Anybody who spends a whole lot of the day sitting may most likely stand to strengthen their glutes. And the clam shell train is a wonderful approach to do exactly that.
Nevertheless it additionally presents 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 bunch of total-body advantages that transcend the butt. Assume: harm prevention, diminished ache, and general higher motion.
In case you’re not acquainted, the clam shell entails mendacity in your facet together with your hips, knees, and ankles stacked on high of one another and knees bent to a 90-degree angle. Then, preserving your toes pressed collectively, you merely raise after which decrease your high leg, performing a movement known as hip abduction (principally 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 significantly legit. Right here we cowl all that you must learn about this super-effective transfer, together with which muscle tissues it really works, what sort of train it counts as, what you’ll acquire by doing it on the reg, type errors to keep away from, and ideas for weaving it into your routine. Then we now have a GIF and step-by-step directions so you may 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 varieties your facet 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 edges of your torso, he provides. These two muscle tissues get particularly fired up when you use some sort of resistance to finish the transfer—individuals mostly do it with a mini-band positioned above their knees—since that requires your physique to work further exhausting 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 is dependent upon your present exercise stage. In the event you’re new to train, it may be a muscular power and endurance transfer, Dr. Betiku says. In different phrases, it will possibly assist your muscle tissues get stronger and enhance their capacity to work for lengthy intervals of time. However when you’re already fairly lively, then it’s extra of a warm-up drill that may assist interact your muscle tissues earlier than you employ 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 with a purpose to develop and strengthen them, you want resistance that’s heavy sufficient to essentially problem them. Relying in your present power stage, a band might do that initially, however ultimately, it gained’t be as much as snuff.
