Wake up your glutes
I recently took an online workshop called how to “Reboot those glutes.” Lets be real, most of us have sleepy glutes or one side that just won’t fire up. However, most of us do not realize it. I dare say that Pilates is the best way to find out. There is a lot of unilateral work that will for sure expose our weak glutes and backside. What can you do? There is a lot more to it than just digging in your heels.
Let’s break it down, what is the back side of our body and what does it do? Obviously, we have our glutes. The glutes are made of glute maximus, glute medius and glute minimus. All the glute helps to externally rotate your legs. Glutes do not adduct our legs! The glute max is the largest muscle (and strongest according to Google AI) it helps to extend the hips. It helps with all of our daily activities.The Glute medius stabilizes your pelvis laterally and helps to abduct your hips. Glute minimus also helps to rotate hips. The glutes do not adduct! However, the glutes do support and cup your sacrum. And, without your sacrum, you would pretty much fall apart. Next are your hamstrings, hamstrings,there are three. The hamstrings are responsible for hip extension and knee flexion. The hamstrings originate from your sit bones and run all the way down to your bottom leg (tibia and fibula). And finally, I am going to include your feet. Your feet have muscles and are the communicator to your spine when running, walking or there is any impact to them. It always starts from the bottom up!
How do we wake up those glutes? It has to start from our feet. It is hard, we wear shoes that cradle our feet and nothing wrong with that. (You should see my chunky tennis shoes!) To wake up the glutes, we need to work our feet and connect them to the ground with our heels and toes. Pilates footwork on the reformer and chair are great ways to connect to the ground and strengthen your entire foot. And, we need to take care of those hamstrings. Hamstrings get tight and weak. When our hamstrings are tight, our hip flexors compensate, outer hips weaken, and our glutes stop responding. Pilates offers a lot of great ways to lengthen and strengthen your hamstrings such as lunge on the reformer, feet in straps, swimming, and bridging.
Pilates exercises will teach you if your glutes are sleepy or not. And if they are or just one is, Pilates will teach you how to use your feet to make connections with your glutes. Your hamstrings and low back will thank you! With a connection to your backside, all your activities will feel stronger from Pickleball to walking and everything in between.
Information from Workshop Reboot your Glutes with Danica Kalemdaroglu