Whatever you call it: your bum, butt, behind, backside, booty, bottom, bum bum, posterior, rear, rump, seat, tush – it deserves a bit more love and respect!
Thanks to J-Lo, Kim Kardashian and Beyonce, the backside has hit the big time! In the past it was all about minimising rear impact, now it’s all about enhancing and sculpting that bootiful booty!
Often disliked and neglected, your bum is pretty amazing. The gluteal muscles (gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus) all help to keep you upright, move you forwards and climb stairs. The gluteus maximus is activated every time you lift your leg or use your hips.
Underactive glute muscles can cause all kinds of problems like lower back pain, balance issues and decreased mobility. Like all muscles, the glutes need to be worked to keep them strong and effective, which means less sitting around on our butts and more moving about.
When the glutes aren’t strong enough, they can’t support your other muscles during exercise so you might be more likely to suffer from muscle or joint injuries, like hamstrings, calves and knees. As one of the largest muscle groups in the body, the good news is that when you work out your glutes, you burn serious calories!
The best way to build and strengthen your backside is to do a variety of exercises that work the muscles from different angles. Squats and lunges are excellent for your bum as you use your glutes to stabilise your body.
As well as strengthening exercises, don’t forget that brisk walking or hiking up hill is a great cardio workout for the glutes, burning loads of calories too.
Any lower body workout should include some glute exercises and I’ve got four of the best for you here.
We’re also going to be REALLY strengthening our glutes at our brand new class – Booty Band workout using an activation band! Book here.