Glutes, hamstrings, and transversus abdominus muscle to the rescue!
Excessive anterior pelvic tilt creates a multitude of problems for our backs, bellies, and posture altogether. In Parts 1 – 4 of this series, you learned some stretches and what to watch for. In this video, a simple strengthener.
For the fist 4 in this series, go to Pelvic Tilt Talk.
Wow, glad I found this series!
The only thing I would love would be a print out of the stretches and strengthening exercises. Because once you explain it we have to jot down diagrams or figure out how to remember it all. Do you have any sheets with this info?
Cheers!
Hi Marc,
The Fit Quickies come with written transcripts of instructions. You’ve got a good idea there with a document about these stretching and strengthening exercises. Thanks for the suggestions! Tell me more about what you think would be helpful when you get a chance. Thanks!
Wow, thanks for this! I realized that I was doing my pelvic tilts wrong by absentmindedly using my glutes too much. I could definitely feel the difference by doing it the right way.
Hey Rachel. What did you change? More abs kicking in? Initiate it from the abs and then once into place, the glutes kick in for support – they are very important ‘core’ muscles that are often neglected, believe it or not!
When I was doing my pelvic tilts, I was squeezing my glutes from beginning to end to make my back go to the floor. It took a little getting used to, but I was able to do the pelvic tilt while keeping my glutes much more relaxed, so my abs were doing most of the work. I’m also doing exercises for the hamstrings and glutes, but I really need to target these ab muscles because I’ve had severe muscle atrophy in that area.
Rachel, thanks for the details.
Your abdominal muscles can move that pelvic tilt only by about 10% all by themselves – any further than that and it’s the glutes that have kicked in, so that can be a good measure.
By the way, I do not recommend flattening the back to the floor. What I suggest is putting a small towel under the lumbar – not rolled up big, just folded a little – to give you something to tilt and press against without taking the natural curve out of your back. Make sense?
Thank you! I actually couldn’t get my back all the way to the floor anyway. I did use the towel folded a little bit and it worked pretty well.
Is there any way to make this more difficult? Because I would like to build up the strength in those abs, but the bridge is too difficult and I can’t keep the proper alignment.
Rachel. Yes, you can add more load to the isometric move. Once you get so that you can feel it burn from effort within seconds (there yet?) you can add a load of lifting one foot off the floor for a few seconds – hover it until you can’t hold proper form any more – and then return it to the floor. It’s easy to cheat by letting the hip flexors do the work, folding the knee in closer to the waist. Keep it OUT there, and concentrate the workload on the abdominals. If you feel it in the hip or quads, you’ve moved it into the leg and hips. Then hover the other leg. In the Fit Quickies book I’ve got an excellent new variation to curls that really targets deep too – can’t wait for you to get it into your hands!
Thank you so much! I’ll try these out too!
My pleasure Rachel.