Coach Tip Tuesday: The Little Things Become the Big Things Part 2

This week's Coach Tip is the second in a series about how the little things actually add up to become the big things. Small, managed efforts over time do add up. Think of it like a bank account; even if you add just $1 per week, you still save $52 at the end of a year. The same can be said of your personal and time investment in your health, wellness, and training.

So this week's tip is to activate your glutes!! Many, many athletes have synergistically dominant hamstrings. What does that mean?? It means that the hamstrings take over as the prime mover/main muscle group for movements where the glute muscles should be the primary muscles doing the work. Our glutes are actually comprised of three muscles: gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus. The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the human body. Why would you want to use a smaller muscle when you could tap into the power of the largest muscle in your body?! This is the equivalent of trying to lift a grocery bag with your little finger versus your entire hand.

Activating our glute muscles and making sure that they are being used as the prime movers for their intended functions can make us stronger in our activities of daily living as well as in our athletic lives. Doing something as simple as 2 x 15 sets of clams, air squats, and air deadlifts every day can ensure that we're training our nervous system to signal those glute muscles to fire first before our hamstrings.