VideoTo be fair, a bad cue is more like a mis-cue – a cue that is used with the wrong person, or at the wrong time, or it’s over-used, it’s mis-used. For me one of those cues is “squeeze the glutes”. When we give people that cue to “squeeze the glutes” at the top of the squat, or even at the top of a deadlift, we often find that people go into a posterior pelvic tilt. This really isn’t ideal.
“Squeeze the glutes” is what we call an internal cue – the person has to focus on contracting the glutes to feel them activate, create that mind-muscle connection. So, “squeeze the glutes” can be a good cue for an activation exercise, if we wanted the individual to improve mind-muscle connection with the glutes. But when we are referring to a lift like a squat or a deadlift, the reason we tell someone to “squeeze the glutes” is for them to complete their hip extension. That’s the end result that we’re trying to achieve: “push through the floor to get your hips back up”.
So instead of using “squeeze the glutes”, which potentiates the possibility of people going into posterior pelvic tilt, what we really need people to learn is proper hip extension. First off, a lot of this comes from the feet. Staying connected with the feet, and what the feet our doing to the floor and how that creates torque at the hips. We want people to understand how the glutes function to create hip extension.
The Cook hip raise is a great exercise to create awareness of hip extension and connect to the glutes in a manner that is specific to hip extension. Another great exercise is a band-resisted deadlift, not only using the band as accommodating resistance, but also to create that feeling of pushing through the floor maximally to complete hip extension. The closer you get to the top, the harder you have to push through the feet to complete hip extension.
Watch the full video to hear and see more on these exercises!
Mai-Linh Dovan M.SC., CAT(C)
Certified Athletic Therapist
Founder of Rehab-U
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