Engaging proper muscle groups - any secrets?

Ohwhynot

I have worked with my exercise instructors, watched videos, read articles, etc. I can't seem to properly engage my glutes for squats, and my shoulders (joints, not muscles) seem to take the brunt of the work with bench presses and pushups. Does anyone have any tips that worked for them in learning how to engage the right areas?

Cherimoose

I was engaged to a glute once.

On squats, just squeeze your butt cheeks when you're standing. You don't need to make any other effort to contract glutes, since they work automatically the rest of the lift.. regardless of whether you feel them.
If you're unsure of your form, post a form check video.

For pushups & bench press, only let your elbows go to back level, not behind it.
Also search Youtube for "Rippetoe bench".

rachelns

You could try a few glute activation exercises beforehand such has donkey kicks, side clams and frog pumps. May be go lighter to really get form right. Also, as above poster says - Ripptoe is good for videos. Also see Brett Contreras (the Glute Guy) for good glute info.

ninerbuff

Ohwhynot wrote: »

I have worked with my exercise instructors, watched videos, read articles, etc. I can't seem to properly engage my glutes for squats, and my shoulders (joints, not muscles) seem to take the brunt of the work with bench presses and pushups. Does anyone have any tips that worked for them in learning how to engage the right areas?

Push your hips slightly forward to engage more glutes. Do this with still a slight bend in your knees to keep the tension on your quads and glutes and not your knees. Also don't do this with maximal poundages.
For chest practice this first: push both your palms together to "feel" what it is to contract your pectorals. Start from where you shoulders are and and lower your arms while doing this to feel your pecs contract. Where you contract them the most should be right around where you hands line up with your sternum just above the rib cage. This is the position you usually want you hands to align to to engage more pec contraction.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Ohwhynot

Thank you guys so much! I am sitting here on a conference call and itching to try your suggestions!

SonyaCele

before i lift, i have to stop, close my eyes and take 10 seconds or so to focus on getting full engagement for the lift. i never just walk up and grab the bar start lifting. I pause, get into position, and one by one start engaging every muscle. It takes time to learn your body and get that control, that's all part of process. You can also practice while sitting at your desk, engage various muscles and learn to control them on command. then when you get under the bar, you'll have a feel for that muscle already. Also make sure your form is correct on all the lifts and that you understand the major muscle groups involved in each lift.

Sam_I_Am77

A lot of good advice here. Mine would be to do a set of 10-12 Floor Bridges as part of your warm-up and really squeeze the glutes at the peak.

Willbenchforcupcakes

You've gotten a lot of great advice for squats. My personal favourite warm up that gets the glutes ready to fire is a banded glute warm up - small bands around the lower quads and ankles and side steps, front and back walks.

For bench, it sounds like the combination of your grip width, arch (or lack of it), and bar path isn't working. playing around with those factors will allow you to find where your best performance is going to come from.

losingitseattle

For Squats - I focus on lifting my toes up just a little bit in my shoes to weight into my heels and then I focus on driving up through them to stand. I can get parallel in my thighs relative to floor though I'm still stuck at 100 lbs for 8-12 reps. I teach a lot of Pilates/Barre and Hiit classes though and have a lot of practice squatting without weight and working into the glute...but I also think that's why I have great form when weight is added. So I would say make sure you can do it well without the weight and you know what it feels like. Grab a trainer or instructor and ask them to watch you.

Could be more than that though...I did a weigh training class and as a part of that we did Functional Movement Screening. Several of that gals that are plenty strong were struggling with proper squat form and were hitting quads more than glutes on their squats. Turns out they have ankle mobility issues. Common fix is to put heels up on plates. And then work on your ankle mobility so that you are not on plates for forever.

http://www.muscleforlife.com/how-to-improve-flexibility-and-mobility-for-squatting/

For bench presses I found that I was on a bench that was too tall for me and that my feet were not rooted enough so it was screwing with my form all the way up the chain. Also I had to focus on hand placement and position to keep shoulder alignment correct. I also find doing a set with a light weight to prep my neural pathways with correct movement helps.

http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-tips/10-worst-bench-press-mistakes/slide/11

For push ups...not sure where to begin. This is the number one place where people struggle to keep the correct form in all my classes and I include push ups 4x per week every week. Often form begins to fail because of a weak transverse abdominis so hips begin to sink to the floor, glutes struggle to fire and shoulder blades begin to retract way too much. I would work on triceps pushups (shoulder over wrists) or a slightly wider stance and make sure your weight is not back in your toes. Practice perfect plank form 5x a week. Root move of push up and key to success.

My two cents. Now surely someone on MFP will disagree but that's my 2 cents.

Ohwhynot

I am thrilled with all these suggestions, guys! Thank you so much!