Anybody who spends quite a lot of the day sitting may most likely stand to strengthen their glutes. And the clam shell train is a wonderful technique to just do that.
Nevertheless it additionally provides a complete lot extra. This train—which is a staple in rehab and prehab bodily remedy packages, in addition to a fixture in some Pilates courses—ushers in a number of total-body advantages that transcend the butt. Suppose: damage prevention, lowered ache, and general higher motion.
In case you’re not acquainted, the clam shell entails mendacity in your aspect along with your hips, knees, and ankles stacked on prime of one another and knees bent to a 90-degree angle. Then, retaining your toes pressed collectively, you merely raise after which decrease your prime leg, performing a movement referred to as hip abduction (mainly utilizing your hip muscle tissues to maneuver your leg away out of your physique). Watch a demo and also you’ll perceive the place it will get its title: The train mimics the movement of its namesake sea creature.
The clam shell is easy, sure, however its advantages are critically legit. Right here we cowl all you’ll want to find out about this super-effective transfer, together with which muscle tissues it really works, what kind of train it counts as, what you’ll achieve by doing it on the reg, type errors to keep away from, and ideas for weaving it into your routine. Then we’ve got a GIF and step-by-step directions so you’ll be able to check out the clam shell for your self!
What muscle tissues does the clam shell work?
Do sufficient reps of the clam shell and also you’ll really feel your gluteal muscle tissues put to work. Particularly, this train actually fires up your gluteus maximus (your largest butt muscle) in addition to your gluteus medius, a smaller muscle that types your aspect butt, Femi Betiku, PT, DPT, CSCS, a bodily therapist and Pilates teacher in Westchester, New York, tells SELF.
It additionally engages your tensor fasciae latae (TFL), one of many hip flexors, in addition to your exterior obliques, core muscle tissues that run alongside the perimeters of your torso, he provides. These two muscle tissues get particularly fired up should you use some kind of resistance to finish the transfer—folks mostly do it with a mini-band positioned above their knees—since that requires your physique to work additional onerous to assist stabilize your trunk as you full the clam shell movement.
What sort of train is the clam shell?
What field the clam shell ticks will depend on your present exercise degree. If you happen to’re new to train, it may be a muscular power and endurance transfer, Dr. Betiku says. In different phrases, it may well assist your muscle tissues get stronger and increase their means to work for lengthy durations of time. However should you’re already fairly lively, then it’s extra of a warm-up drill that may assist interact your muscle tissues earlier than you utilize them extra intensely throughout a exercise. That’s as a result of the glutes are one of many strongest muscle tissues within the physique, and in an effort to develop and strengthen them, you want resistance that’s heavy sufficient to actually problem them. Relying in your present power degree, a band might do that initially, however in the end, it received’t be as much as snuff.
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