A fitness professional's attention to detail can be their best asset or their achilles heel. The efficiency with which our clients perform movements is totally reliant on the cues and corrections we implement. It is our duty to identify any improper patterns and compensations being performed.
A commonly seen problem in just about any fitness facility is poor glute activation. For those unaware of what activation is; it is a muscle's potential for recruitment and activity. In other words, can you contract a given muscle and if so how efficiently? From the biomechanics standpoint, glute inactivity is a large contributor to low back pain, postural misalignment and poor performance during exercise just to name a few. From the aesthetics standpoint, you cannot change a muscle if you do not stimulate the fibers that makeup its composition. So if you're one of the many sufferers of pancake butt and you're wondering why your glutes haven't firmed up after trying every type of squat and/or lunge in the book, there is your answer.
You simply have to learn to use your glutes.
You see, your brain controls all muscular function. It sends a signal via the spinal cord to one or many muscles based on the given task and tells them to lengthen or shorten. This is referred to as a contraction. When a muscle is inactive, the pathway from the brain to that muscle(s) is either non-existent or cloudy and the signal is not received as easily. In order to restore the connection, there needs to be a forced mental effort on behalf of the exerciser to think and feel that muscle working in isolation. Once the isolated function is regained, you can then reintegrate it into a more compound movement.
Now I'm sure you're all waiting in anticipation for the solution to this problem, so here it is. Activation issues can be solved by performing some simple pre-exercise movements to increase blood flow and neural response. Here is a simple one!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARvJ-o0enoM
Cues: 1- Lying on your back with your heels close to your butt, toes off the ground.
2- Hands gently resting on glutes (to ensure the amount of activity occurring).
3- Focus on squeezing you butt as you push your heels into the ground and raise your hips up toward the ceiling. Hold for 1-5 seconds with a controlled return.
Repeat this movement for 1-2 sets of 6-10 repetitions. It takes less than a minute and makes a world of difference.
No Butts about it!!