The Importance of the Glutes
by Tia Dewick in Training
Our glutes play a far more important role for our health than you might think. The glutes are made up of the gluteus maximus, gluteus minimus and the gluteus medius. These glute muscles are used when we walk, run, sit, stand and so they are essentially used in pretty much every movement we make! See below for just a few reasons as to why you should consider implementing more glute exercises into your workout.
Reduce back pain
As glutes are overlooked by many, most people forget to stretch them which can cause them to become tight. A healthy posture requires a neutral spine position; however, if you have tight or even weak glutes, this can cause you to tilt your hips which ultimately transfers up the kinetic chain and can cause your back to curve which in turn can cause back pain. So be sure to stretch out your glutes and work on strengthening them.
Improve stability/balance
If you imagine your body is like a house, if there’s not a strong foundation (such stable ankles and hips) then the house will fall over (like when we lose our balance). Therefore, without strong glutes, you’re at risk off being unbalanced during your workout which can also increase your risk of knee and back pain. Alternatively, strong glutes can help prevent this from happening.
Improve Performance
Our glutes control how well we change direction, jump, run and so on. Essentially, the stronger our glutes the faster we can run, the faster we can change direction and the higher we can jump which not only improves our performance, but also our productivity during a workout. Improving our productivity could mean that we burn more calories, can work at a higher work rate to improve our fitness, can perform more repetitions to build our strength etc.
When we sit for prolonged periods of time, our glutes can somewhat deactivate (AKA fall asleep) and so to make sure our glutes are used most effectively during our workouts, there are exercises we can do in the warm up to activate them. These exercises could include crab walks with a resistance band, the glute bridge and many more.
So be sure to work on your glutes to help prevent knee and back pain, and improve your stability and performance.