Don't Walk Like a Model

I never could figure out why a person would want to walk in an anterior pelvic tilt.  

I guess I can understand why one would want to promote a butt if there really isn't one, but that's going to hurt in due time.  

I see a lot of people walk in anterior pelvic tilt who aren't trying to do it.  If you have a big butt like me, it pretty much guarantees that you will look like you are walking in anterior pelvic tilt. However, you might or might not have APT.  

This is why I can understand why someone like Kim Kardashian who purposely goes into an APT posture and already has a big butt gets popular.  The curves are even more dynamic. 

The truth is if you have anterior pelvic tilt, you likely have to retrain everything including how you walk, how you run, or how you do your cardio.  For this article, we'll focus just on the walking and some running.

Since most of my clients will do some regular walking or running, I've made the mistake of doing everything right in the gym, then not training how they walk.   

Just last week, I had a client look at me incredulously and ask, “How do you expect to leave this place and keep up what I’m doing?”  

What my client really meant was, “I know I’m getting out of anterior pelvic tilt in the gym, but how do you expect me to stay out of anterior pelvic tilt, if I’m walking out of here in anterior pelvic tilt.” 

She had a good point. 

We were doing everything to get her out of anterior pelvic tilt, but I realized if we didn’t coach her walking and her cardio, she would simply be reinforcing her anterior pelvic tilt. 

A lot of people think they can fix their anterior pelvic tilt by simply doing some exercises and stretches.  For some, this will work.  For others, they need everything. 

You’ve probably seen people running like this:

​We’ve already covered standing in APT.  And if you don’t know what to do in standing, you need to work on this first. 

​However, even if you optimized your standing, you still need to work on your walking and potentially any other cardiovascular work you do.   

If you have anterior pelvic tilt or didn't pass the prone hip extension in the last video, or if you regularly walk or run, I highly recommend performing a single leg balance test.  

Lift up your leg, and observe the knee area of the leg which is on the ground.  If the knee goes inward, this is a problem.  If the leg rotates inwardly, this is also a problem.  Both problems may indicate weak or deactivated glutes.  

To see if the glutes are a culprit, try squeezing the glutes.  If the leg becomes like the picture below, you have some deactivated glutes.  (Also, just because you passed the prone hip extension test, doesn't mean you will pass this test.) 

If you have deactivated glutes in standing, simply squeezing them and making sure your knee is stable is a great warm up exercise.  

Eventually, you should be able to stand without trying to squeeze your glutes.  Your knee should be stable.  

If you have been or are prone to knee problems while running, and you didn't pass the single leg balance test, you will also likely need to work on using your glutes to propel your leg back.  

You need to walk very slowly while doing this exercise.  Walking literally at a 1 to 2mph pace is perfect.  If this isn't easy for you, you need to slow it down. 

Overtime, feeling the glute should be possible at your normal walking speed.  If you run, you should be able to feel the glutes propelling your leg back.  It will take some time to build up to this, but if you practice this, you will get it.  

Besides focusing on our glutes while walking, we should make sure our alignment is as neutral as possible.  

I've recently began having clients use the stick while walking on the treadmill, and it's worked really well. Clients can really feel what neutral feels like.  

I've even had clients raise up the front of the pelvis turning on the obliques, squeeze the glutes for the leg that's going back, and use the stick on their back.  While it's a lot to concentrate on, you should be able to accomplish this with practice.  

You can do all the right stuff in the gym.  However, if you walk and run in anterior pelvic tilt, it's going to take you a lot longer to get out of it.  For some of you, being in APT is normal for your sport.  That's fine, but you should still be able to do all of these exercises well.