Glutes, No One Likes a Lazy Ass
December 5th, 2009 | By jpease
In this two part series I will be going over the importance of the glutes; not just for their aesthetics but for their functionality as well. I will be talking about how important the glutes are for our functional daily use as well as the major role they play in our posture and what injuries can occur if the glutes are not well maintained. I will then go into how to properly work the “booty” in order to keep it activated and to create a firmer, more lifted back side.
The glutes are the most important muscle group in the entire body. They are one of the biggest muscle groups we have and control a variety of movements. They are responsible for all hip extension movements and hip external rotation. Unfortunately with the way our society is with everyone sitting all the time either in the car, on a plane, at their desk, or even on the spin bike our glutes are becoming more and more inactive.
When the glutes become inactive or lazy problems will start to occur. The most common concern people have is about the appearance of their butt. The butt tends to become soft and starts to droop, losing its shape and flattening out. Most of us can agree this is not the most attractive look, however, there are bigger problems that can occur when our glutes shut down. You can start to experience pain in certain areas due to postural disorders.
The glutes are a major component in maintaining proper bodily posture. When they shut down, injuries and pain can occur. Our hips will start to tilt anteriorly (forward), causing lower-back pain and a tightening of the IT band (outter thigh). The IT band will then pull on the outside part of the knee causing knee pain. Also, the glutes help stabilize our legs and feet when we walk or run. With the glutes turned off we will have a tendency to over pronate (turn inward) our foot causing ankle and knee pain. This pain can diminish exercise frequency causing you to become a true lazy ass.
Fortunately for us this glute problem can be remedied. In the next article I will go over different exercises and routines we can do to help reactive and work our glutes to make them more functional and better looking at the same time.
What to look for:
Glutes, No one likes a lazy ass part 2 (Dec 9th)
IT Band, Knee pain when nothing is wrong with your knee. ( Dec 13th)
Kinetic Chain, Why your neck hurts when you broke your big toe. (Dec 20th)
