Are Monster walks going to fix your weak glutes?
Monster walks, band walks, band shuffles…these plague Instagram and Facebook as a quick fix to activate or even strengthen the glute med. Stop putting bands between the knees for everything! Knees cave in on squats? Bands. Activate the glute med? Bands.
For many years now there has been a lot of talk about gluteal “inhibition” and its contribution to bad hip mechanics in squats, lunges, jumping and a myriad of other lower extremity movements.
“Squat Therapy” for the glute med typically involves throwing a band around the knees. Working the booty for Instagram locker room pics also typically involves monster walks, band walks, band shuffles and the likes, which confuses me. While I’ll admit you get a nice burn in the glutes, a well-developed glute med is typically not what you’re aiming for in a booty selfie. Anyway, that’s a whole other can of worms.
We will agree that monster walks, band walks, band shuffles and the likes are typically utilized with the intention of strengthening the glutes to stabilize and strengthen the hip, yes? The common thinking is that we’re trying to create better abduction and external rotation strength. We want this to transfer to dynamic movement, like for example, squats. Fair enough…
ACTIVATION AND AWARENESS
“Awareness is the greatest agent for change.” -Eckhart Tolle
From a rehab perspective, there can be many reasons for wanting to activate a muscle:
Joint injuries may cause arthrogenic muscle inhibition, inhibiting the muscles that cross the joint to protect it
Adaptation to pain may involve a redistribution of activity within muscles to preferentially activate muscle fibers with different angles and attachments and inhibit others
Immobilization can lead to decreased muscle activation
Tendinopathy can lead to cortical inhibition
From a training perspective, we usually use activation exercises to improve mind-muscle connection. Admittedly, many people have bad mind-muscle connection with their glutes, and not just the glute med.
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