Hi Team!
First, I wanted to just say thank you so much for the positive response from last weeks blog. I can’t even begin to tell you what it means to open up and share a personal story and then have so many of you write back or DM me and share your stories as well. So THANK YOU for being such an epic community!
Second, I got a TON of questions after the release of last week’s Athletic Glutes program so I wanted to do things a bit different for this blog and try to answer them!
Number one most asked question last week? Are strong glutes really that important?
YES! The benefits of strong glutes go far beyond just their appearance. Here are 5 ways improving glute strength can benefit you:
- Improve athletic performance. Strong glutes can help to improve your power, speed, and agility.
- Reduce the risk of injury. Weak glutes can contribute to a range of injuries, including knee pain and lower back pain. Strengthening your glutes can help to reduce the risk of these injuries.
- Improve posture. Strong glutes can help optimize the alignment of the pelvis, reducing the risk of lower back pain and other posture-related issues.
- Improve balance & stability. Strong glutes can help to improve your balance and stability, which allows you to safely move the way you want to.
- Better overall health. If your overall health is a piggy bank, imagine that each of the benefits above is a coin. Each of them contributes to filling your piggy bank, and in turn improves your overall health!
A few other things to keep in mind while you are doing the program:
1. Your form!
First and foremost, having proper form is key to getting the most out of any workout. If the exercises in the Athletic Glutes classes are new to you, it may take a few tries doing the same class for your brain and body to “click” (which is totally normal!) and for the exercises to feel right. A great way to self-check your form is to film yourself doing the workout. It may sound crazy, but trust me! Playing back the video can help you see where your form looks right and where you can improve next time.
2. Increase time under tension!
Once you’ve nailed down your form, you can make an exercise more challenging by increasing time under tension. The more we challenge our muscles, the more they will adapt and get stronger. We’ll use a squat as an example. To increase the time under tension, you essentially slow down the movement. Instead of lowering yourself into the squat and immediately standing, you could take 3 seconds to lower yourself into the squat, hold it at the bottom, and then return to the starting position.
Hope this helped to answer any questions about the new program and why working on our glutes is so important!
P.S. Have questions for me? I’m all ears Team! I love hearing from you and how I can be a better coach for you!