What do you think about the value of cueing wt back on heels during bridges and 1 leg exercises to enhance glut activation?
Certainly accessing the posterior chain is referenced with a posterior weight shift. Through the heels is the common concept. Pushing through the heels through the floor is the tried and true verbal cue for upright level changes like squats, DLs, and the like.
It should also be conventional that you shouldn’t go too far back onto the heels, but I know even in myself, I will sometimes feel my toes coming off a little bit as I sit back into a squat.
Also in the upright positions, the lunge particularly, it seems like there is often success in guiding the posterior weight shift with the toes elevated. We also see this as part of the 2×6 Toe Touch patterning “trick” to elicit a posterior weight shift.
I like toes up in certain situations, but it is not plan A. I think there should be a natural balance towards posterior, but not necessarily a volitional posterior weight shift. I would consider something like heels up in the bridge as a high threshold strategy. The natural static posture should be marked with a posterior weight shift, but it isn’t intentional.
Think of heel walking. It is useful in clearing myotome L3 and L4, but the pattern is completely erroneous. I want the intended feedback from the short foot to feed the glutes, not the full volitional weight shift.
There are times and reasons to exaggerate the posterior weight shift and mandate the heel pressure to elicit glute activation. But in terms of anything when the chain is closed through the feet, I am looking for short foot. I would rather facilitate that via a valgus RNT at the knees or WBV.
If these options still don’t work, or if hamstring dominate in the bridge technique, then the high threshold can be useful to create awareness of the glutes.
