I hate the Monster Walk…er, I love the Monster Walk. I hate it because it hurts. I love it because it hurts. Most of us know (from our days of listening to our parents and then becoming them) that what is good for us usually requires a little sacrifice from us, but is always worth the effort. That’s how I feel about the Monster Walk. It’s basically a walking squat. With a band (or rubber shackles) around your ankles, you spread your legs apart to create resistance, and then take a step and squat. Then with the other leg, you take a step, and squat again. In other words, after each step you squat.
The squat is crucial for our glutes. What I have come to find out, not only from talking to physical therapist Alan Tyson, but also from doing lots of reading, is that our glutes need to be strong for our pelvic floor to be strong. Alot of strength and power originates in the hips and core. If we want to increase overall strength and power, we need to work hard on an exercise that strengthens our hips and core, and that includes our glutes. One of the best exercises for developing strength and power in the hips and core is …drum roll please…the squat. And I’m not talking about the kind with a barbell on your back. Just the basic squat.
Biomechanist Katy Bowman, in an interview with Hot Sweaty Mama, Kara Thom, said, “I don’t have a Kegel policy as much as I have a butt policy. It’s called, Get One for optimal pelvic floor function.” And one of the bast ways ” to get one” is to do squats. For more on why the squat is so important, see Katy’s Blog from her website, Aligned and Well. Katy goes into great detail about the importance of a squat well done (and even about why the squat might be more important than the Kegel.).
Are you doing your squats?
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