3 Reasons You Need To Train Glutes
I’ve chatted pretty frequently about how important the posterior chain is for moms. In fact, I firmly believe everyone should be working on improving their backside. But even more so, their glutes. Many people overlook their glutes and how much they function in everyday life. Instead, we should be strengthening them and making sure they activate properly when needed.
Most people think that the glutes are simply their bum cheeks- and they are! But you also have glutes on the side of your hips as well (medius and minimus). In order to improve the function of your glutes you need to strengthen all of them and ensure they work together.
This post contains affiliate links. For more information click here.
Within the movement of your body your glutes have a lot of functions:
- Hip extension
- Hip hyperextension
- Hip external rotation
- Hip transverse abduction
- Hip abduction
These functions aid and support every day movement and by strengthening them you improve your ability to perform day to day tasks.
So why should you train glutes? Having strong glutes comes with the following perks:
Reason #1 They Help Improve Posture & Alleviate Back Pain
Due to our daily lives we tend to have very under activated and weak glutes. Especially as moms our posture tends to be based on how we’re carrying our kids. Instead of using our muscles we lean to different sides of our body to support our babes.
Having stronger glutes is one of the ways in which you can improve your posture. Glutes help pull your pelvis back into place and takes tension off of your lower back. Read more about back pain here.
Reason #2 Glutes Are Part Of The Pelvic Floor
I’m sure you’ve head of your pelvic floor and how important it is to have one that is fully functioning and relatively strong. This is because one of the functions of your pelvic floor is to hold your organs in place, almost like a sling. Through pregnancy and birth our pelvic floors become stretched and/or weak. Since the glutes are one of the muscles necessary for the pelvic floor to function optimally it’s essential to make sure they’re activating when they should be.
Reason #3 Glutes Aid Performance
Having strong glutes is one of the essentials to being a good athlete. Even if you never plan on playing competitively, having strong glutes gives you the power to push, sprint, pivot and perform – all of which we do when playing with our kids!
From a life perspective, having strong glutes lets you keep up with your kids, play, workout, carry groceries and prevent injury while doing it all.
Having stronger glutes is crucial not just for moms but for everyone. And in order to do that you’ve got to strengthen them. Below are a list of some of my favorite glute exercises. Some of these exercises can be done with weights, some with bands and some with bodyweight. Read more about the exercises here.
- Hip thrust
- Feet elevated glute bridge
- Banded clams
- Quadruped hip extensions
- Banded lying leg abductions
- Sumo walks
Your glutes respond to a variety of training stimulus’s. But they do need to be trained.
Learning to activate and engage the glute properly and completely is the first step to improving them. From there, focus on progressing the glutes with weights, repetitions or variations. Great glute workouts can be hammered out in under ten minutes.
Here’s a demonstration video of a few of my favorite glute exercises and how to perform them
Don’t underestimate the power of strong glutes and how they affect your daily life. Keeping your glutes strong will help prevent injury, improve your posture, help your pelvic floor muscles and keep you able to play with your kids.
Quick Tip: My go-to store for equipment is Pro Source! They have awesome gear at fair prices.. plus, if you use the code “mamabear15” you save fifteen percent on the best price on the site – win!
 |
|
Don’t forget to pin these awesome tips!
What’s your favorite glute exercise?
Looking for more training tips?Check out these Ab Exercises That Are Better Than Sit Ups
A weekend of gardening has reminded me that I’m in pretty terrible shape. I’m super motivated to get back into it this week! Thanks for the post 🙂
I think whenever you do something you haven’t done in a while you feel out of shape- so don’t worry about it too much! That said, enjoy getting back into it!
Great information. I think it’s easy to overlook gluten. Many people assume they are getting them “good enough” with targeting other areas.
Agreed. While the bigger exercises do target them to some extent. To really keep them strong and functioning they need to be hit as a main muscle group 🙂
I love how you break down the importance of doing these glute workouts. Thank you for the information!
Thanks Donna! Glad you enjoyed it 🙂
strong glutes are good for everyone and help maintain a healthy low back. nice post, thanks for sharing (:
Yes! They honestly just do so much it’s silly not to work them- thanks for stopping by!
I never knew glute exercises could help with posture! With 3 kids in the last 4 years, I have that “mommy” posture exactly like in your photo. Thanks for these tips – I’ll have to try them!
Glutes do SO much in terms of posture, pelvic floor function and overall ability to move. THREE IN FOUR YEARS?! You’re amazing. Give the glute exercises a try and just shout if you need help!
Great exercises and motivation. I have lower back problems, and I’ll use some of these to strengthen my glutes. When those muscles around are stronger, my back tends to do better. Thanks!
Glad it was helpful! Glutes play such an important role but are so often overlooked. Good luck!
Girl, I be working the glutes a lot lately and it’s insane. I have totally noticed a difference, this BABY GOT a lil’ back LOL!
LOVE it! I’m jealous. My glutes struggle to grow so for me to keep a rounded booty I have to work them pretty frequently.. it’s so rewarding though!
Lots of good information! And I love how you can see your kids/toys in your pics. Definitely makes it more “real life” (I have a 14 month old).
Haha yup she’s always in the studio with me! It’s so fun when they try to “mimic” 😀
I love the breakdown of this important body part. I have just started my fitness routine and I make sure to include the glutes with hips and thighs.
Wahoo! Congrats on the new fitness routine. I LOVE that you’re including glutes. Keep it up 🙂
Great post! I never knew glutes are part of the pelvic floor or that they could help improve posture! I definitely need to work on that!
Glad you enjoyed the post! Sometimes I feel like glutes have a say in almost everything haha so yes definitely train them!
I know the importance of training the glutes, but somehow I always forget them. This is a great reminder and excellent workout!
Sometimes we just need the reminder- glad it helped!
Great post! I love doing squats, lunges and glute bridges on my leg day! 😛