6 reasons to train your glutes
In the emoji-centric age of social media workouts and #fitspiration, seeing photo upon photo captioned with a 🍑 may have you longing for a certain glute aesthetic. And while there’s nothing wrong with this as a goal, having strong muscles in your backside does way more than just look good in your jeans. Having strong or weak glute muscles can impact your posture, daily movement, aches and pains, and even running efficiency. And that’s not all. The truth is, your humble glutes do much more for you than you think!
What are the glutes?
The first thing to know is that your glutes are the largest and most powerful muscle group in your body. Located in your posterior chain (back of body), this group is actually a trio of muscles made up of the Gluteus Maximus, Gluteus Medius and Gluteus Minimus. Their primary function is enabling movement in the hips - but there’s more to it than that.
Starting with the biggest of the three, the Gluteus Maximus covers most of the back of the butt and connects to the base of the spine, making it essential for keeping the body upright. Its other main responsibility is hip extension. Heard the term but not sure what it actually is? Stand up straight and move one of your thighs backwards, behind the line of your body. It’s a functional movement that you do everyday when simply walking, as well as running. By doing this, you’re opening, lengthening and extending your hip.
The largest muscle in your behind also controls external rotation of the hip, which occurs when your thigh and knee rotate outwards. And hip abduction too, when your leg moves laterally away from the body’s midline. These two movements are often done simultaneously - think about when you step sideways to get into a car, for example - and also require the help of the Gluteus Medius. This one runs along the side of the hips and buttocks, and spends most of its time stabilising the hips and pelvis; keeping them level for optimal gait and body position. This makes it very important for balance. It also assists in flexion and rotation of the hip, enabling you to lift each leg and place it forward as you take a step.
And it doesn’t do this alone: the Gluteus Minimus is needed too. Working in sync, they focus on keeping your body balanced despite your weight being offset by the unilateral (one-sided, single leg) action. The Gluteus Minimus is the deepest of the three backside muscles and the smallest too, hence its name. It sits beneath the Gluteus Medius, and supports it in most functions.
Together, these three muscles enable you to walk, run, play sport and perform basically any movement you can think of - and not just lower body either! And it doesn’t end there. By training your glutes and paying them the attention they deserve, they will return the favour in six specific ways…
1. Encourage good posture
Standing ‘tall’ and ‘proud’ with good posture looks great on everybody. It’s how your body is built to be - with a nice straight spine and shoulders that are relaxed, not hunched - yet it eludes a huge number of people. The glutes have a lot to answer for with this. ‘Correct’ posture requires your spine and pelvis to be properly aligned, something your glutes are responsible for. And when the spine and pelvis are in alignment, the shoulders and neck tend to follow; creating beautiful, confident posture. There are several types of poor posture, but one of the most common is anterior pelvic tilt. This is when the hips tilt forwards causing the lower back to arch and the belly to protrude forwards, no matter how flat it actually is. In addition to too much sitting, weakness in the glutes and hamstrings is often the problem. Your glutes, hamstrings and core muscles are meant to work together to rotate the hips backwards, pulling the body into an upright posture. However when they’re weak, they can get lazy and allow the hips to start rotating forward instead. Tight hip flexors and weak quadriceps can make this even worse by pulling on your hips, thereby rotating them even further forward. Over time, it creates anterior pelvic tilt. The good news is that you don’t have to live with it! Regular Pilates can help to improve your posture by building strength in the glutes, stretching out the hip flexors and much more so you feel strong, loose and tall.
2. Prevent you from injury and harm
As the largest muscle group in your body, the glutes are involved with and responsible for all kinds of movement - but only if they’re strong. If they’re weak, then other (more vulnerable) muscles (such as those in the knees and ankles) are forced to take over and compensate for the lack of glute strength by controlling a movement they’re not equipped for. For the most part this happens without you even knowing it and can occur when you’re playing sport, bending down to pick something off the floor or even simply walking. It’s a big problem too, as it puts you at significant risk of injury. In Pilates we focus a lot of attention on ensuring you’re calling upon the correct muscles to perform each movement and exercise, and strengthening them as needed. This is for exactly that reason - to ensure you're not relying on the smaller, more sensitive muscles to do the same job, which can cause damage such as sprains and strains. Body awareness is key to this too, as being able to feel which muscles you’re activating and naturally adjust your position accordingly will prevent you from accidentally putting your body at risk.
3. Reduce your back pain
It’s estimated that as many as 80% of people suffer from back pain at some point in their lives, from mild to utterly debilitating. Often though, the pain doesn't actually originate in the back. It could be your glutes that are to blame. Why? Your glutes and lower back are connected via your spine and the Gluteus Maximus, and therefore have a close relationship; working together to stabilise your hips and core and and support your spine as you move. As mentioned above, when the glutes are weak, the lower back (often the psoas muscle) has to pick up the slack to perform this essential function alone. If you’ve ever felt that ‘snatch’ in your lower back when performing a seemingly straightforward action, this could be why. And while it may begin with a short sharp pain that quickly diminishes, it can progress to daily, constant and even chronic back pain. Working with a qualified, experienced fitness professional like our Pilates Instructors will help you to strengthen all three of your gluteal muscles and learn how to engage them correctly, while also protecting and re-mobilising your spine. By doing so, this will reduce and hopefully totally alleviate your back pain and help you to return to enjoyable, pain-free movement.
4. Help you run more efficiently
Your butt muscles can generate an impressive amount of power. Like, seriously impressive. They’re one of your body’s two powerhouses (the other being your core) and whether they’re strong or weak can mean the difference in you having enough power to propel your body forward, or not. They do this by creating explosive hip extension; enabling you to get off the line with speed and power, and keep it up throughout your run. Training your glutes properly and effectively also helps to ensure that your hips can go through the full range of motion needed to run, and that you’re able to stay balanced as you land on one foot at the end of each stride; keeping your body correctly aligned in the optimal, streamlined position as you do so. All of these things will play a big part in your jog, sprint and race - helping you to be the most efficient runner that you can be and reducing your risk of running injury too.
5. Keep you healthy and mobile as you age
Strengthening and stretching your glutes and hip flexors regularly can help to prevent the muscles in your lower body becoming stiff and tight. It’s this that can lead to reduced mobility and difficulty with daily movement - two things that occur naturally as you age. Glute stretches are often recommended to people with arthritis too, in order to help improve range of motion around the joints in the hips and knees. In addition, muscle strengthening exercises (particularly in the body’s largest and heaviest muscle: the glutes) are well known to improve bone health. Osteoporosis is extremely prevalent in the older generation, so it’s important to take steps now to keep your body healthy and set yourself up for your golden years.
6. Make you feel stronger
It’s a common misconception that your glutes are only involved with lower body movements. Think about when you’re lifting something heavy overhead - be it a bag, lampshade, baby or a barbell. in order to raise your arms and keep them here despite the weight, your spine needs to stay stable and upright and your hips and pelvis need to stay level. For this, your two powerhouses (glutes and core) need to fire up to support your body until you’re done. Whether you’re weightlifting in the gym or just performing day-to-day activities at home, performing overhead movements becomes immediately easier and more natural if you engage the correct muscles - in this case, your glutes. Not doing this can often cause people to over-arch in the lower back. This can really damage your spine and cause short or long-term pain, but by utilising your glutes and keeping your body aligned, you can sidestep this common pitfall and protect your spine from harm.