@FitnessHeroics.

When you think of training your glutes, many people underestimate how powerful they are. They are the powerhouse of your movement and they require a lot of attention. The question about glutes come from both female and male athletes, as well as general fitness enthusiasts. You should want to  create powerful glutes to increase speed, power, and strength. The proper development of glutes can allow you to not only run, jump, and swim faster, but can also increases your explosive power during sporting activities.

There are many muscles of the gluteal area, but let’s review three of the main players: gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. The origins and insertions of these muscles are fairly complex. These muscles originate from different parts of the pelvis and insert on different areas of the thigh and leg bones. So when you talk about your glutes you really have a lot you are referring to. If you understand where these muscle groups are, you have a better idea of how to target them for training. The gluteus maximus is an extensor of the trunk and thigh and also a lateral rotator of the thigh. The gluteus medius and minimus both medially rotate and abduct the thighs along with steadying the pelvis. There are also many other muscles of the gluteal region including the piriformis, gemelli, obturator internus, and quadratus femoris.

Squats and lunges can assist in gluteal and thigh development, but there are other exercises I have found to be even more effective and give it a unique old school twists. It is important to remember that glute development is not simply about the aesthetics, but also, and more importantly, about improved athletic performance. Let me show you some of the best old school moves that are being used today for building a bigger and more athletic booty !

 

The donkey kick:

To perform you keep your leg straight and extend your hip. As you raise your leg behind you, bring it up higher than your spine. Concentrate on lifting the leg with the hip in extension and not simply swinging the leg, which is ineffective. Relax your neck during this exercise also. The second variation has the same starting point on all fours, but it involves bending (flexing) your knee. After flexing the knee, lift the leg and extend the hip behind you.I recommend 2 to 3 sets of 10-15 repetitions of these exercises, with or without weights.

 

The Elbow to knee:

This exercise has the same starting position, but you must counterbalance on one side while lifting and flexing the knee and bringing the elbow to the knee.

 

 

Side straight arm hip abduction:

Keep the arm and leg straight at your side while simply abducting your hip. It is important to stay stable and to not tilt onto the counterbalanced side. This is a somewhat advanced exercise and can be very effective when executed properly.

 

Powerful glutes can assist any athlete or exercise enthusiast in attaining a higher level of sustainable strength and accelerated explosiveness in their sport of choice. Be committed to taking steps to build a strong and powerful rear !

 

Living mindfully is one of the very best ways that you can transform your life.  When you think about performing meditation you might  think about sitting in lotus pose and clearing your mind for extended periods of time.   Mindfulness is awesome because it is about becoming fully present in this moment and becoming fully aware of your senses, thoughts, and emotions.

One of the most incredible parts of this practice is that you can make it a part of nearly everything you do in a normal day.  When you fully become present you tap into what appears to others as super powers.  You don’t miss the subtle happenings around you and can better anticipate future events.

Mindfulness improves well being

• Increasing your capacity for mindfulness supports many attitudes that contribute to a satisfied life.
• Being mindful makes it easier to savor the pleasures in life as they occur, helps you become fully engaged in activities, and creates a greater capacity to deal with adverse events.
• By focusing on the here and now, many people who practice mindfulness find that they are less likely to get caught up in worries about the future or regrets over the past, are less preoccupied with concerns about success and self-esteem, and are better able to form deep connections with others.

Mindfulness improves physical health

If greater well-being isn’t enough of an incentive, scientists have discovered the benefits of mindfulness techniques help improve physical health in a number of ways. Mindfulness can:

• help relieve stress
• treat heart disease
• lower blood pressure
• reduce chronic pain
• improve sleep
• alleviate gastrointestinal difficulties

Mindfulness improves mental health

In recent years, psychotherapists have turned to mindfulness meditation as an important element in the treatment of a number of problems, including:

• depression
• substance abuse
• eating disorders
• couples’ conflicts
• anxiety disorders
• obsessive-compulsive disorder

It’s become increasingly common for mindfulness meditation to be combined with psychotherapy, especially cognitive behavioral therapy. This development makes good sense, since both meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy share the common goal of helping people gain perspective on irrational, maladaptive, and self-defeating thoughts.

 

Tips on becoming mindful in your everyday life:

-The first step to really tap into mindfulness is to completely connect with your physical senses.

-Observe your breathing.

-Eat mindfully

-Listen with your ears and heart open.

-Observe your thoughts and emotions.

-Do the things you love and just get lost in them.

-Meditate daily.

-Find ways to meditate daily.

 

You are a powerful being, just remember that most of your power is contained in the present mindful moment.  Right now you have the power you are looking for to find peace, change, or whatever your heart desires most.

 

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali succinctly outlines the art and science of Yoga meditation for Self-Realization. It is a process of systematically encountering, examining, and transcending each of the various gross and subtle levels of false identity in the mind field, until the jewel of the true Self comes shining through.Yoga means union of the parts of ourselves, which were never divided in the first place. Yoga literally means to yoke, from the root yuj, which means to join; it is the same as the absorption in the state of samadhi. Sutra means thread, and this thread, or multiple threads weave a tapestry of insight and direct experience.

 

Please take the time to watch the video below in learning this process of being mindful !

Getting hurt or injured during training or in a competition does happen. Learning how you can get better quickly will help you to get back in the game faster. There are some things that can help you to get an edge on your training and back to your normal self  !

One misconception is that when you get injured you should just STOP! No !!! Hold up and put the breaks on this one. You don’t need to stop everything that you are doing, but you do need to take it easy from the things that are aggravating to the injury.You need to continue training so you can rehab what is injured and prevent any future injuries from happening, while at the same time keeping yourself on target for your goals. What your training looks like may change and it might include more mobility and stability work along with  different strengthening exercises. There may be some modifications of certain exercises, additions of others, and even a few deletions. Your warm up may evolve to be more specific to your particular injury. Your recovery protocol will become more important.

MAKE TIME FOR RECOVERY AND REPAIR ! Self myofacial release, foam rolling, stretching and getting enough rest is important for proper healing. If you can’t “find” the time to really sit and repair what is hurt then it will never get better. Along with repair is nutrition. Nutrition is actually a key component of injury rehabilitation that is often overlooked by athletes and health care professionals alike. In fact, a well-designed nutrition plan can speed up the healing process, while the reverse is also true. Meaning, bad dietary habits can actually impede your recovery. Vitamins A,B,C, D, Calcium, Copper, Iron, Magnesium, Manganese, and Zinc support tissue regeneration and repair as they help to support early inflammation, reverse post-injury immune suppression, assist in collagen formation, strengthen connective tissue, as well as support protein synthesis. This means if you eat a lot of processed food and don’t have a balanced diet with a good mix of colorful fruit and vegetables and dairy and meat products, you might be missing out on these key micro-nutrients.

Sleep is one of your body’s best defenses and plays an important role in the regenerative process following injury. It is during sleep that your body secretes important hormones that are essential for a strong immune system, increased muscle mass, bone strength, and energy. Missing out on this critical time can lead to muscle atrophy, as well as the loss of ability to efficiently build and repair your muscles.

Attitude is EVERYTHING ! Having a good attitude can help you to get back at it faster!  You have to be more than just willing to get better. You have to want to get better. Be eager to get better. Be prepared to do whatever your physical therapist or coach asks you to do. Be committed to your rehab exercises, take part in your therapy, and ensure you are eating well, sleeping, and doing lots of recovery work.

 

Many people struggle with body weight exercises such as push ups and pull ups. It’s not uncommon to see people in CrossFit using bands to assist them in a WOD with pull ups. Once you start, you will have a hard time quitting. For beginners I still agree there are much better ways to how to do a strict pull up when you are focusing on building the proper muscle recruitment to effectively do a pull up.

One of the biggest reasons I am against the use of bands for beginners is that they provide inconsistent assistance. Bands assist most in the bottom of the movement and least in the top as the band becomes parallel to where you placed it. Imagine someone is spotting you on a bench press and he yanks on the bar for you in the bottom position. Then, at the top of the press just lets go.  The banded pull up is similar in how it assists people. It will get you going but then you still need to know how to fire the right muscles to finish it off and most of the time you are adding so much assistance those muscles are not even working.

This inconsistent assistance prevents beginners from gaining strength as quickly as you could.  Once you start using bands you will find that even a whole year later you are still stuck. So how can you build more muscle and strength doing pullups without a band ??? A better option is to do a jumping pull up followed by a slow negative movement. The negative or eccentric movement will be able to build your muscles much quicker. This is great for your body to learn how to hold your own body weight and control the movement as you are descending. You can also add in accessory movements such as bent over row, lat pull downs or pull overs and rear flyes.

As you advance, you can use bands to change the load and build strength in the top position, which is where most people are weakest.By attaching light bands to the ground, you now  challenge the top portion of the pull up and force you to be more explosive.

Here is how to do that !!

1. Tie the bands to pins at the bottom of the rack or loop them through kettlebells to secure. You will want two bands, one each side of where you will be doing your pull ups.
2. Pull your arm and head through the band on one side and do the same on the other side to create a harness around your upper body.
3. Perform a pull up, making sure you are explosive at the top to counteract the increase in band tension as you ascend.
4. If it’s too easy to get to the top, you can use heavier bands or add weight.

You need to have the muscle to pull your body weight up. You need to challenge your muscles and body and stop using assistance due to it being “easier” for you to do. To get better you must do !

The ability to be aware of your surroundings is an amazing feeling but how often do you get that chance to just sit and “be aware”?? I know that part of life is the hustle and bustle of constant movement from one place to another where things around you become a blur. Understanding that you need to become more aware of your body, your posture, and what is happening around you can help improve your daily living.

 

Do you know the purpose behind your yoga practice ? The core functions of yoga is about increasing awareness throughout the body with a particularly important focus around the central axis of the body, between the spine and the organs. From here, a fundamental aspect of yoga practice can start with the awakening of our ability for the spine to undulate backwards and forwards, undulate side-to-side and to twist, awakening  each individual vertabrae. The foundation of yoga may be about waking up sensitivity to feel each individual vertebrae independently, but it also extends to building increased sensitivity to all parts of the body, both internally and externally. What science is discovering is that through our increased ability to feel our own bodies, we increase our ability to empathically feel the world around us. To understand how this works, we need to first get our head around bodymaps and mirror neurons.

 

What is a bodymap ?? Bodymapping is a term used to describe the process of understanding the anatomy of the body and how to improve it as we move.As you practice a particular posture, the repetition creates more neural connections from the brain’s associated parts of your bodymaps. More nerve fibers are also created along the connection through the nervous system to that part of the body. As we do something more, our ability to receive more information about the subtlety of what we are doing increases.

 

Think about your daily life. How long are you sitting in a chair for? How often are you slouched over a computer and doing endless amounts of work for long periods of time before you realize your hunched over and now less flexible than before. When you sit in a chair at school or in an office all day, every day, you lose awareness in your spine as well as the majority of our body. However, if you practice  yoga or incorporate stretching, you now increase the amount of neurological detail in our body maps and our nervous system. You can feel more subtle detail within ourselves. Because there is a larger volume of wiring that has been built up in your nervous system, so can feel more information. This also means that there is an increase the volume of neuronal detail in our bodymaps.

 

Don’t forget that YOU are an animal too and you were built upon years of modifications to make your life easier to function. We participate in practices that relate us to the animal kingdom, the more we were able to understand our environment through our internal mirror neuron response, feeding us vital information about food, hunting and the natural world.

 

If you want to read the FULL article on the Neuroscience and Yoga please visit..

http://upliftconnect.com/true-purpose-of-yoga/