Many of Americans spend at least 8 hours a day sitting on one of the top 5 strongest muscles in the human body. Your Gluteus Maximus has a large responsibility when is comes to stability of your lower back and hip region because it connects the pelvis to the femur. Spending majority of our day sitting, probably with the legs crossed, causes this muscle (along with some others) to weaken while the oppsite groups get tighter. Dysfunction in the gluteals, hip abductors, and hip flexors, can lead to some of the most costly injuries such as non-specific low back pain. Other injuries associated with weak Gluteus Maximus are plantar fasciitis, patellar tendonitis and hamstring strains.
Not only is it aesthetically appealing but growing your gluteal muscles is important to optimize daily functions such as walking and climbing stairs. Sitting for hours at a desk, in a car, on a plane, keeps the hips in a flexed and internally rotated position so when it comes to relieving stress on the body and increasing strength it is important to work in the opposite direction (extension and external roation).
Add several variations of the following exercises for growth in size and strength of your glutes, and don’t be afraid to load the resistance!
- Supine Bridges (as seen above)
- Weighted Hip Thruster
- Fire Hydrants and Hip Extensions
- Side Squat Walks
- Seated Hip Abduction
- Split Squats
