Better butt, better life?
Let's forget about the aesthetics of a sculpted peach-like behind, and instead dig a little deeper and find out why having strong glutes is important and can actually help you live a better and healthier life.
First of all, you should know that your booty consists of 3 muscles:
Gluteus Maximus: the larger - more fleshy - part that shapes your butt.
Gluteus Medius: the second largest muscle located on the upper outside area of your buttocks.
Gluteus Minimus: the smallest, triangle-shaped muscle below the Gluteus Medius.
Strong glutes are important, not to create a peach-like behind, but to move better and create support for low back and pelvis when you practice yoga or work out.
As the (potentially) strongest and biggest muscles in your body, you could say that your Gluteal Muscles are your day-to-day Power House. Whether you walk, get up from a chair, cycle, roll out of bed or step on your yoga mat, your glutes are constantly working to stabilise and support your low back and pelvis.
A sedentary lifestyle - prolonged sitting sessions at your desk, dinner table and sofa - are a direct cause of having inactive, and therefore weak, glutes muscles.
STRONG GLUTES ASSIST WITH ALIGNMENT OF YOUR kinetic chain
Having weak glutes doesn't necessarily mean that you're not able to do certain exercises or movements. However, it could involve you relying on other muscles to help get you there. Hamstrings are often overloaded when glutes aren’t properly activated, and lower backs may take most of the brunt. If you have knee pain that can't really be explained, your glutes might be weak and 'pull' your thighs in such a position that they put unintentional strain on your knees. In general, stronger glutes means less chance of injuries and more ease of movement in your daily life.
To explain this further, let's look at an example using one of my favourite yoga poses: Warrior II/Virabhadrasana II.
Virabhadrasana II / Warrior II : having strong glutes will provide support and stability in your yoga postures and day-to-day movement.
If you have weak glutes, your front knee (the one that should generally be tracking in the direction of your 3rd toe) is most likely caving inwards. This can put pressure on your pelvis, your lower back and your knee joint. On the other hand, if you have strong glutes and you activate them properly in this pose, you should be able to direct your knee towards your middle toe, leading to correct and safe alignment for your knee joint and pelvis.
In addition to providing support in a Warrior II posture (and all other standing poses), well-developed glutes assist with proper alignment of your entire 'kinetic chain'. The kinetic chain is an anatomical concept or theory suggesting that movement in one joint will affect movement in another joint. It shows the connection between parts of your body (muscles/joints) as they work together to perform movements. This is a very simple explanation of the kinetic link, just remember that an imbalance in one area of your body can lead to an imbalance elsewhere in your body.
THREE MAJOR BENEFITS OF HAVING STRONG GLUTES
Reduce the risk of injury
Whether you are working out or simply walking, ideally your glutes should be your dominant muscles when moving your lower body. As briefly explained above, having weak glutes means you are relying more on other muscles to take the load. Hamstrings, knees, quads or lower backs take the brunt when the real power should be coming from your booty. Functional glutes also help to stabilise your pelvis, ensuring that your hips, knees, ankles and feet are properly aligned (kinetic chain). Moreover, they take a load off your spine and give support to your lower back. All in all, the stronger your glutes are, the less chance you have of injury.
Improve your posture
Did you know that slouching can be caused by weak and inactive glutes? Surprising right!? Dormant glutes can pull your lower body alignment out of shape, creating a potential knock-on effect on the rest of your body.
Heel kicks on all fours to improve glutes strength
If you sit at your desk a lot, there’s a good chance your hip flexors (the muscles at the front of your hips) are tight, causing an anterior - forward - tilt of your pelvis and a more prominent curve in your lower back (lordosis). This may lead to rounding forward shoulders and tighter chest muscles. The exaggerated curvatures of your spine will put extra pressure on your vertebrae and compromise your breath capacity. Try it now: overly round your upper back and fold your shoulders towards your chest, then try to take 3 deep breaths. Difficult, right?
Lucky for us, yoga can help to strengthen our glutes and create more postural awareness to avoid those bad habits sneaking in.
Move more efficiently
More power and better performance skills are both benefits of having strong glutes. Explosive jumps, accelerating when running, creating resilience in a standing yoga sequence - the more strength your buttocks have, the more endurance and the better your functional movement patterns are. Additionally, a perky behind can improve your balance and agility. In particular for your yoga practice, strong glutes provide support during a standing yoga sequence, and they make your backbends easier and safer.
So get working on your glutes strength, not to show off that peachy behind, but to help you move, breathe and feel better.
If you have any questions for me, please feel free to get in touch. If you are ready to strengthen your glutes, you can join one of my livestream classes, book a private yoga conditioning class or enjoy a short 20 minutes advanced Yoga Video below specifically designed to help strengthen your glutes. More exercises in the making. See you on the mat!
20 minutes Advanced Yoga Flow to strengthen glutes and legs