Many of you have heard me say continuously, reminding you of how important it is to squeeze the glutes. The immediate reaction that I’ve noticed almost everytime is a questioning look – but why are glutes so important? And how do we get to feel our glutes?
I can tell you, this is one of the hardest things (especially for beginners!), as it requires proper motor control; in other words: you need to consciously connect your mind to the muscles in your butt. As we mostly sit on our butt with the muscles being pretty passive (in the bus, car, when eating, watching TV, in the office, in school, etc.), it is no surprise it is difficult to activate them. So let’s check why this is so important!
Of course, a nice look from behind is great, but over and above, the glute muscles are the most powerful muscles in your entire body. But, with the setting of our increasingly sedentary lifestyle, sitting for prolonged times, nowadays they tend to be the weakest.
Often we put too much focus on strengthening our core only with exercises impacting “the abs” (for a better posture, be stronger and more stable) – I do not want to disagree with this approach, but it’s important to recognize it is our glutes that are our primary lower back stabilizers and if we sit too long over a prolonged period, we will lose the ability to engage them, which eventually leads to suffering from lower back, hip, and/or knee pain.
So how to build up this muscle-mind connection that will allow you to recognize and recruit your butt muscles effectively?
What you are looking for is that you can tuck your pelvis to create stability in your lower back. Think of the Boat Hold exercise! You want your pelvis (hip) and chest to create a sailboat through the spine, where the mass goes with the pelvis. Now this may feel easy while you’re standing up straight or lying on the floor: squeezing the buttcheeks together in a static position is easy; but the goal is to maintain this engagement during other movements like bending forward or squatting down.
When you’re driving your hips back (in a squat or deadlift), think of holding a thin paper between your buttcheeks which you don’t want to lose! If this does not help with visualizing the engaged glutes, our less popular cue is: Squeeze those glutes like holding a fart back!
The goal is to engage the muscles consciously! Do not worry if it doesn’t work right away. Connecting your brain to a muscle you haven’t used for a while can take time!
A simple way to practice: lie down on your back on a hard surface. Try to squeeze your butt together so that your hip raises a bit higher, with your butt still touching the floor. If this is working, next step is to try to release one buttcheek, while keeping the other under tension.
This is a simple exercise to learn how to control the muscle in a playful way – the hard surface is helping you to recognize if there is tension or not.
Being conscious about squeezing your glutes pays off in many ways: you will lift heavier loads safely; and you will learn how to correct your posture when walking or standing for prolonged times, as squeezing your glutes puts you in the proper position.
Remember: squeezing your glutes is an all-time need: no matter if you are doing a squat, a ring row, band pull aparts OR cooking, packing your laundry – it is all the same!
Still having troubles? Ask your coach for help!
