Booty Bootcamp: Glute
Exercises for Low-back Relief
Provided
by American
Council on Exercise
It’s not uncommon for people to want a better-looking booty, but
a great side effect of strengthening this area of the body is a healthier lower
back. Your muscles hold your skeletal structure in—or out—of place, which can
have a profound effect on how you feel and whether or not you experience pain.
Strengthening and balancing your muscles helps to reduce both pain and fatigue,
which means you’ll likely feel better as well as look better.
According to the American Physical Therapy Association
(APTA), nearly two-thirds of Americans experience low-back pain at some point
in their lives. But, as the APTA rightly points out, most people focus on the
symptoms rather than the cause of their back pain. Quite often, it’s actually
either a lack of support, or too much tension, that creates an imbalance and
triggers pain.
The glutes are comprised of the gluteus maximus,
medius and minimus. These
muscles allow for hip extension, abduction (move laterally) and, for some,
circumduction. They also support and stabilize the low back and pelvis as you
move through numerous activities in sport and life. Here are three great
exercises to build strength in the glutes, which can help relieve low-back
pain.
Glute-strengthening Exercises
Begin with a 5-minute warm up—a gentle walk may be
sufficient.
Hip Bridge With Abduction
Lie face up on a mat, with knees bent and feet flat on the
floor. Place a mini band around your legs, just above the knees. Lift your hips
up off the floor to create a straight line from your neck to your knees. Do you
best to keep your thighs lined up with the hip joints.
Resist the inward pull of the band to strengthen your gluteus medius, which are the muscles to the outside of the hip.
Bring your hips back down to the floor and repeat.
Perform three sets of 10-12 reps to start and progress as
strength builds.
Squat With Hip Extension
Stand with feet about hip-distance apart. Place a resistance
band under both feet and grasp the ends of the band in each hand. Lower down
into a squat with your knees tracking over your toes. Squeeze your glutes and
rise up out of the squat. Extend one leg back behind you into a hip extension
without arching your low back. This movement strengthens the gluteus maximus,
the biggest of the glute muscles. Bring your foot back to start and repeat the
squat with hip extension on the other leg.
Perform three sets of 10-12 reps on each leg to start and
progress as strength builds.
Clam Shell
Lie on your side on the floor or mat. Place a mini band
around the legs, just above the knees with knees bent. From a side-lying
position, either propped on your elbow or lying all the way down, slowly open
and close your knees. To increase the intensity of this movement, lift your
hips off the floor into a side plank and perform the clamshell movement from
there.
Perform three sets of 10-12 reps on each side to start and
progress as strength builds.
Before you begin this or any other
exercise program, be sure to receive your physician’s clearance.
AUTHOR
Farel Hruska
Contributor
With nearly 20 years’ experience as a personal trainer,
group fitness instructor and educator, Farel Hruska has been with FIT4MOM since March 2002. Joining
founder Lisa Druxman shortly following the launch of
Stroller Strides® - the first FIT4MOM program - Hruska
has become the Global Fitness Director. Hruska
manages all fitness-related programs and initiatives for FIT4MOM, supporting
thousands of instructors and franchisees nationwide in addition to supervising
Instructor Certifications through the FIT4MOM Academy program for Stroller
Strides, Fit4Baby®, Stroller Barre® and Body Back®. Hruska
is also an international presenter and educator at numerous fitness conferences
including EMPOWER, FitFest, SCW, Asia Fitness
Conference (Bangkok), MEFIT PRO (Dubai), Fitness Festival (China) and IDEA
WORLD & PTI numerous times, covering the topic of pre- and post-natal
fitness as well as, overall fitness education. Having been a regular
contributor to Active.com for her expertise on moms returning to running or starting
for the first time after having a baby, Hruska has
been featured by numerous press outlets for her fitness expertise,
including The New York Times, WebMD, Women's Running
Magazine, SheKnows.com, Pregnancy.com, Shape.com and many more. Hruska is an approved Continuing Education Provider for ACE
and AFAA. Hruska graduated from Pepperdine University
and is the mother of three daughters.