The Positives of Strengthening your Glutes….

19 Nov

When faced with a set of Steps, or Stairs, how do you feel?

Do you feel confident in your ability to ‘get up’, or do you have a certain amount of trepidation or even dread?

Photo Credit - Gabriella Marino on Unsplash

Many factors can contribute to your ability to ‘climb’, whether that’s up your stairs, or up your favourite hill when taking your dog for a walk. However, one essential component that will make the task more efficient is in the strength of your Glute muscles.

Notice when your next climbing stairs - do you feel that you’re ‘pulling up’, or ‘pushing up’?

It might come as no surprise, but in an ideal environment, we should be ‘pushing up’ those steep climbs. We do this by using our Glutes to extend our front leg from a flexed position (when we ‘step’ onto the step), to an extended position, (when we propel ourselves forward and up). If we’re ‘pulling up’ we are likely dominant in the front of the leg, the quadriceps.

Don’t feel bad if you’re a ‘puller’ and not a ‘pusher’ - but do realise that these muscles need to be activated to maintain them; we start losing muscle mass in our 30’s, so we’re somewhat against the tide…but there is hope….

What other activities can strong Glutes contribute to?

Walking - i.e walking to the shops, walking your dog, or getting out into those hills and woods)

Climbing - i.e stairs, hills, or mountains

Squats – i.e getting down to the floor, picking things up from the floor, squatting down (and importantly, getting back up) when ‘toileting’ or doing the gardening.

Gardening is an activity that improves both physical and mental health, with plenty of opportunities to build strength.

In terms of independent living, Glute strength is one of the key things you can do to maintain that independence.

The Movement Science

The ‘Glute’ muscle group is one we’ve all heard of, and I think we’re all familiar with where they sit on the body; (yes, we do sit on them for much of the time!) - they make up our ‘backside’. They comprise the Glute Maximus, Glute Medius and Glute Minimus, and even if you haven’t done Latin (the joy!) you may guess that that the terms relate to largest to smallest.

The Glute Muscles, whilst being the prime mover of the hip, also act as stabilisers of the hip, the pelvis, and the knee (they connect to the IT Band). Clinicians have focussed on hip strengthening in order to rehabilitate low back pain, (Reiman et al, 2012) as well as support specific hip pathologies such as osteoarthritis, and/or hip replacement.

So, what are the best Glute Activation exercises, according to the research?

The most effective Glute Activation Exercises, in order.
Michael P. Reiman, Lori A Bolgla & Janice K. Loudon (2012) Aliterature review of studies evaluating gluteus maximus and gluteus medius activationduring rehabilitation exercises, Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 28:4, 257-268
From the chart, the most effective exercises are listed in order. So, you can see at the top, the forward ‘step-up’ is the most effective exercise, which essentially means climbing those stairs, (or you could step up and down on a box). Next is single-leg dead lift which involves lifting a weight in your hand, whilst on one leg with the other leg lifting behind you, and next comes a single leg squat (which, honestly is a difficult one).

So what can we do? Firstly, don’t feel bad if you’re currently a ‘puller’. It’s not uncommon for us to not have optimal Glute strength. Sedentary lifestyles mean that we’re simply not loading them enough or strengthening them. But, we can do something about it.

The Single Leg Squat is not (yet) achievable for many of us. So you can start with other mat-based exercises that will start to build these muscles. Bridges are reasonable, but better when we do a single leg bridge, with a controlled (eccentric) ‘return’. Standing squats are good – and even better when we had weights.

‘Superman’ is a good one too - in the quadraped position (on all fours) with opposite arm and leg lifted; this one is also good for core strength.

If you want more guidance and illustration of what to do for your Glutes, then a ‘Glute Activation’ series can be found in my online membership – short, effective sessions that you can do at a time and place to suit you.

You can join, or cancel at any time, and you’ll not only find Glute work on there, but also hip mobility, core strength and anxiety relief too. Visit my webpage http://www.positivepilatessolihull.co.uk/online-pilates to explore plenty more positive movement experiences.

See you on the mat!

Sarah