Here is WHY and HOW you should use bands with your clients (and yourself)!
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There are certain movements to help activate your glute muscles that will greatly assist you in things such as my favorite, squatting. Lets have an anatomy lesson. The glute…aka your butt cheek…is technically made up of 3 muscles, (1) gluteus maximus (2) gluteus medius (3) gluteus minimus.
Each of these muscles play a vital role and together they are responsible for the movements of the hip and thigh. They extend your hips and create stability for your pelvis and your knee. The glute fires every time you raise your thigh to the side (abduction), rotate your leg (internal and external) or thrust your hips forward. So why is it important that we strengthen and/or use our glutes? When you have weak glutes you have an unstable pelvis which can lead to muscle imbalance and risk of injury. When you don’t use your glutes to lift or move then other muscles take over, such as the ones in your lower back causing a lot of pain.
Each of these muscles play a vital role and together they are responsible for the movements of the hip and thigh. They extend your hips and create stability for your pelvis and your knee. The glute fires every time you raise your thigh to the side (abduction), rotate your leg (internal and external) or thrust your hips forward. So why is it important that we strengthen and/or use our glutes? When you have weak glutes you have an unstable pelvis which can lead to muscle imbalance and risk of injury. When you don’t use your glutes to lift or move then other muscles take over, such as the ones in your lower back causing a lot of pain.
To the left, is a video of a circuit you can do using the small band (its also in text below). It is great to use on a personal level but I like to use it between resistance training circuits with my clients/athletes/victims. The best is if you can do some of these movements in the warm up to initiate their (your) glutes firing at the beginning of the session.
However that doesn’t always happen so I might do a superset of a push and pull (DB bench press & DB bicep curls) then 1-2 glute exercises below with my client before moving to another circuit. I want them to learn to use their glute muscles to keep them injury free not just when they are doing stuff in the gym, but outside of the gym such as unloading luggage from a vehicle or picking up small children.
Seated Abduction – keep your feet in line with your hips. I got this from The Glute Guy’s Instagram.
Lateral Stepping – make sure your knees are slightly bent and your toes are turned in, leading with the outside of your heal. This can also be done with the band just above the knee.
Forward & Backwards Walking – slight bend in the knees and toes facing forward keeping feet about one foot apart. This too can be done with band just above the knee.
Circle Step – When walking forward bring heel to arch then step wide every time you step. Repeat the same when walking backwards toes stay facing forward.
Glute Bridges – toes face forward and feet are no wider than your hips. drive heels in the ground, raise your hips and squeeze
Frog Bridges – knees drop open and soles of feet face each other. Raise hips up and squeeze. I also give credit to The Glute Guy for this one.
Jane Fondas – lay on your side with band just above knee. hips stay stacked (don’t lean back). Soles of feet should be in line with back side. You can also set up against a wall to make sure of this. The movement is small. It can also be done without band.
Banded Squats – with the band around the top of your knees, push against the band (driving knees out) as you squat.
I have ordered these bands from a few places over the years and here is what I found. If you are coaching a bootcamp style class or you have a group training session and you are required to provide your own equipment I would recommend ordering a pack of medium – heavy ones from Perform Better. This way if one breaks (because they do) then you have back up. I have also ordered a multi resistance pack from AMAZON and they are great, but I end up just using the medium or heavy ones so I do not think the whole pack was necessary. I should of just bought a pack of the same resistance that way I could extra when they break or disappear (that also happens).
All in all I think they are a great if not vital tool to have when training yourself or others. I highly recommend them!
