Activate the Caboose! Glutes & Clams

As a writer, I love to read. I'm usually in the middle of a few good books, savoring some bit by bit and skimming others. This week I'm rationing one chapter a night of What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. I'm loving it. I'm going to buy it for my Dad for his birthday. My Dad taught me how to run.

This is a picture of him trying to teach me how to run. It was taken back in our old Minnesotan neighborhood. Most of the time we laughed because I ran like a stick person, with straight arms and clenched fists, no elbow bend at all. Though in this picture I have tons of bend in one arm, but the arm-leg swing matchup is messed up.

I remember those lessons, along with many practice runs searching for balance on my 2-wheeler. *See that huge orange fire hydrant, I hit that while riding my bike. I finally did learn how to ride my bike. It helped that my little sister started riding hers first--before me! Not right!

Later on, I ran a lot as a soccer player, and then as cross-training with the crew team at UW-Madison. Technically I knew one thing about running--I liked doing it. My speed's changed (+/-) over the years, my elbows bend and my hands are more relaxed. But I have a ton of room to grow--what a great spot to be.

Recently I took Jessi Stensland's excellent Swim-Bike-Run MovementU workshop. We did a lot during the eight-hour session (dynamic warmups, movement prep, movement sessions, regeneration and recovery & snack & lunch)!

I loved many things about learning with Jessi:
- She's passionate about her subject and about helping athletes of any level learn more about their bodies and how to move well for life.
- Most of the drills were new to me and I struggled with some. But Jessi had tons of cue points ready when I needed them. Small little points helping me find that mysterious midfoot or relax my back extensors.
- I was shocked when she immediately figured out the real issue I was having with box jumps wasn't the jumping motion itself, but instead I was worrying about the landing... how did she KNOW my secret fears?!

We focused on points of power and where power comes from in the body. First we looked at the pillar and stabilized our spine by:
1- Activating the Transverse Abdominus. This I could do. Last summer, Bob Seebohar had us contract our TVAs during his entire session at the USA Triathlon Coaching Clinic. And I do a lot of vacuums thanks to trainer Dustin Maher and his effective exercises. *See Dustin demo the vacuum.
2- Activating the external obliques to keep ribcage parallel to spine.
3- Extending through the thoracic spine, cue-push the top of the head toward the sky. I love this one, it feels good to lift up and decompress through my crunched neck area.

Jessi led us through many movements. My best test exercise was the clam shell. Like this with a mini band around the knees. I've always loved the clam shell, so I was happy to do it correctly without activating my ITband. Fire the glute!

The glute bridge test was difficult. Jessi worked with each of us on the bridge, making sure we could perform it with neutral spine. I can glute bridge all day but not with neutral spine. Other athletes moved on to glute marching, but I'm going to focus on the glute bridge for awhile.

If I can figure out how to activate and use my glutes, I'll be stronger & faster. Currently I'm working on body awareness on the bike and run, specifically thinking about those glutes. When I'm running I call it "firing up the caboose" and sometimes it makes sense I get it and can feel the difference. So for now, that's What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.

Basically I need to change from a stick-arm runner to a glute-charged athlete. I know I have LOTS of power in my glutes. When I can activate them & use them efficiently, it'll be a good thing. Thanks Jessi!

photo: the caboose from our train set.

Read more MovementU user experiences:
http://www.jeffcubos.com/2010/03/14/goingbacktoschool/

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-14358-Dallas-Endurance-Sports-Examiner~y2009m12d7-MovementU

GLUTE BUILDERS:
- 3 Power Exercises to Strengthen Your Glutes from Inside Triathlon.

- From active.com Weight-room Workouts for Cyclists Part One. **I love deadlifts! And I'm encouraged to read in this article "deadlifts also strengthen the thoracic erectors, upper-back muscles that keep us more upright and pain-free from shoulder and neck problems due to poor posture." Double-bonus!

- 6x Ford World Ironman Champion Dave Scott talks about getting aero on the bike and how the glutes must be the firing system in this great active.com video.

- Rudy Garcia-Tolson fired his amazing glutes 140.6 miles in 2009 becoming the first double above-knee amputee to finish an Ironman. Read Lee Gruenfeld's profile of Rudy's race experience and turn to p. 58 of the April 2010 Triathlete Magazine for a profile featuring Rudy and his coach Muddy Waters. I'd love to meet Rudy one day, so inspiring!

- This research snippet looks at patterns of leg muscle recruitment in cyclists. There are 91 cycling-related items within the Journal of Electromyography & Kinesiology's site.

photo: What a fun, great group of athletes! I hope to connect with you all again in the future. I'm second from the left, black coat, blue shirt.

Questions for You:
- Can you "fire up" the glutes?

- Do you love the clam shell?
- What's your favorite glute-builder?

The Crazy Football Move & Help from Jessi Stensland

This winter I've enjoyed attending Dustin Maher’s Fit Fun Bootcamps. We do a mix of hi-intensity intervals with weights, core work and cardio. A few times this winter we did a simple looking exercise that I had trouble with.

You roll on your back in a football and next go into a standing jump. (The woman in this NBC15 news clip with Dustin demonstrates the exercise “jump up-roll back-jump up.”)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGxPC_DvNXI&feature=player_embedded



To modify I could use my hands to help move from sitting to standing, but I still had issues. It was a little easier if I could cross my legs. I was thinking about the individual movements involved in this exercise and I thought of Jessi Stensland & MovementU. So I asked for help!
Sara: What MovementU principles or performance exercises would you apply to help me improve? I have tight hips and very tight Achilles tendons.

Jessi Stensland:
Great question Sara!!
I watched the video and then proceeded to do the exercise myself, since its not one I normally do. I did it, but it definitely took some body awareness as to what was going to get me through that motion properly. No matter what movement you want to do, whether the Jump Up-Roll Back-Jump Up or a proper running stride or pedal stroke, the same principles are going to help you perform the movement more efficiently and powerfully. We talk about all of this at MovementU. Here’s how I would apply it in this case.

In a nutshell:
1. Self-massage ‘tight’ soft-tissue (muscles, tendons, etc) to increase mobility of your joints.
2. Stabilize your spine with your abs.
3. Use your glutes.

You mentioned tight hips and Achilles tendons.
Before you even begin to move, you’ll want to do a bit of self-myofascial release (in other words, self-massage) to get the blood flowing and loosen up the tissues surrounding the joints. This way you’ll increase the range of motion in your hips before you even move. This can be done with a foam roller (TP Therapy’s new GRID is killer!) Take a couple of minutes (or more) rolling out some of the soft-tissue attached to your hips. Depending on how much time you have, roll out any/all of your lower back, glutes, quads, hamstrings, IT Band and even abdominals (I sometimes use my own hands for this.) Also, for your Achilles tendon, be sure to roll out your calf muscles as well. We review self-massage techniques in the recovery session at MovementU.

To increase the mobility in your spine a bit more, get on all fours and actively flex and extend your spine 5-6 times. The flexibility through your spine will affect your ability to get your body mass in the proper position over your feet, so that you can then push up strongly to reach the standing position.

Next, your ability to keep your spine stabilized is key. At MovementU we talk about this extensively. You want your abdominal muscles active throughout the movement. You’ll have a lot better control of the other parts of your body and get the most out of your muscular strength if you are able to do this.

A great way to train this is to practice maintaining a neutral spine throughout all of your movements both in life and training. To doing so, you must turn on your abdominals and you keep your back extensors relaxed. Here is a great article that explains neutral spine: http://fitnotes.net/neutral-spine-awareness-and-ma.html
Activate and strengthen your abdominals in the proper movement patterns during glute bridges, lunges and squat patterns (using single and double leg and varying depths…going as deep as you can while maintaining neutral spine.)

Once you stablize your spine in the movement, you’re going to want to rely on your prime movers, your glutes, to get you from that seated position to standing, and ultimately jumping. Your ability to use your glutes is key. Its another hot topic throughout the day at MovementU. You’ll want to make sure they’re working for you by activating them with those same exercises: the glute bridge, lunge-in-place or squat. The lunge is a great way to increase hip mobility and help you use your glutes at all ranges of motion, like you’re trying to do in this movement.

Tying it all together…to perform the Jump Up-Roll Back-Jump Up:

1. First, momentum and some abdominal strength will get your body into the first position. Your core abdominal muscles should be strongly engaged throughout the entire motion.
2. Next you’ll stabilize with the glutes as you start pushing through the heels, and continue using your glute strength, while still engaging your abdominals, as you roll from your heel to your midfoot and finally through your toes to perform the jump.
3. Ultimately your joint mobility, abdominal strength and glute strength will be the key players. Learn lots more about them all at MovementU!!
   
   Jessi Stensland is a professional endurance athlete and movement specialist. See class schedules at http://www.movementu.com/classes.html. Watch this short video to get a sense of what MovementU is like.
   

Questions for You:
1- Can you do the crazy football move?
2- Do you practice neutral spine?
3- What would you like to know more about from this post?

Thanks Jessi!! I can't wait to attend MovementU next weekend!