Why you should train your bum muscles

My weight loss clients often ask why we train bum or gluteal muscles regularly in the form or banded exercises, cable machines or good old fashioned squats. Below I explain why we do.

1. Injury
PreventionOne of the biggest reasons people stop training in the gym on their own, especially if its a newbie is injury.
If your glutes are not functioning correctly you can increase injury risk in other parts of the body. As your Glutes do most of the controlling of the hips every other muscle around them has to take over. Most commonly under active glutes lead to injuries in the lower back, knees, hamstrings and the groin. Pretty much anything attached to the hips, which is a lot of things.

2. Posture
If you are trying to lose weight especially around the stomach, correcting prevalent lordosis (inward curvature in the lower back) can go a long way to making you look thinner. Strengthening the glutes allows you to control the hips and eventually it will happen passively. Improved posture is also related to feeling more confident, and multiple health benefits such as improved blood pressure, digestion and reduced occurrence of migraines.

3. Lower Back Pain
Another byproduct of other muscles taking over the positioning of the pelvis is lower back pain and sciatica. The piriformis is a small muscle located deep in the buttock, behind the gluteus maximus and it passes over the sciatic nerve which at that point is as thick as your thumb. If the piriformis is over used it can aggravate the sciatic nerve and cause sciatica from the lower back down to the toes. Lots of lower back pain is actually caused by the dysfunctional muscles in the bum.

4. Athleticism
Any client that has any athletic aims or wishes to start taking part in sport recreationally will perform better at jumping, running and even throwing with strong glutes. They will also be more accurate in the movements they are performing as through training the proprioceptive capabilities of muscles increase (They report back to the brain with more info about their position and how they are moving)

Overall we aim to make our clients as fit, healthy and injury resistant as possible while also reducing body fat.