We talk a lot about glutes on camp! We also talk a lot about hip mobility which is strongly linked to the strengthening of glutes. We want to explain some of the reasons why this is important and how you can strengthen your glutes.
What are your glutes?
Your glutes are comprised of three main muscles in your bottom. These being your ‘gluteus maximus’ which is the largest muscle, your ‘gluteus medius’ and your ‘gluteus minimus’.
Why is it important?
All three of these muscles are important. Your gluteus maximus is the largest and therefore the most powerful of the three. This is key in building your ability, strength and technique in various exercises.
The glutes as a whole have a larger part to play in your fitness than just having a lovely round bottom. Your glutes hold your pelvis steady and in place, which means they help to keep your whole body in line, particularly your lower body alignment. By keeping your body aligned and steady this in turn helps to prevent injury.
Your glutes also help you propel your hips forward. This benefits everyone from runners who want to improve their time to everyday people who love to walk. Having a stable pelvis and strong core can impact dramatically on your back health. This is incredibly important in older life.
How can you train your glutes?
Lots of women in particular train the glutes so that they can get a perkier posterior. However, they often train their glutes with exercises that require using more than one muscle group, like squats.
Squats use several muscle groups, but this means we might not be utilising our glutes in the most effective way. Squatting relies on the muscle groups that are stronger, so if you squat with weak glutes, chances are you will be more engaging your quads than engaging your glutes. That is why it is important to start doing exercises that isolate the glutes and help improve their strength.
Find out more by emailing leanne@northernbootcamp.co.uk or by booking onto one of our camps!
