- All right!
Greetings, greetings, all of our viewers,
Bob and Sam.
We are going to show you glute medius strength,
and we're gonna show you how to strengthen it
so that you can have hip stability
which reduces back pain,
improves your walking ability.
- And sometimes leg pain.
- And absolutely. - Right.
- We're gonna show you how to do this
without exercise equipment, body weight,
and they are great exercises.
Hold on, 9.3 seconds.
And guess what?
Sam, are you excited to be with us?
- Sam is here.
- Yeah, he lost his job. (Bob laughs)
♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous ♪
♪ Physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
- Okay, just briefly,
we're gonna use Sam to show you
where the glute medius muscle is
and why it's so important to stabilize the pelvis,
the hip joint, the back, the knee, the hip.
So my hand represents the fibers of the glute medius muscle.
- [Bob] Got it.
- It connects to the hip,
the greater trochanter, which is right here,
directly favoring,
or in line with the ball of the hip.
And then the fibers go up
across the pelvis bone, or the ilium,
just like my fingers.
So if you see that,
like, my fingers would contract,
and it's gonna stabilize that hip bone.
This is an interesting analogy, isn't it, Bob?
- Oh yeah, I think it's great.
- It's a wonderful thing.
So that's what we need to strengthen,
just the- - One of the big things
it does, it stops the ball from sloshing around.
- Yeah, just like it is here. - Right.
- [Brad] That's no good.
That affects- - That'll cause pain.
- [Brad] Yep, and then the hip is unstable,
- Right. - it's gonna affect the back,
goes down the chain into the knee and the foot.
And look at Sam,
he's having a hard time.
- He's a mess.
- Yep.
We'll fix you up later.
Okay, hold on.
Okay, so we're gonna show you five different exercises
for this muscle, to strengthen.
Pick out the one that's good for you.
Try 'em all, and there will probably,
just do one or two, you do not have to do all five.
The goal is to do 10 of 'em.
Once you get strong enough, do two sets of 10.
You could get up to three sets of 10, as tolerated.
You should feel fatigue.
- Now, a beginner can do is in bed.
- Yes, exactly.
So just lying here,
the bottom leg- - Especially the first one.
- Yep.
Bend the knee so you have a stable base,
and we're gonna strengthen this hip abductor.
- Right. - Leg is straight.
And your toe position's important.
Don't let it do this,
point it straight out like that.
And not out here, but straight in line with you.
And here we go!
- [Bob] It helps to keep that lower leg bent.
- Yes, 'cause I'm a little wobbly.
- [Bob] Right, more stable.
- Again, big mistakes are toes pointed up,
no good. - [Bob] Right.
- And then out in front of you,
not good. - No good.
- Pretend there's a wall right behind you,
and you're rubbing,
you could do this against a wall, actually.
Boy, I feel it already. Owie. (Bob chuckles)
That's some nice work.
The second one.
Now we're gonna do the same body position,
lying on the floor.
You could do this on your bed
but a firm surface is better. - Right.
- And now, instead of strengthening the top muscle,
it's gonna be the one down here.
So you're gonna bring your knee bent on the bottom,
straight in line, on your elbow.
Now, I'm going to lift up my body weight.
- You gotta have a pretty good core too
for this. - Yes. Yep.
So it's not just that muscle,
it's the core, which is functional,
- Right. - which helps you
with everything else,
all the goals we mentioned earlier.
- [Bob] It'll help your back pain.
- Yep. So here, you can just do it slow up.
You can hold and down.
Nice, slow,
smooth,
tighten the core muscles.
And again, like I said,
the goal is 10.
And if you're just starting on these,
you may only do five, and you'll have enough,
and that's okay.
Build up over a period of time.
You know, do these once a day.
Take at least one day off a week
where you don't do 'em at all.
Number three coming up.
Okay, this is the third one.
Now, these are not in order,
we've got another one coming up after this,
but this is probably the most difficult,
so this is when you're really getting strong.
- [Bob] It's challenging.
- So, first of all,
do exactly what we did before.
Lift up here. - [Bob] Again, a good core.
- Yep. So now I'm working the bottom hip abductor.
Now we're gonna double up
and work the top one
and do these at the same time.
Okay? - A big challenge.
- Yep.
Now, for when you get really strong,
there's a way to make this even more challenging.
And there'll be a few people that'll get to this level,
it depends on your fitness
and how long you've worked at these,
but you straighten the bottom leg,
and you start out like this.
- Oh yeah. - Yep.
Now, I'm touching here, I'm cheating a little bit.
If I go here, that's even harder.
Okay.
I'm gonna touch because it helps.
(both laugh)
- [Bob] Humdinger. - I'm gonna tire out.
Now, for those people who really want a challenge,
it's up to here and here
and down.
Up!
And this one.
- [Bob] Not bad for almost 60, Brad.
- So, again, that's aggressive,
not a lot of people will be doing that one,
but there's always those people that are high achievers.
- [Bob] Right. - We're going on
to the next one.
Okay, Bob, these next two are in the standing position.
This first one is actually-
- Also beginner. - Yes
It's the easiest one,
but how you do it is important.
Have something to hold for balance.
We're gonna strengthen the right hip.
And alls I'm going to do is pull the leg out like this.
- But he's leaning onto the left hip.
- Yes. Yep.
- Lean onto the left hip.
- One thing you do not wanna do,
form is critical on this.
This doesn't count. - Right.
- Okay?
So trunk is stable, upright with good posture.
Now, look at my foot.
If you point your toe out,
and this is what your body will naturally wanna do,
that takes the glute medius out of the picture.
So the toe is straight forward,
and it stays that way.
Okay?
And again, don't bring it out in front of you.
It needs to go out to the side perfectly
and nice and slow,
no fast ones. - You'll be surprised.
It's really weak
on a lot of people. - Yeah.
All right, we've got one more in the standing position.
Okay, now the last one,
you will need a step and something to hold onto.
And what we're going to do...
This is a tricky one.
A lot of people forget this one,
and I think a lot of therapists may as well.
But if you look at my waistline here,
my feet are even.
Now, one foot is off, there's nothing underneath it,
and I keep my left knee locked in straight,
and I drop the hip down,
and then I pull it up.
Straight down,
and pull it up,
and this is exercising the glute medius
- On that side now. - on this side.
- Left side, right. - That hip.
And this is where, really,
you get some good hip and pelvis stabilization,
which is gonna be beneficial
for your back, your hip, your hip joint.
- [Bob] If you tend to waddle when you walk,
- Yep, exactly. - this'll help that.
- Now, these standing exercises are a great benefit
as opposed to the lying one.
Because you're putting weight
through your hip joint,
it transfers over to function. - It's more function.
- Exactly right.
So I would pick at least one of those two
and then one while you're lying on your side
and get one of each,
and that would be a good combination.
Bob, I'm feeling incredible.
Hips are strong, everything feeling good!
- Are you getting shorter
- Strong like bull!
Yeah, I am getting shorter.
Either that or you're getting taller.
Don't worry, it wasn't from these exercises.
- All right.
- Take care. - Thanks.
(chipper upbeat music)