Our Narcissistic Glutes
Welcome to the Glutes Appreciation Club. Your membership to this exclusive club is for life and littered with epic bonus features such as a stable pelvis, pain-free knees, and the ability to move your sofa without scratching the floor or putting your back out. Result!
What makes this club so exclusive?
1. Your Spirit Animal is a .... Sofa?
Not going to spend too long on this one (because I’ll feel like I’m a broken record if I do), but as you’ve heard me say many times, people are on their butts, sitting passively more than any other bodily shape EVER! This turns around buns into flat pitas. Not only does the muscle decondition, the neurological input to the muscle, AND the neurological space occupied in the brain diminishes. This makes activation of any kind VERY difficult and therefore it’s harder than ever to get in the club.
2. Straining as I Lift My iPhone
If you were living out in nature your survival would depend on factors such as carrying water, carcasses, building materials, children, food, and firewood. There would be a lot of lifting and carrying going on throughout the day, every day! In contrast, modern life has us lifting our phones and laptops from one soft, cushioned, seated area to another. The lack of lifting external objects has weakened people’s posterior chains to the point of a very challenging return. It can be done, but it'll be tough.
3. Goodbye Muscles, Hello Machinery
Science has helped the human race move much faster from A to B. The genius of machinery took our race to the moon and the deepest oceans. However, cars, escalators and elevators removed the need for us to use our legs and along with that many people have been ousted from the club (sorry not sorry). Now a single flight of stairs leaves people puffed, out of breath, with quads burning in shock.
Why even bother being in the G.A.C?
The glutes are large and in charge (we hope)
There are three muscles that comprise the glutes.
Gluteus Minimus, Medius and Maximus.
Glute Max is the largest muscle in the body, and ironically the most underused. This then translates to less optimal movement strategies which often results in injuries.
2. Glute Max operates as a hip extensor
They have the job of moving your body into an upright position so that you can stand upright. They also give you the power to propel forward as you walk or run (useful for the next zombie apocalypse), lift your mass up against gravity as you climb stairs, or move from sitting to standing.
3. Keeps knees in a stable position
Gluteus medius has the job of keeping your pelvis stable and your femur in a healthy position. Without it firing the knees tend to knock together in a position knows as valgus knees.
When the glute med is firing it also makes it a lot harder for knees to go into hyperextension.
4. Related to healthy foot function
The foot and the butt are so intimately connected I’m often tempted to say, “get a room” when I see them working together.
If the foot has a healthy inner arch with a grounded big toe, the glutes fire automatically. The opposite also applies; if the glute is strong and working correctly the foot has a better chance of activating the muscles of the inner arch without any conscious engagement.
How to stay in the best club in the world?
Add resistance to these exercises
Squats
Lunges
Deadlifts
Single leg deadlifts
Glute bridges
2. Use muscle power
Walk instead of driving or taking the bus
Climb the stairs instead of using the lift
Vary your body position through the day. Get off your office chair and fashion a makeshift standing desk.
Until next time beautiful,
Celest