Are your Glutes Firing?
Nature makes no mistake! The two cushions enduring your sitting during a long driving trip, an hour of cycling, or on a long haul flight got to be strong, resilient and in this instance the largest muscles of your body. They are large enough to provide a landing surface for your body frame and strong enough to bounce back and stand you upright after hours of being compressed underneath you.
They stand you upright, they propel you forward, they put power in your kick, they support your lower back, and they help you swim. They are constantly at work as you can see but beware as they can quickly be shut off too, the reason for which I’ll explain below.
The reason there is a big fuss about glute activation is that many people have weak or underactive glutes due to prolonged sitting or a sedentary lifestyle. Weak glutes can contribute to a range of issues, including poor posture, lower back pain, knee pain, and decreased athletic performance.
Our Buttock – Is it all a big chunk of muscle?
The gluteal area consists of 3 muscles which together form our glutes or buttocks. These are: gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus.
1. Gluteus maximus, is the visible part that you and I know as “booty” and is the chief antigravity muscle to stand you or take you up the stairs by extending the hips. It makes up the volume of your derriere and in general belief a well-shaped one is considered attractive.
2. Gluteus medius, which is covered by gluteus maximus for most parts, is the primary muscle for lateral movement of the hip (abduction) plus providing stability for hip and pelvis specially in one leg stance.
3. Gluteus minimus, is the smallest and deepest of the three that provides another layer of assistance for actions done by gluteus medius. Maybe intended as a spare by nature?
The activities that these muscles are involved in are as follows:
- Hip Extension: This movement is important for walking, running, and jumping.
- Hip Abduction: It enables us moving sideways and it’s vital for stabilizing the pelvis during walking and other lower body movements.
- Hip Rotation: They contribute to the rotations of your hips. Internal and external rotations are paramount for sports that involve rotational movements of the hips.
The gluteal muscles also contribute to postural control, helping maintain proper alignment of the spine, pelvis, and hips.
Muscle activation
Glute activation refers to the process of intentionally activating or engaging the muscles in your glutes before performing exercises or daily activities that involve them.
Maybe “muscle re-education” or “muscle re-awakening” would be better terms for this purpose. In effect, you are exposing the dormant muscle to the action that it was meant to do in a more systematic way. A number of props may be used to facilitate the nervous system-muscle connection and for the right pattern to form. In this effort the stimulation of muscle fibres will be more holistic and orchestrated in a way that they can perform the action without resorting to help from neighbours.
To revive an inactive/weak muscle you literally need to energize it. But how? Our muscles get their vitality by the right form and amount of mobility as well as the right volume of nervous input. This may be difficult to achieve without professional training and instruction of an experienced Pilates teacher.
But I am doing my deadlifts and squats, surely my glutes are strong?
Although each muscle group has a distinct duty when it comes to movement, in every move there are multiple muscles involved and you can never say for example, flexion of the hip is done by the Psoas muscle alone. To add to that, due to wrong habits or wrong patterns of moving or injuries one muscle can be inhibited or its action be overtaken by accessory muscles.
That is why muscle compensation is more common than you think. It means the principal muscle of a move has been undermined, for the reasons mentioned above, and now their assistants are doing the job. This is when a wrong movement pattern is formed and over time by the repetition of that move this pattern magnifies and the undermined muscle gets weaker and weaker. At this point you’d naturally think: well I increase my training frequency or my training load to make it strong again, right? Wrong! Because you only intensify the wrong pattern. What needs to be done first is to wake that muscle up, reestablish the expected move, enhance the mind-muscle connection and finally undo the wrong pattern that has become a habit. This brings us to the concept of “muscle activation”.
What are the signs if my glutes are not firing?
If we constantly keep glutes in a stretched position such as sitting, the weakness is inevitable. This trend is seen in people with a desk job, those who drive long distances or commute long hours, sedentary lifestyle, also those who are active but not using their glutes necessarily. Runners and cyclists are in the last group, surprised?
Some of the common conditions you may suffer as a result of a dormant butt otherwise known as “Dead Butt Syndrome” are listed here:
- Lower back pain
- Hip pain
- Pelvic instability
- Knee pain
- Over tight hamstrings
- Hamstrings that fatigue too quick
- Posture misalignments
Having prolonged glute inactivity can even result in issues in lower parts of legs such as ankles which in turn affects gait, balance and movement fluency.
I don’t want to end up in this scenario!
Good! Here are some simple ways to take care of your glutes:
Glute activation exercises: As mentioned earlier, glute activation exercises can wake up and strengthen your glutes function. Some of these exercises include glute bridges, hip thrusts,hip rolls, donkey kicks, and clams. Try incorporating these exercises into your workout routine a few times a week.
Proper posture: Maintaining good posture throughout the day can help to engage your glutes and prevent them from becoming weak and inactive. Be sure to sit up straight, engage your core, and avoid slouching.
Avoid sitting for a long time: Regularly get up from your chair and move around, climb some stairs, and perform some pelvic movements standing. If your work requires mostly sitting tasks you must take this part very seriously.
Foam rolling: Foam rolling your glutes can help relieve muscle tension and promote blood flow to the area. Use a foam roller to roll out your glutes before or after a workout, or whenever you feel tightness in the area.
Take Pilates lessons: Pilates is a technique meant for mindful movements and intentional muscle engagements along with engaging breaths. These are the very ingredients for your glutes health.
I link one of my recent videos below which you can easily do at home to properly engage glutes. If you don’t have a mini ball a stack of cushions can work too.
Final Thoughts
In summary, the gluteal muscles play a crucial role in lower body movement, pelvic stabilization, and postural control. By engaging in glute activation exercises, you can wake up and strengthen your glute muscles, which can help improve your overall performance, reduce your risk of injury, and enhance your daily activities.
Follow the measures I outlined earlier to recognise, reverse and restore a dead butt so you can take full benefit from your fitness regime. If you need my expert advice further please contact me for a one on one consultation which can also be online. Here’s the link:
Keep moving
Be kind to yourself and each other
Niloo
xo
