GLUTE ACTIVATION
Your glute muscles - a.k.a your booty, bootay, butt, bottom…there’s an endless list. But what we need to know is how to get the best out of them, make them work hard, and get those strong, sculpted glutes we all want!
1. What you should know about your glutes?
Not only do they shape how our bodies look, but our glutes are one of the biggest and most powerful muscle groups in the body. Your glutes aren’t actually one muscle but a combination of three - the Gluteus Maximus (the main muscle), Gluteus Medius and Gluteus Minimus (the two smaller muscles which support the Gluteus Maximus).
2. What causes weak glutes?
There are lots of different reasons why someone may have weak glutes and can show up in lower back, hip or knee pain (if you are experiencing pain though get a doctor to check there’s nothing underlying). Weak glutes is different from having tight glutes but the two are often connected.
One very common reason for weak glutes is the fact that we often we spend a large amount of our days sitting down - at work, in the car or on the sofa - which causes our glutes to become inactive and not work effectively.
Glute inactivity can also be caused in how we go about our every day life. If we do movements around the house, garden or workplace incorrectly and using the wrong muscles, the glutes can become lazy. This is also seen in the gym or when doing sports - for example running - where it’s easy to become “quad dominant” and pretty quickly start to pick up injuries.
3. Why do we need to activate and strengthen our glutes?
This “glute laziness” is exactly why we need to work on the “glute activation”!
First up is to make sure we’re using the right muscles so that we avoid injury. Not using our glutes correctly can result in hip, knee and even lower back injuries both in the gym and in everyday life. Additionally to this, glutes support our core, pelvis and spine which means if we use them properly, we will have better posture. This is particularly important if you are sitting down for a lot of your day.
Secondly, the more we active our glutes the stronger they get. Not only is this beneficial if we’re exercising - it means we can lift more weights, do more reps or become more efficient at our sport, but it also means that we build more muscle. This muscle is what creates a “sculpted”, “toned” or “lifted” appearance for our glutes.
