In
a previous post regarding foam rolling, we talked a bit about muscle
activation.
For athletic purposes, by having all of your muscles activated and in working order, you can escape overuse injuries as you’ll have more muscles doing the work for you. For fat loss the more muscles you use the more output you’ll have and the more calories you’ll burn.
The muscle most common that requires activation is the gluteal muscles. With a major shift in the time spent in sitting positions at work and at home, the glutes are basically rendered useless by the nervous system and subsequently turned off to preserve energy.
When the glutes aren’t in use then you’ll shift a lot of stress to the anterior side of the body and adopt what is called a quadriceps dominant pattern in most things you do.
Symptoms of a quad dominant pattern include a pelvis that sticks up at the back and down at the front (anterior pelvic tilt), a tendency to just break at the knees when lowering down to the floor and up the chain you'll have rounded shoulders. This can all lead to wear and tear and eventual pain to the lower back and knees.
Nothing works better then a visual so here's a before and after shot of an online client of mine with the photos being taken about 6 months apart. She is a 50-something year old mother who followed my recommendations to the tee.
You can view some of the exercises she used here as well as below:
Those jeans will fit a lot better with something to fill them out with!!
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