everytime i do exercises for the glutes, i feel it alot on my hammies, how long till you start to see firing patterns that should lay off abit pressure on the hamstrings? Man when i do butt bridges i feel it on my hamstrings more then my glutes, if i feel both hamstrings is the harder muscle then the glutes. Does it take a year 8 months?
My athletes have found different times depending on your starting level. Keep focusing on squeezing the glutes on hip lifts and progress from there.
are you sure it doesn’t just mean that your hamstrings aren’t strong enough and that maybe your glutes are? you might be using your glutes but because they are coping with the load you don’t really feel it, whereas your hammies, as part of the chain, could actually be the weak link.
I’m no great expert. just wondering out aloud…
Have you tried another type of gym exercise on the area to see if it isnt just your positioning on the one you are doing?
If your hammies cramp in the butt bridge position, that means your hammies are taking over for a weak glute/s. Try digging your heels into the ground and point your toes into the sky.
a PT friend of mine suggested this:
"In terms of what else you can do for gluts start off with the following:
- lie on you stomach on the floor both legs fully straight on ground
- bend the knee of the dodgy hammy to 90 degrees(right angle) whilst keeping the quad on the floor.
- now keeping that knee position lift the foot up towards the roof so the quad now comes off the floor(imagine squashing a spider on the roof)
-repeat 15-20 times * 3 sets, twice daily.
This sounds simle enough but what it does is isolate the gluts whilst putting the hammys in a shortened position where they cant contract forcefully. So in effect you are teaching the body to switch on the gluts first before the hammys. when you run this will help with good biomechanics and neuormuscular recruitment thus reducing chance of injury and improving performance."
is this good advice for a problem like this??
Through the few years of working at my PT studio we deal with this all the time. People with weak abs, glutes and external rotators of the shoulder girdle. Tight Hams, hipflexors and anterior delt/pecs.
What Hornblower gave is a fine exercise but if you’ve trained your body to be ham dominant it’s hard to just retrain it.
Check this out; if you’ve got really tight hip flexors (I’m not saying you do) the chances of you firing your glutes (the opposing muscle) are not that great. Give your Hip flexors a good stretch before performing the above exercise and concentrate on the glutes. Another way to “shut off the hams” is by flexing your quads. It’s called “reciprical inhibition”. Janda used to to prescribe stretching your lumbar erectors before performing ab exercises because EMG tests showed that after a low back stretch the abs actually fired more.
Another basic exercise is just a plain old bridge on your back. Watch how far your feet are away from your butt. The farther away, the more hams you’ll get. Bridge up with your weight in your heels and concentrate on the glutes firing. When you feel the hams start to take over drop back down flex the quads stretch the hams and try again.
Let us know how it works.
plook your right putting my feet closer to my butt in the bridge exercise is helping, i feel a good burn in the bum when i do it now, but i still get lots of ham going on. I will see how long it takes, to start firing. I dont know the feeling yet of using my glutes compared to my hams, i would always think they are flexing simultaneously, but i feel more work in the hammies.
The glut & Ham have the same attachment points at the ischial tuberosity. So it’s normal to have hamstring activation with glut work.
In terms of the PT advice out there, most PT qualifications are equivalent to toilet paper.
The glute has attachment points on the ischial tuberosity:confused:
Senri, you can also try doing donkey kicks http://www.getfit.com.au/html/excercises/legs.html
but push your heel toward the ceiling instead of straight back.
Typo!
Gluteus Max origin gluteal surface of the illium
Insertion Gluteual Tuberiosity of the Femur
The hamstring group origin is the ischial tuberosity, which lies just below the origin of the glut max. Its almost impossible to have glut activation without hamstring activation. Joint segment interaction are not meant to work in the singular. Cross joint activation is how the kinetic chain is supposed to work.
this one woman who did the butt bridge can flex the bum without the hamstrings, i wouldnt think its impossible. It’s not my goal to do that either just get teh damn bum firing.
Thanks mortac for teh info.
It’s not. Even if you could, you wouldn’t want to.
Try stretching your hip flexors and hamstrings before you do bridges. Also try Bird-Dogs.
I found that my glutes never fired very well until I started deep squatting. Try that + lunges/stepups.
Donkey kicks look great, but for a recruitment of much more, go from a bent over standing position, swinging the leg all the way back then back through the front aswell.
What are bird-dogs?
Agreed on the hip flexor stretching.
http://www.acefitness.org/getfit/exercise_display.aspx?pageID=687
Focus on keeping the abs tight and pushing the working legs’ heel back. I use these in my warm-ups.