NOTES:  Difficulty Level:  80%

So many people get the form wrong for this exercise!  I have been to the gym and tried it myself, whilst observing others.  I guarantee that the form shown in the above image is the correct one.  Note the slightly bent front knee, the slightly bent arms gripping the vertical just below shoulder height.  Note the placement of the front foot directly below the hip joint.  Note the head position and direction of gaze – down to the floor but a little out in front.  Note that the rear leg does not come all the way up to the horizontal, but that the rear thigh stays aligned with the flatness of the neck and spine.  Fabulous pose!  At the forward position (not shown) the cabled foot moves forward just in front of the planted front foot, before smoothly swinging back again.  Throughout the exercise, you should maintain the position of the front leg without bending or moving the foot, knee or ankle.  Try not to move anything apart from the rear leg – and focus on moving it by squeezing your Glutes.  Yes it’s a little tricky to master, but get it right and the benefits are enormous.

The standard and traditional old-school way of working the glutes was Squats.  Back in my day of rough and ready dockyard gyms full of beefcakes and ex-Royal Marines, male gym users would generally stop at the Squats and shy away from the more ‘girlie’ exercises which many modern men are now happy (and wise) to include into their routines.

Various targeted Pilates moves are extremely effective, but probably the Glute Kickback is by far the best there is.  Not just for the glutes, but for all the secondary body areas.  There are several ways to perform this exercise.  The best one by far is the Special Glutes Gym Machine which is especially designed for Glute Kickbacks – with grab handles, and possibly a fixed leg raise attachment.

Back in the day it was all too common for UK footballers and ‘Arnie Wannabees’ to not spend enough time doing some really important exercises.  Invariably that led to Hamstring, Back, Knee or Calf injuries.  This might have been because they had a weak Core or because they created a musculoskeletal imbalance from prolonged poor exercise Form in the gym.  

Think about this for a moment.  The Glutes (Gluteus Maximus) are the biggest human muscle and the Quads are a close second.  Together they are capable of producing a massive powerful force for activities like kicking or sprinting.  So pretty much all serious athletes need to strength train them regularly.  But just this is nowhere near enough.  You need to balance out the body by training secondary and supporting muscles and tendons.  The most common footballer injuries are:  General Sprains & Strains,  Knee,  Hamstring,  Ligament, Shoulder,  Ankle,  and Achilles Tendon.

The risk of injury in all these areas can be greatly reduced by building a range of non-mainstream exercises into your workout routines.  For example:

Pilates and Stretch routines,  Squats, Leg Extensions and Leg Press to bulletproof the Knees.  Leg Curls plus several key Pilates stretches to bulletproof the Hamstrings.  Mixing Pilates with Low weight / High Reps gym exercises serves to reinforce Ligaments and Tendons.  A mix of Back and Shoulder gym routines will bolster the Shoulders (see my great Shoulder workout routine – a part of the MOJOH METHOD).  Exercises like the Pilates 1 Session (part of the MOJOH METHOD) combined with Calf Raises will go a long way to reinforcing the relatively delicate Ankle Joints.  The Achilles Stretch (Part of the MOJOH METHOD Pilates 1 Session) along with Calf Raises will greatly help to support the Achilles Tendon.

I am constantly in awe of the high athletic achievements of World Class footballers like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, who many times seem to create pure magic on the football pitch and achieve seemingly impossbile manouevres.  Do these guys do Pilates?  Of course they do!  I doubt if they use the MOJOH METHOD but I guarantee they will be doing variations of ALL the components making up the MOJOH METHOD.  They can’t leave anything out.  They won’t skip anything – because they always strive for perfection.

So don’t anyone ever tell me that the Glute Cable Kickback (or any other exercise described by the MOJOH METHOD) is a girls exercise!  NO exercise on planet Earth was invented purely for the benefit of a male or a female.  If you are human then you can do them all, and you should aim to try them all.