What a Pain in the Back

What a Pain in the Back

Do you ever wake up and straight away feel your lower back tighten and your knees ache? Or when you’re squatting do you get that aching pain in your lower back which makes you give up way before your quads are fatigued? There’s a high chance that your glutes may be the weak link.

The glutes are the largest muscle group in the body and are responsible for generating large amounts of power when we are training, but most people neglect this muscle when training. Nearly all sports and quite a lot of daily activities are heavily reliant on good glute function. If we were to look at running, or more specifically sprinting (next time you watch the athletics you will notice all sprinters have big glutes), the glutes are one of the main muscles required to generate that explosive power, and if they are not working optimally it’s going to have a negative effect on the power generated, overall speed and increase the risk of injury. This is also true when looking at other explosive movements such as throwing, hopping, jumping and static lifts like the squat and dead lift. In addition to these activities, the glutes also play an important role in balance. Something that is quite important is their role in stabilising the knee through such activities.

As weight trainers or strength athletes, inactive glutes can wreak havoc on the lifts that are a staple in most training programmes, including squat variations and deadlifts. If your glutes are not working, you’re guaranteed that you will not be able to lift maximum weight with an optimal range of motion and, importantly, good form. This being said, other muscle groups will likely try and make up for this shortfall and this is where you may start to develop that pain in your lower back and get that ache through your knees as they try and make up for that work your glutes should be doing.

As previously mentioned, the glutes along with hamstrings are extremely important in the body’s ability to balance. If there is an imbalance caused through glute inactivity it will generally lead to some degree of knee pain. We can often see such imbalance in the gym when trainers are trying to shift a heavy load in the squat and often the leg press and rotation of the knee is present. Taking all of this into account weak glutes will inevitably lead to a decrease in strength, less power and ultimately puts us at risk of injury.

How can I Tell?

There are a few key indicators that can point out that you may be suffering from inactive glutes.

Knee Pain – This is generally a good indicator for otherwise healthy individuals that your body is not doing what it should do. If you’re getting prolonged pain in your knees, especially when active, it’s time to work on those glutes.

Back Pain – As the title of this article suggests, this is also an indicator. When our glutes are weak or inactive our lower back more than often tries to make up for the weakness and take the load. Athletes such as rugby players, footballers and cross country runners with weaker glutes may get more lower back pain, especially in winter months when the ground is softer and heavier and glutes are needed to create more power for running and dynamic movements.

Why?

Unfortunately weak glutes are more common today due to our modern working environments and inactivity. Sitting down, especially for long periods of time is a route cause. Prolonged sitting causes muscles such as hip flexors to tighten causing your pelvis to tilt. When this happens your glutes can no longer work correctly and effectively. Think about a time when you may have been sitting on a plane or in a car for a long period of time, and that feeling of tightness you have pulling you forward when you stand and start to move again. This is in part to your muscles tightening and shortening.

What to do about it?

Drop the weights - Not literally, but the amount that you are lifting in all of those exercises that require glute activation, you can leave that weight on the bar for your bench press. The next step is to focus on the exercise technique over lifting heavy. Once you have got your glutes firing and implemented it into the targeted exercises, you can gradually begin to put that weight back on the bar. At first leave that ego at the door, it may seem like regression, but what you will find in the long term is that you will surpass what you could lift initially and reduce your risk of injury as you go.

Get Firing – As mentioned most of us spend a lot of time sitting on our glutes throughout the day, so they can easily switch off. Try and do something daily to get them firing again. 3 sets of 15 reps on glute focussed exercises such as Glute Bridges, Donkey Kicks, Clams and Bird Dogs. Pick a different one each day, it will take 5 minutes if that. The use of resistance bands is a great progression. Try using them placed just above your knee while performing your squats, this will switch your glutes on and get them firing throughout the exercise.

I hope that this has helped or even highlighted a few things to implement into your current training plan. If you have any further questions, please get in touch via Facebook or use [email protected].