Do you do the Crab Walk?

For years we’ve all been crab walking with the band around our knees to cue ‘knees out’ and get better glute activation when doing our warm ups. It’s the activation we need for our squats and turnout for dancing however just because our knees are out doesn’t mean our leg is aligned the way we want for good glute activation.

Too often we see people leading with their toes rather than keeping hip, knee and ankles aligned but here’s the solution. Pop the band around your feet!

The new study by Lewis et al. has found that band placement around the feet generates the highest amount of glute activity without increasing TFL activity when compared to band placement around the knees or ankles.

Why is this important:

• If you are looking to activate the abductors and external rotators effectively and strengthen them as part of rehab, band placement will change how much you actually engage them
• Squats / sumo deadlifts and turnout for ballet require good activation of the hip external rotators rather then overusing the TFL
• Weakness in the hip abductors and external rotator muscles is a common contributor to lower limb injuries (particularly in females)

So next time you’re crab walking try popping the band around your feet for increased glute activation!