Ha Ha! Those Glorious, Glorious Glutes…doo doo doodoo! That wasn’t the name of that song! How did that go? It’s all about that base, bout the base…Ha! Ha! Anyway I am talking about the glutes. That’s right; the hind parts as we used to say in North Cackalacky. Now that is an interesting body part! I love it! The glutes are the biggest muscle in the body and the thing about it now is that we are giving more emphasis to it because we are sitting more.
We don’t realize it but we are on the computer, on our devices, we forget that we might have to sit for work. A lot of us are working remotely from work. We are going to have to wage a war to get our glorious glutes back! When you don’t use your glutes enough, it gets what I like to call glute amnesia…These muscles forget what to do and they just chill and as an end result some of us get sciatica, and some of you have had sciatica, and it is very very painful. It stems from really weak glutes. A lot of back pain stems from really weak glutes. So we are going to have to do something about that.
So let’s just say that your job requires you to sit a lot but you can’t let your glutes get amnesia and forget what to do, so if you set an alarm, some of you have Fitbits or whatever, set an alarm every 30 minutes to get and move. Literally get up and move, even if it is just getting out of your chair, even if it is an ergonomic chair, you need to get up and move. It is very important for you to do this.
So let’s say that your alarm has gone off and you have been sitting, so now, what you can do is stand up and do some Calf-Raises. Put your feet a shoulder width apart and lift your heals up off the floor as high as you can. If you have something that you can step up on, that is even better, but if you don’t, just getting those calves moving will activate your glutes. Take your time and don’t bounce. Then you can go back to work. This exercise is a compound move, where you can move more than one muscle at one time to get the blood moving.
There is nothing wrong with having to sit for a living, but you have to get and move. Marching in Place is one of the best things in the world for sciatica, believe it or not. I have had several clients that have had this and, if you have had it, you know that sometimes you can’t even get out of the car. Nothing works because the glutes have forgotten what to do.
There are three parts to your glutes: gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus. There are 3 beautiful parts to that muscle and you have to engage them and sometimes we don’t think of them. But I want to teach you a few things you can do. Not just calf-raises and marching in place but here is one more. Get down on the floor, take your time, lie back on your back and bring your knees up to do what is called the Clam Shell. Lie your hands on the ground and move your knees together from one side to the other, very slowly. If you want you could incorporate bands for more resistance. While you are on the floor we are going to lift our hips up and squeeze our glutes and abs.
When you are out and about it is hard to do some of these kinds of things, but marching in an office setting is going to be fine. You can also, in a standing position, bring your knee up and cross over and meet your opposite elbow. I also want to show you a Squat Goblet. Hold your hands together or you can hold onto your water bottle and squat down and bring the bottle down and then bring them back up as you raise. Do not give up on your glutes, your glorious glutes.
You guys are so awesome! I am sending you positive prayers and positive vibes.
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Karen G. Clemenson is not a doctor or a scientist. She is a real person that eats too much sometimes and misses her workout on occasion but is mindful of her path toward wellness, all the time.
Karen understands that your physical wellness does not begin and end with your membership to a local gym. She knows that weight loss management begins with steps; some small and some large. These steps include diet, physical activity and retraining of the thoughts and habits that keep you from being successful on your path toward wellness.
