray, really popularized the idea of triplanar muscles. He was referring to the fact that our movement doesn’t happen in a purely linear manner and bigger muscles like the lats, obliques, and glutes actually are designed to perform multiple actions at once!

 

The glutes for the sake of this article are going to be our focus, but it doesn’t mean we will look at them in isolation. While most train the glutes for hip extension, the glutes actually do far more than just extending the hips.

 

Force Closure: The glutes have close partners in the core and lats to work together to create what is called force closure of the SI joint. These muscles work in concert to add stability to the pelvis and resist unwanted movement. This is the reason why many say working the glutes will help one’s low back, but in reality, we have to work this chain.

 

The Ball and Socket: Most coaches have realized that the hip is a ball and socket joint which means it has a great deal of movement in circular motions. Particularly internal and external rotation. The freedom of movement of the hip allows us to keep the more stable lumbar spine safe and doing its job in striving for stability.

 

While many have started to approach hip mobility to keep the freedom of this internal and external rotation of the hip, the reality is that they miss the bigger picture! First, the foot is the driver of the hip. A paper from the Mayo Clinic by Dr. Chan and Dr. Rudins opens with an important reminder, “The foot is the "root" between the body and the earth.” Learning to coach and integrate the foot is essential in both mobility and strength of the hips. You will see in the progressions of this month’s Metabolic Stability how this is reinforced especially in rotation!

 

Being a ball and socket joint is important in understanding fundamentally we are rotational beings. When we punch, throw, kick, swing, we create rotation. However, WHERE we create this rotation is important and understanding how to control and progress it is key.

 

Proximal Stability: A concept that physical therapist Gray Cook popularized from the world of PNF has changed how we see both performance and improving mobility of our body. When it comes to hips, many limitations can be derived from foot dysfunction and lack of core stability. The idea of proximal stability is that if an area that is designed to create stability does not achieve this goal the areas above and below will compensate to find stability.

 

This would explain why we often see “tight” hips and thoracic spines in many of our clients that both sit all day or are dealing with movement dysfunction. Engaging the core correctly while also teaching proper movement of the hips will cause our nervous system to give “permission” to our body to release those “tight” areas. We can’t improve mobility or the function of the glutes without connecting these kinetic chains.

 

Proper Progression

 

What you will see in this Metabolic Stability is how we coach and progress these concepts from very foundational levels to higher level performance. My goal is to give you direction and thoughtfulness with your training. Every exercise should be an opportunity to teach a lesson about movement to our clients. Learning how to integrate and use their bodies more successfully will give us the opportunity to build greater success in their fitness goals.

 

Understanding how our body functions and increasing our ability to communicate these concepts to our clients is what provides for a unique and exceptional experience. Exercises are solutions to the needs of teaching the concepts of movement to others. However, if we don’t understand how our body operates, we can never really seize the wonderful opportunity functional training offers us in helping clients understand these important lessons and help them achieve their goals in the most efficient ways possible.

 

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    Josh Henkin, CSCS is an international presenter and strength coach who has taught in over 13 countries worldwide and consulted with some of the top fitness and performance programs in the world.

     

    Save 35% on his online Restoration educational programs HERE with coupon code “restore” and see how you can transform your clients so quickly with the true science of functional fitness. (Used on the DVRT Restoration Certification, Pelvic Control & Shoulder Courses).

     

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