Tiger’s back is acting up again, but it may not be for the reason he thinks. Recently, at the Farmers Insurance Open, Woods explained to the press that his glutes “deactivated,” leaving his back to bear the brunt of his powerful swing.
“Glutes don’t just ‘shut off’ like there’s a switch,” says Men’s Health training adviser Bill Hartman, P.T., C.S.C.S., owner of Indianapolis Fitness and Sports Training.
Maybe it’s not what Woods said, just how he said it. When people claim their glutes won’t activate—some call this “gluteal amnesia”—it’s not that their glutes have actually forgotten how to fire.
How does this happen? Posture problems, for example, can alter the natural positions of bones, such as your pelvis. This can place strong, powerful muscles—like your glutes—in a weaker position. “The muscle loses leverage for certain movements,” says Hartman.
When a significant physical challenge is imposed on the affected movements—such as trying to swing a golf club with tremendous speed—the brain creates a work-around, in order to accomplish the task. It calls upon on other muscles to generate the force the movement requires. This transfers the load from the muscles that would naturally be recruited—again, like the glutes—to other muscles, as well as ligaments and joints. All of which can put you at risk for serious injury.
This is known as faulty “patterning,” and it’s not just a result of posture issues. It can occur after an injury or when the body feels under threat………
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