How’s Your Push Off Part II? Do you have back, calf, or hip flexor tightness or pain after you run?

Welcome back for part II of how’s your push off. If you didn’t read the first post make sure to go back and check it out. If your hip flexors are too tight it will be very difficult for you to properly use your hip extensors or gluteal muscles and this information won’t be of much use to you. For those of you who had tight hip flexors, you have hopefully had plenty of time to work on the tightness. For the rest of you lucky people who had plenty of hip extension flexibility, let's find out if you are appropriately using your gluteal muscles and hamstrings to generate a strong, effective, push off.

So, as we discussed in the last post, we need to have appropriate flexibility to achieve a good push off, but that’s just half of the equation. To have a good effective push off you must also appropriately recruit your gluteus maximus and hamstring muscles. So how do you know if you’re doing this? Unfortunately I don’t have a great technique for you to use at home on your own, although the Bunkie test may be a good option, but that’s a topic for another day. I’ll tell you what I do in the clinic. I generally start by looking at muscle bulk or compensatory muscle development. 

I know, what do I mean by this? If you are properly using your gluteus maximus muscles (your butt muscles) they will generally be well developed. If you are not, they will be underdeveloped and common compensatory muscles, including the calves and the low back extensors, will be bigger than they should be. I am a fantastic compensator and have what us therapists like to refer to as: “no butt syndrome.” My gluteus maximus muscles are smaller than they should be for a runner and my calf and low back muscles are much bigger and stronger than they should be.

In my case this is happening for two different reasons: (1) I am not able to extend my hip well because my hip flexors are too tight, (2) I am not generating adequate force with my gluteus maximus muscles to push my body forward. When this situation occurs the body compensates for the lack of hip extension by contracting the muscles in the low back and arching the back so the hip (pelvis) moves behind the body. Unfortunately this is not a good position for the gluteus maximus to generate force so he decides to take a break. Thankfully, his buddy, the calf, will take over and will push the body forward by pushing the toes into the ground. Essentially, the calf has become the butt!

So, the important question is: how do you know if you have this problem? There are a couple ways you will know if this is your issue. The first clue this may be a problem for you is your low back, calves, or hip flexors may feel tight and sore frequently after you run. The second clue is that your calves and low back muscles will likely be over-developed and tense; they may feel tight and like they don’t want to shut off, even at rest. If you have both of these issues, you probably have issues recruiting your glute max muscles for a good push off. The lack of muscle development should be obvious for you. I know I suffer from “no butt syndrome” and I know with calves like mine I will never need calf implants. Yes calf implants are a thing, Google it if you don’t believe me. If you are unsure whether your gluteus maximus muscles are under developed and your calves are over developed, I suggest having someone take a picture of you. You can check out a good example in this post.

If you have identified that this is your problem and want to figure out how to start addressing it, keep reading. If this isn’t your problem, I’ll catch you in the next post. Now if you go back to the beginning of this post you’ll see we should have already addressed the high flexor tightness problem, so all we should have to do now is get your gluteus maximus muscles to do their job. Unfortunately you can’t just hit the glute strengthening machine at the gym because your body will likely go right back to moving how it’s used to and will “cheat” or compensate with improper movement. We can’t just strengthen the glute max, we need to teach it how to work specifically during push off. The best way to do this is to address the compensatory movements and take those right out of the equation. The most common compensatory movement is low back extension or an anterior pelvic tilt. We will prevent this by learning to properly perform a posterior pelvic tilt. Make sure you spend some time getting this right or there is no need to move on to the next part.

A posterior pelvic tilt is usually easiest to do lying down with your knees bent up, or sitting on a swiss ball. What you will do is tuck your bottom under you and pull your stomach in. You should feel the top of your pelvis rock backward and you should feel your bottom tighten. If you are lying down and doing this you will also feel the arch of your back flatten out. Practice this a few times to make sure you have really gotten this move down because it’s going to be harder when we try to incorporate it into an exercise. If you are a visual learner, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AWtsAzHBp4. Ok, did you get it? Can you do this movement pretty well? If so, lets take this into standing and start working on an exercise.

To do this exercise, I suggest standing at a counter or some place you can hang on with your hands. Perform a posterior pelvic tilt by tucking your bottom under you. You should feel your bottom tighten. Got it? Great. Next pick your left leg up off the floor and move it behind you (extend your left hip). You still have your posterior pelvic tilt right? If not, make sure you redo that tilt and keep your glute muscles tight on your right side. Make sure you don’t feel your low back, if you do, you are cheating with those muscles! If you are doing this correctly you should feel your bottom working on both sides. If you have this down, great, this is your exercise. All you are going to do is hold this position for 30 seconds and then switch and do the other leg. You will repeat this 2 more times on each side, but make sure you can still feel your glute max muscles the whole time.

Now, lets say you’re a stud and this is too easy, what can you do? Buy some resistance bands to put around your ankles to make those glute muscles work harder. Be careful when you add resistance that you don’t add too much and lose the ability to keep your pelvic tilt! I know I keep saying this, but it’s the most important part. You will want to work on this at least 3-4 times per week for a month or two. When you really have this motion down, it’s time to add in movement. You will again perform your posterior pelvic tilt and pick up your left leg but this time you are going to move it back behind you and forward, directly under you, 15 times (without losing your tilt). Now, it may seem like cheating but it’s ok to allow your foot to scrape on the floor when you bring it back because this will further help recruit your left glute max. When you have done 15 repetitions, switch and do the right side. Do three sets of this exercise on each leg. This is not the only exercise you can do for this but it’s one of my favorites so that is the one I chose to teach. If you want other exercises for this, stay tuned. 

After reading this, you should know how to begin working on your push-off, which is a great injury prevention and performance technique. I hope you find this helpful and make sure to stay tuned for more tips. If you have questions about any of this, please contact me so I can clear up any confusion. Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you in the next post.