BowlFit Tip of the Week – Strengthen Your Glutes

Your gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in your body and SHOULD be the strongest. However, with age our glutes usually become weaker because they aren’t being used enough. As adults we aren’t running and jumping around outside being as active as we were as kids. If you’re a desk jockey all day chances are your gluteus maximus is becoming weaker even faster. For bowlers, the glutes play a major role in our braking mechanism and transfer of force at the foul line so it is important to strengthen our glutes for multiple reasons. The primary action of all three glute muscles is hip extension, therefore the best exercise to begin building strength back up is hip lifts or floor bridges. You can start bilaterally with just your own body weight then progress to doing single leg hip lifts. Once you are efficient in single leg hip lifts you can start adding weight with a barbell across your hips or holding a kettlebell at your hips.