S B Coaches College - Tip of the Month July 2009




		S B Coaches College Tip of the Month July 2009 Share \|

Gluteal amnesia and atrophy is becoming more and more common amongst people of all ages as well as athletes. The glutes are so important in regards to performance and injury reduction and if they aren't working those 2 things will suffer. I won't go into how this may occur (read the linked articles), but want to rather show you all some simple exercises that I think will help to improve gluteal control and ensure that they are working the way they need to.

I love balance exercises and think that they aren't utilized enough in training. Balance drills and exercises are beneficial because they help to increase joint stability. The more stable a joint is, the more efficient it becomes at transferring force through the kinetic chain. Now, I'm not saying to do your strength exercises on 1 leg or on unstable surfaces, but adding simple drills and exercises performed on a single leg can do wonders for improving gluteal control, pelvic and lower leg and foot stability.

I use balance exercises for activation/integration, to teach body awareness, as well as improving muscular endurance within the foot, lower leg and hip musculature. The exercises are performed as a circuit pre-warmup and are done barefoot. I put together a number of different exercises that challenge the athlete in multiple planes of movement and are a combination of both static and dynamic balance drills. The main concepts that we try to get the athletes is to maintain a position of flexion at the hip, and knee while maintaining the arch at the foot and a neutral spine. The other thing that I look for is that the athletes' hip and knee are in good alignment while the perform the exercises. I also cue the athlete to keep their weight centered over the middle of the foot, versus the heel.

The circuits that I put together are anywhere from 2-4 minutes of continuous time per leg. All the exercises are performed on one leg before switching to the next. This ensures that the muscles are being trained for stability and under a state of relative fatigue. The goal is to make sure that the hip and lower leg stabilizers will function in a state of fatigue. Injuries will occur during eccentric contractions especially when an athlete is fatigued. Once the athlete can no longer reduce force efficiently the body will breakdown and the risk for injury increases.
If the stabilizers give out, the prime movers will not be able to effectively perform their role, no matter how strong they are. So I use these balance circuits not only to improve our gluteal function, but also to reduce the chance of injury.

To learn more about these drills and exercises, check out the following video (link takes you to myfittube.com):