Anytime we are standing we are activating our glutes and hamstrings. Problem is, like most of us sitting all day behind a desk, our posterior muscles become weak. This is especially true for our glutes, which happen to be the largest muscle in the body. With weak glutes comes muscle imbalances, causing injuries and pain.
Weak glutes can cause a posterior tilt, forcing your pelvis to tilt forward, creating the illusion of an abdominal pouch. What’s worse is this tilt can put strain on your lower back and leads to discomfort.
Troublesome knees are caused by weak hamstrings not doing their part to stabilize the anterior crucial ligaments (ACLs).
WHAT DO OUR HAMSTRINGS DO?
There are made up of three separate muscles; the bicep femoris, semitendinosus and the semimembranosus. Their responsibility is to bend the knee and help the gluteus maximus extend the hip. The bicep femoris also helps to rotate our thigh outward while the other two help to rotate it inward.
WHAT DO OUR GLUTES DO?
Our gluteus maximus is what gives our butt shape. Anytime we raise our thigh out to the side, rotate our leg so our toe is pointing outward or thrust the hips forward, we are engaging our gluteus maximus. So anytime our hips are flexed, our glutes will be activated when extending them, making deadlifts and hip raises effective glute exercises.
We have two other butt muscles, the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. They assist with raising the thigh out to the side. They also help to rotate our thigh outward when our leg is straight and when your hip is bent.
Flavia, good form and explanation, I love deadlifts, they really work the hamstrings and glutes.
Hi Flavia,
Thanks so much for posting this video. Your detailed guidance about how to perform this exercise correctly is greatly appreciated!
good excercise, Flavia needs to wear a mic, as it was difficult to hear what she was saying…..
Thanks for this video Flavia. I love watching you in action. IT IS SO HELPFUL!!!!
I love your fullbodylicous work out. I send you picks when I get my abs lol.
Great Video, very good explanation, thanks Flavia! I am going to be doing these tomorrow 🙂
Hi Flavia
I’ve just purchased your full body work out and am on Day 3.
LOVING IT!
This video is great and I incorporated into my workout session this morning! Your attention to detail and simple explanations are amazing!
Also I’ve purchased Metabolic Cooking that you mentioned on an audio interview and am pleasantly surprised at the delicious recipes! I don’t miss my pastas at all.
I was hoping you could put something up on stretching? I followed your stretching routine from Day 1 and I still was so sore the next day I could barely walk.
Is there anything else I can be doing in the way of stretching?
Also, I’m not very flexible… Will you program improve this? I’m talking so inflexible I can’t touch my toes!!
I really identify with your story in being skinny fat… I’m at that stage right now.
You’re such a great motivation and I hope I don’t give up this time round and can do what you managed to do and start feeling confident in my body again 🙂
Hey Ally, Great to hear. As for the soreness, this is normal at first. Make sure you are having your meal within 1 hour of your workout and also staying hydrated is very important for recovery. You need to ensure you are stretching after every workout for minumum 10 minutes. It is also beneficial to stretch 2 hours post workout. Keep up the great work!
Hey flavia,
how do you get rid of love handles. i have a great body. i still have a wobbly tummy.i have a two year. so do russian twists help
Russian twists will help somewhat…what you need is to keep losing fat. The “love handle” area is just where you store the most amount of fat, by the sounds of things, and you likely need to do some interval training to get rid of it. Buring a lot of calories during your workouts will be very beneficial and not using too much weight when you are training your obligues is important.
Hey Flavia,
thanks for the response
you got any suggestions for interval training.
Any suggestions will be useful too
i had a baby two years ago
Sure, you can do some hill running, stair climbing, sprints, even eliptical intervals or bike intervals would work.
ok i have a stationary at home gym bike…i ride that everymorning for 45 minutes with my ipod. every second day i do weight training with free weights and every other day i do core exercises..i eat pretty good…i still have the flabby stomach and the lovehandles…i ride very hard with resistance…what am i doin wrong…i use to jog every second day and then ride my bike every other day to give me variety..
Try to do some intervals on the bike, one minute hard and 30 sec slow. Your body adapts to your routine so if you don’t mix up the cardio, it wont have much effect. You could also stop and do jumping jacks for a minute, skip, puch ups, lunges to mix it up and keep your body guessing.
Hi Flavia, I have two questions for you: What are your thoughts and answers to cellulite with regards to your program,
and if you have a head cold or not feeling well, what are your thoughts? I do not feel like doing anything as I am clogged up with a head cold and am not eating much as u tend to lose your appetite cause everything tastes like cardboard, and don’t have the energy to exercise as my body is aching,- so what is your advice on these popular issues? thanks
Ingrid
Hey Ingrid, sorry you aren’t feeling well 🙁 For cellulite, I have been doing some research on this and it seems that glute activation is really key to toning the area where the skin seems to loose elasticity. Also, detox. A lot of times cellulite is trapped toxins in your cells. Detox drinks and eating foods free from preservatives is really beneficial. AND, without losing the fat, the cellulite won’t go away. If there is fat there, there really aren’t methods (until you are lean enough) that will help.
As for not feeling well…do not push yourself as your body needs energy to heal. Here is what I do: Hot Yoga in the am, and evening going in to do cardio until I am sweating real good. Sweating helps to cleanse your body and the exercise help to boost your metobolsim. I usually don’t lift weights, only because I don’t have the strength to. As for food, I make myself drink veggie drinks and a LOT of water to flush out my system and the greens will help bring minerals and vitamins. It is also important to have protein (which is hard to do when you aren’t feeling well). Try to have beans!
thankyou flavia
i will do just that mix it up…