Image Source: EliteTrack.com

If you spend a lot of time seated, or if you travel a lot in vehicles or in airplanes, then this post is for you.

Also, if you are an athlete and your sport requires you to be able to perform powerful movements with the lower body, like jumping and bounding, then this post is for you.

In addition if you run, whether in sprinting fashion or distance, then this post is for you.

And if you participate in strength sports or feats of strength, then this post is for you as well because today I am going to show you how you can get more power out of your glutes which will lead to better striding power when running, better leaping and jumping power, and better executtion of posterior chain strength movements such as deadlifts, cleans, throws, and braced bends.

Importance of the Glute Muscles to Sport, Strength and Power Movements

Your Glutes are some of the most powerful muscles in your body.

They are heavily involved in Power Movements like jumping and sprinting as well as directional changes.

Unfortunately, if you spend a lot of time sitting down, then you might be making your Glute strength disappear.

You see, when you are seated, your hips remain in a flexed position. Over time this joint angle at the hip can cause the hip flexors to shorten and tighten.

The image above from Human Kinetics shows the relationship between the front of the body and the rear. With tight hip flexors, generally comes weak lower abdominals and conversely, the muscles on the opposite side, the lower lumbar muscles and the glutes get weakened and can’t do what they are meant to do.

When the hip flexors shorten like this and become tight, they can actually hinder the amount of power your glutes can generate because they will keep your hips from extending correctly in the movements we mentioned earlier, such as jumping, running and other unilateral and power movements.

To illustrate this a bit better, imagine trying to jump up in the air, but attached to your waistline is a chain on either side, connecting you to the floor, and just as you are about to really get some drive going, the chains hit their maximum length and won’t allow you to explode. That is kind of what is going on when you have tight hip flexors.

Two of the main reasons to address this issue are stretching the hip flexors and activating the glutes.

Understanding the Hip Flexors

In the image above, you can see where the hip flexors are located, and where they attach. A lot of people don’t realize the actual articulations of the hip flexors.

Per Wikipedia:

Origins: The Psoas major originates along the lateral surfaces of the vertebral bodies of T12 and L1-L5 and their associated intervertebral discs. The Psoas minor, which presents in only some 40 percent of the population, originates at the transverse processes of L1-L5. The Iliacus originates in the Iliac fossa of the pelvis

Insertions: Psoas major unites with iliacus at the level of the inguinal ligament and crosses the hip joint to insert on the lesser trochanter. The Psoas minor inserts at the iliopectineal arch, the thickened band at the iliac fascia which separates the muscular lacuna from the vascular lacuna. femoral nerve, L1, L2

Common Hip Flexor Stretches

For individuals who have tight hip flexors, one of the ways to correct the situation is with stretching. Below is a commonly used stretch and some slight variations in order to intensify it.

Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch

One common Hip Flexor stretch is the kneeling hip flexor stretch. Just getting into a position like what is shown above is not good enough, however. You must keep the torso upright and as you move forward, keep the pressure directed into the hip flexor muscles themselves. Improper angling here can result in stretching the quad. The quad originates on the ilium so its path is similar to the hip flexors. Not that there’s anything wrong with stretching the quad, but the purpose of this stretch is the hip flexor.

With Arm Raised

This stretch can also be intensified by raising the arm on the same side as the leg being stretched.

With Foot Elevated

As your flexibility increases, the rear foot can also be elevated to increase the stretch on the hip flexor and the quad as well.

Again, this is just one stretch that you can do for the hip flexors, along with a few modifications. In a bit I am going to show you another exercise to try that actually stretches my hip flexor even better while activating the glutes at the same time.

How to Activate the Glutes

When tightness on one side of the body inhibits a muscle on the opposite side of the body, we often have to retrain the muscle to fire properly. In the case of Glutes that have been shut down, the athlete has probably learned to use the hamstrings and muscles of the lower back to provide the force needed for hip extension. We have to get the body back in tune by training the Glutes to fire when they are supposed to.

Glute Bridge

Perhaps the most common of Glute activation exercises is the glute bridge. This movement can be done with one or two legs, and can be modified by extending a leg or by adding resistance, such as chains.

Quadruped Hip Extension

Quadruped refers to being on all fours. One leg is then lifted upwards by means of the Glutes. Very simple to perform, but attention must be put forth not to cheat or use momentum.

Fire Hydrant

Named after a dog lifting its leg to mark a fire hydrant, I learned this movement from Joe Defranco, and in particular, I learned that you don’t half-ass this movement (sorry for the pun, but I had to). The way I heard Joe describe this movement is to imagine you’re sneaking into a house through a very large window. Perform the exercise by carefully pulling the hip around the full range of motion, slowly and deliberately. Doing the exercise like this REALLY helps you feel it. Don’t just go through the motions.

How to Do Both at the Same Time

There is absolutely plenty of value in performing the above exercises. I have done all of them and they have worked for me in varying degrees.

However, recently, when shooting footage for a DVD on Braced Bending, I stumbled onto an exercise that actually is highly effective at stretching the hip flexors while getting an extremely intense contraction from the glutes. In fact, of all the Glute exercises I’ve ever tried, none of them can compare to the heightened contraction of this maneuver.

I call this move the Knee Driver, because I was using it to demonstrate the initial kink used when braced bending things like steel bars, wrenches and other odd objects. In the initial kink, you use the strength of your glute to drive your knee into the bar to get it to bend, thus the Knee Driver.

Knee Driver

For me, I have never felt a Glute Exercise that caused such a deep and hard contraction of my Glute Muscles. I mean, this exercise balled my glute up so tightly when I first tried it that I could not believe it, plus it stretched my hip flexors at the same time, and I have done it just about every workout since then in order to get my Glutes ready to go.

I like to perform this exercise for two sets with each leg and to do at least 6 to 8 good solid contractions per set. I don’t even bother with a lot of the other glutes exercises I used to do, because the contractions pale in comparison to what I get out of the Knee Driver.

I encourage you to give this a try and report back what you have found and how it compares to other exercises you have tried.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

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Slight Change of Plans, DIESELS!

A couple weeks back, we contested the Dumbbell Snatch and I said that during the week of June 11th we would be contesting the Barbell Snatch.

I am changing that up, but it is for a VERY COOL REASON.

After this week, the next four weeks’ challenges will be WILD CARD events to qualify for the Wild Card spots at the North American Grip National Championship on July 16th, 2011.

ANYONE in North America can take part and instantly qualify, IF they win in just ONE of the FOUR wild card weeks.

Next week, the challenge will be the Two Hands Pinch. The Euro-Pinch device will not be necessary. Instead, two 35′s or 45′s or their kilogram counterparts can be used with a pipe through the middle. An entire video demonstration will be available on my YouTube Channel showing you exactly what to do.

IF YOU WANT TO COMPETE WITH THE BEST IN THE NATION, BUT HAVE HAD NO QUALIFIERS NEAR YOU, THEN THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO GET TO NATIONALS.

That’s next week – let’s look at this week’s challenge!

This Week’s Challenge – Barbell Snatch

The Barbell Snatch is another OUTSTANDING drill for developing not only full body strength, power, and explosiveness, but also Grip Strength, as long as you don’t mess around with a hook grip or use straps (please don’t be that guy…)

The Barbell Snatch is great for athletes because it trains the core, is a posterior chain dominant, and it also requires the all-important triple extension of the ankles, knees, and hips, which is also present in jumping, leaping/bounding, and sprinting. So put this movement, or a variation, into your program on a routine basis to get the most benefit.

To perform the Barbell Snatch, load up a barbell and Snatch it overhead in one movement.

For the challenge, again, no hook grip or straps are allowed. A wrist wrap is fine for support and injury prevention and belts and chalk are also perfectly fine.

To see the Barbell Snatch in action, just play the video below.

The winner this week will be the one who Snatches the most weight the most times in one (1) minute. No press-outs will be counted. Also, the off-hand should be used to a minimum. My watchful eye will be checking this out. And again, no hook grip or straps!

Make sure you are getting quality reps. You should be locked out with one hand on the bar and feet in line. Any questionable reps will not be counted. I will begin the 1-minute time limit once you begin your first rep.

Get warmed up and get your best effort on film! Remember, any number of reps at a higher weight will beat any number of reps at a lower weight. So go heavy and go for time!

Let’s see those submissions, and please pass this on to anyone you think might be interested in winning one off the Wild Card spots at Nationals for their Division, so they can participate next week.

All the best in your training.

Jedd

P.S. Get on the Strongman Training DVD Early Bird List. Put your name and email in the box below.

This past weekend, I traveled to Slippery Rock University to speak at the 3rd Annual Pennsylvania Strength Clinic. The clinic was organized by Tony Tridico (Titusville) and the on-site organizer was Dr. Jonathan Anning (Slippery Rock).

The entire clinic was designed around the premise of how to build a solid strength and conditioning program and each speaker presented with this in mind… (more…)

Hardest Core Exercise – Part II

Dragon Flags with Bruce Lee Son!

by Jim Smith, CSCS, RKC

In the first installment of Hardest Core Exercise Ever, you’ll remember we setup a sit-up to press on the GHR bench with two kettlebells.  This variation provided a high intensity, powerful contraction of the rectus abdominis and hip flexors, as well as engagement of the lats.  A contralateral torque was also was also overcome by the internal / external obliques and TA.  More so when the kettlebells were pressed independently.

In this next installment, we will target the same musculature with another high intensity exercise.  It is not called the Hardest Core Exercise Series for nothing!

For our next exercise, we’ll give a shout out to the guy with one of the best known six-packs in the biz – Bruce Lee.  No one can deny his world-class physique.  But unlike most guys, he was not only ripped, he was strong.  And one of the reasons for his strength was some of the advanced bodyweight exercises he used in his training.  One such exercise was the Dragon Flag.

Oh you’re still not convinced, let me throw in Rocky from Rocky IV (even though Rocky III was the best one!)  Sly was at his peak and wanted to show how hard he was training to conquer the evil Russian.  So again, the Dragon Flag was pulled out.

Dragon Flags

Dragon Flags are performed by bracing hard on a bench or hard surface, while locking your arms in a fixed position.  The legs are driven up as if you are performing a reverse crunch.  From there, the lifter will lower themselves down not allowing any part of their body to touch the bench except for their upper back.  This is an important form cue.  This makes the exercise so much harder.  The lifter lowers their body until it is right above the bench.  The other important coaching cue is to make sure when the lifter raises back up, they do NOT bend at the waist, but rather raise their entire body as it was lowered, in a straight line.

Why Are Dragon Flags Good?

Dragon Flags entire the entire torso.  The entire torso is (and should be considered) the core.  Isolated movements attempting to target one muscle group are not effective in the real world.  More torso rigidity for squats, deads, bench press, clean & press, sporting events, athletes, power development, etc…you name it, is developed with Dragon Flags.  Long duration tension (static and engaging strength training movement patterns) along with a full body engagement will always be preferred in the long run.

Where to Incorporate Dragon Flags?

We typically engage them after the workout.  We know that the athletes are warmed up by that time and also that none of their primary lifts will be affected by the recovery from doing the Dragon Flags.  They are a seriously powerful movement and full recovery between sets is a must in order to give an all out effort with each attempt.

If I Can’t Do a Dragon Flag, What Do I Do?

You can modify the Dragon Flags to make them easier if you can’t perform them right away.  It took me a long time to be able to start hitting them on a regular basis.  You can just perform negatives.  Lower as slowly as possible and then drop your feet onto the bench and drive back up to the starting point.  You could lower slowly as far as you can and then tuck your knees to your chest instead of raising back up and keeping your body straight.  This would be considered then next level up.  If you can hit the knee tucks AND control the negative to a stopping point above the bench and with your body in a straight line, you can then move to the full execution.

Dragon Flags

As you’ll see in the video, I hit 5 reps on the first set.  I think I could have hit a couple more with good form.  In the second set, I throw on ONE 10lb ankle weight and try it again.  You’ll have to check out the video to see how I did!

Extreme Hamstring Training

How to Build Big, Powerful Legs

by Jim Smith, CSCS

It is true that there must be a balance with all training.  Unfortunately, the “go” muscles of the posterior chain are most often neglected in strength programs.  Lower back issues, hamstring strains and unrealized strength potential are just some of the everyday issues you will face if your training programs don’t include unilateral training AND strengthening the posterior chain (lats, erectors, glutes, hamstrings, gastrocs, soleus).

Powerlifters, athletes, strength enthusiasts, meat heads, weekend warriors and everybody else must incorporate exercises that target the posterior chain in their lower body training days.  Not only for increasing your lower body strength potential and reducing your risk for injury but making sure you don’t end up looking like a lightbulb (big upper body and no legs).

The Big Posterior Chain Movements

• Chin-ups / Pull-ups
• Squats – all variations
• Deads – all variations (*really like snatch grip deads from deficit)
• Bent Over Rows
• Good Mornings
• Zercher Back Extensions
• RDL’s
• GHR
• Hip Thrusts – all variations (Contreras)
• Jump Training / Plyometrics
• Sprinting

FREE EBOOK WITH OVER 199 + MUSCLE BUILDING EXERCISES

In today’s article we are going to specifically talk about developing the hamstrings and the exercise we are going to focus on (and modify) is the glute ham raise or GHR.  Muscle strength ratios are important and many researchers have attempted to define the exact percentages required for each kinetic segment.  It is very difficult because these ratios “not only vary with joint angle, joint velocity and type of movement, but also with muscle group and the type of athlete. (i.e. knee extension strength vs. knee flexion strength:  60:40 ratio)” (Reference 6, Siff and Verkhoshansky)

Regardless of the exact percentages, we need to understand the basics.  The surrounding, supportive, antagonistic muscle groups for each kinetic segment must be developed to ensure the integrity of the engaged joint.  That is the basics, bottom line.  Simple, right? 

Elevated Glute Ham Raises [VIDEO BELOW]

In this article we are showing an advanced version of GHR’s.  Instead of overloading GHR on a GHR bench, we are going to increase the intensity by elevating the back end of the bench with a box.

Why do this?

Because at this angle, there is constant tension on the hamstrings and there is no release of the tension. Also more of the lifter’s bodyweight is being utilized.  These are no joke, trust me!  Try them out and let me know in a comment below.

Which muscles are engaged with GHR’s?

“The erector spinae are active, primarily isometrically; the glutes and hamstrings raise the upper body to parallel; the glutes maintain isometric activity, and the hamstrings contract further and raise your body higher by flexing the knees; the gastrocs press against the foot plate, contracting isometrically.  A glute/ham/gastroc raise lets you use the muscles of extension of the lower body one at a time.” (Reference 2, Kreis)

Alternatives

Many people don’t have access to a GHR bench.  If you don’t, you can perform natural glute ham raises.  This is a glute ham raise performed on the ground with someone holding (anchoring) your feet.  You definitely want a pad underneath your knees for this one.  They are much harder than GHR performed on the actual GHR bench.  As always, these too can be progressed if you are super strong.  Check out the variation below.

Natural Glute Ham Raises

A partner will hold the lifter / athlete’s feet while they perform GHR’s.  This variation is much tougher than the variation done on an actual GHR bench because momentum and pad angle plays a huge role in the moment arm and percentage of the lifter’s bodyweight that is utilized.

Advanced Natural Glute Ham Raises

This variation is done on a decline sit-up bench.  Because of the angle the intensity and strength requirement is off-the-charts.  Only your elite athletes will be able to do this.  As always, to aid in the concentric phase of the exercise, a plyometric push-up done off the bench can be incorporated.

The Programming

When do you use GHR’s?

They should be used in conjunction with squats (all variations), deadlifts (all variations), kettlebell swings, barbell hip thrusts, sprinting, etc… on your lower body days.

Volume for GHR’s on GHR Bench:

Bodyweight Only – typically 3-4 sets x 12-20 reps

Weighted (weight vest, chains, bands) – typically 3-4 sets x 8-12 reps

Volume for Natural or Advanced Natural GHR’s:

Bodyweight Only – typically 3-4 sets x 8-12 reps

Weighted (weight vest, chains, bands) – typically 3-4 sets x 6-8 reps

Resources

1.  Horrigan, Joseph M., IRONMAN Magazine, August 1995 (updated 2007)

2.  Kreis D.A., E.J., Speed-Strength for Football, Taylor Sports Publishing, 1992.

3.  Baechle and Earle, Essentials of Strength and Conditioning 3rd Edition, NSCA, June 2008

4.  Schache AG, Crossley KM, Macindoe IG, Fahrner BB, Pandy MG.,  Can a clinical test of hamstring strength identify football players at risk of hamstring strain?, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20697691, Aug, 2010.

5. Silder A, Thelen DG, Heiderscheit BC., Effects of prior hamstring strain injury on strength, flexibility, and running mechanics., Department of Biomedical Engineering, Aug, 2010

6.  Siff and Verkhoshansky, Supertraining - 6th Edition, UAC, 2009.

GHR With Back Elevated