You Have the Power in Your..

Happy Midweek Solstice everyone! This week we have a quick look at a big key to making athletes (and everyone else) go. The most useful performance tool in an athlete’s toolbox, at least physically, is the muscles in their hips. If you’ve played any sport where you must try to defend or shadow someone, the old standby is, watch their hips. The reason being is because the hips are likely going to be the key to what the body does next, with a few exceptions.

When it comes to the hips, the primary thing most will think of is their glutes, and they’re not wrong for that. The hip complex is often talked about as the powerhouse of the body, it’s the truth. This post is not to overlook the many complexities that involve training the hips. There’s many stabilizers for the hips that need to be addressed to keep things from going awry, but in terms of what adds timber to the fire to provide the punch, it is those glutes.

When training power, spoiler alert, the main focus is the hips. When I’m coaching things like jumps, throws and the like, the first thing I look at, especially for a beginner lifter, what are the hips doing. If they're not getting the proper rotation or extension, I know the athlete is leaving power on the table. Most sports require this mega power that the glutes provide and the 2nd source of that comes from is, shocker of the day, the strength basics on leg days. Squat, hinge/deadlifts, single leg movements like split squat and 1-leg RDLs, and so on, all add power the athletes can use in competition.
 
Even for those not participating in sports, the hips & glutes tend to be the key to many success stories in terms of feeling strong, healthy, powerful and just generally more athletic. So yeah, if might be weird to say, but it’s not totally off-base when folks say, no glutes no glory. That is the bit I have for you all today, hopefully everyone now remembers to take thing seriously with their glutes and overall hips. Thanks for reading, and feel free reach out with questions or thoughts otherwise.