Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58 ( NIV)
It’s about time for another fitness blog! We all want to stand and move steady and strong. Here’s a body cue (prompt) that will keep our bodies positioned correctly to do just that.
We need to keep our hips in the right position to walk effortlessly AND with stability. This body cue will keep our hips exactly where they’re intended for the most efficient movement.
The title of this blog post (Tuck your tail) is the body cue I’ve been using for years to keep my body from losing it’s balance. I even get my class mascot Susie to help me demonstrate when I teach!
Susie has a long monkey tail that she’s able to tuck between her legs. Once she demonstrates, I ask the students in my class to pull that tail up toward their chest.
If we do this… our bottom tucks under, our hips push forward and our stomach muscles ignite. Then since we’re also pulling our tail up towards our chest, we will feel our ribcage, our chest and ultimately our head be raised up!
Try this right now even sitting in a chair!
If you’re a regular gym-goer, instead of asking you to Tuck your tail, a fitness trainer may ask you to ACTIVATE YOUR GLUTES.
When I had my traumatic brain injury (TBI) 24 years ago, I have a vivid memory of my brother, John telling me if I wanted better balance, I had to get a stronger butt. That was years before he became my primary care doctor. Even still, I immediately added bridges, squats and dead lifts to my weekly fitness routine.
So today, I do indeed have a stronger bootie. In order to get it working for me, I need to ACTIVATE it. Strong muscles are great…but they need to be FIRED so they can do a job for you.
Squats are a great way to get the muscles in our backside working while IN MOTION and WITH GOOD POSTURE.
Start with standing tall.- Pretend to sit back in a chair. (Stick your bootie out!)
- Don’t let your knees come out past your toes!
- Keep chest & head up. (Make a long kneck!)
- Fire your gluteous muscles to come back up to standing.
- This move will tuck your tail between your legs.
- Bottom tucks under as your hip bones push forward.
Then just like the opening scripture, we will be standing firm and not allowing anything to move our bootie!
Dear Lord,
It seems strange to ask You to keep our bottoms strong. It will allow us to move more efficiently though. Then we’ll be free to do whatever You’re calling us to do.
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