When the glutes don’t work properly, the other muscle groups need to compensate during the movement. Tight and shortened hip-flexors inhibit the glutes when the glutes need to work during walking, running, training, or playing tennis. Even the quadriceps (front of the leg) is often shortened and tight. Thanks to too much sitting, our hip-flexors (in the front of the hip) get shortened and chronically tight. But compared to the time spent sitting, the movement time is a very small percentage of our day. We may fit in a training session, or a tennis practice somewhere during the day. At home, we sit at the dinner, and then we socialize with the family or TV and sit again. We may take a few walks to the bathroom or to get a meal, but it is pretty much it. We sit too much: driving to and from work or school. Unfortunately, unless you pay a lot of attention to your glute training, the chance is that they are weak, small, unresponsive, underdeveloped and not firing how they should. They do look very good too if they are beautifully developed. The glutes-and especially the gluteus maximus, the biggest of the gluteal muscles-are extremely important for your athletic performance and well-being. Enjoy.Hyper-extensions are an amazing movement for the entire posterior chain of muscles. Great support for the upper arm to crunch the biceps. Preacher curl - a preacher curl station uses a lot of space and isn't versatile, so in this gym, out it went. You can add some weight with a dumbbell between the ankles. These will vary it up and kick the glutes and hammies hard. You won't need a weight if you do these properly with a nice deep stretch down and coming up without a jerk. Gets the obliques and uses gravity to help. A really tough side bend - far more beneficial than those silly dumbbell side bends. Leaning forward to hit the rear delts can be done in various ways but this is a goodie as it forces you to maintain a brace through the core while you do your set. The pads on this bench give a nice groove to put the foot in and then you can focus on getting deep into your position. As you get stronger you can drop the height of the pads until you're ready to progress to a step, and from there to the floor.īulgarian split squat - a brilliant exercise but if you elevate the back foot on a normal bench the toes get uncomfortable and the foot won't stay still. The handles allow for a neutral hand position too. Usef ul because it's difficult to make the transition from knees to feet, and this shortens the lever so you can do a nice straight push-up with a fraction of the bodyweight. Now, for all the other moves I use this machine for. Here's a one-legged version we use a lot. This shifts the emphasis of the exercise to the glutes and hamstrings, although the back extensors get a good supporting role keeping the back straight – and because the spine is held stiffly this is an isometric (non-moving) role so much safer for a dodgy spine. I adjust the pads so they hit just on that crease, and I’m looking to squeeze the glutes and come up from the hips, keeping the back stiff and neutral, rather than bending and flexing it at the waist. The exercise I mostly do on the 45° hyper is actually a hip extension, not a back extension. Notice the different adjustment below where I'm demonstrating a hip extension where the pad is just at the hip crease. If you do want to do this exercise, you’ll need to adjust the pads so they hit ju st below your waist. I’m usually looking for more stiffness around the spine, which is better addressed elsewhere. My back extensors get worked brilliantly by numerous other exercises (including ones using that bench) and I don’t regard extending and flexing the spine at the waist as particularly beneficial for many people. The one exercise I never do on a 45° hyper extension bench is the exercise for which it was originally designed – a back hyper extension which Hebe is demonstrating below. Don’t forget to tighten the tap before you start (it doesn’t need to be over-tightened, just so it is not loose so use your grip strength elsewhere). The height of the pad from the floor is adjusted with the other lever. Then you’ll be able to pull out the lever just above it and adjust the pad up and down. How do you adjust it? See that little silver tap in the pic below? To adjust the pad to the right point you’ll need to undo that first. People are often wary of it – but it’s a very useful piece of kit, just not for the exercise it's named for. What is that strange little bench? It's called a 45° hyper extension bench.
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