This blog post is inspired by a message I got this week. “Where did my glutes go?” By glutes, we mean the group of gluteal muscles more commonly known as our backside. This group of muscles is extremely important in stabilizing our pelvis, extending our thighs, and rotating our legs. But if we’re sitting around all day, those muscles don’t have to do any of those things. This muscle group can atrophy (get weak and saggy) very easily if we aren’t doing something to preserve our strength. So, if anyone else out there is wondering “where did my glutes go?”, you’ve probably lost them sitting in your chair.
One of the first recommendations I would make is to stand more. If you are sitting at work all day, see if you can convert your work station or get up more often. I also tell people to walk and take stairs as much as possible if they are able. I can’t stress enough how important these muscles are for injury prevention, so beyond just the “look” of your backside, you would be doing yourself a real favor by working to strengthen this muscle group! How? Check out some of these exercises. They would all be great for strengthening and building those glutes you may have lost.
Runner’s Routine: Many runners develop overuse injuries that can be attributed to weak glutes. This routine can be used as a warm-up for those of you who exercise regularly as a means to prevent injury. For beginners, it can serve as part of your workout.
Squat variations. In the next video, you will hear Lee mention, “knees over toes”. We realize that squats can be done with knees extending past your toes, however, since we aren’t there with you to watch your form, we keep these squats to a beginner level and keep our cueing to a more conservative approach to squats.
Lunge variations: Same thing goes here as with our squat cueing above.