A lot of people may not know this, but your glutes and thighs form the largest group of muscles in your entire body. The glutes are the muscles in your backside that help your body stand straight, move forward, bend over, walk around, and sit. These muscles also help you work out and perform day-to-day tasks. There’s not “butts” about it, your tush is very important for so many reasons!

The Gluteal Muscles

The following muscles make up the gluteal region:

Gluteus Maximus

 

The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in this region. It gives shape to the buttocks and also assists in lateral rotation. This particular muscle is primarily used when the glutes require force, such as while running or climbing. Plus, the gluteus maximus also helps us stand upright and move our bodies forward.

Gluteus Medius

 

The gluteus medius is found between the maximus and minimus muscles. It rotates the lower limbs and protects the pelvis. The gluteus medius rotates the thigh outward from the center, which helps people maintain a steady walk. This muscle promotes hip abduction (leg movement away from the body) and prevents hip adduction (leg movement towards the body).

Gluteus Minimus

 

The gluteus minimus is the smallest and the deepest muscle in the region. It is similar to gluteus medius in size and shape. The functionality of the gluteus minimus is also similar to the gluteus medius as it helps in abduction and reduces adduction.

Reasons Why Strong Glutes Are Important

Strong Glutes Prevent Back Pain

One of the responsibilities of the glutes is to help keep your body upright while standing. Strong glutes help the lower back and support your movement since they assist the pelvis, hip, and spine. The glutes also assist in evenly distributing the weight of the body throughout the lower back; hence, preventing back pain.

Strong Glutes Reduce Knee Pain

The glute muscles are responsible for the stability of the pelvis, which is an extremely important job as it reduces knee and joint pain. For example, if you accidentally twist your ankle, you may have difficulty balancing yourself from the knee and further up. This can also happen during instability at the hip as it can cause you to exert force on the knees and ankles, resulting in knee pain. Therefore, it is important to maintain healthy glutes.

Strong Glutes Increase Power   

Your glutes assist you during exercises through hip extension while weight lifting, jumping, running, and stretching. If your glutes are weak, you will find it difficult to work out efficiently.

Conclusion

It is important to maintain the overall structure and health of the glutes for proper alignment and support of the body, especially while working out. Glutes also support the knees and prevent knee injuries while running. Now there’s even more reason why you should be blasting those glutes during your workouts! However, getting your tush to a place you really want it to be can require extra help such as body contouring, especially as it relates to cellulite! If you aren’t able to really target those glutes, try adding some TushToning sessions to complement what you are already doing!