There is so much more to strengthening our glutes with Pilates than just for looks! Often times, we want to fill out our jeans or sculpt a strong booty for those perfect leggings, but there is so much more to a toned tush than the way our bottoms fit. Today, I want to teach you about your glutes and share with you 5 Benefits of Strengthening Your Glutes with Pilates!
Our glutes consist of three major gluteus muscles: the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus. These muscles are responsible for abduction (lateral movement), hip extension (brining the hip behind you) and internal and external rotation.
During Pilates workouts, the Pilates Ball is often used to provide our bodies with tactile feedback. This way, we can execute traditional exercises with a deeper glute connection. The Pilates Ball will help you find stability and also add a challenge to the inner and outer thighs and hamstrings.
Our backside is very important, but often times it is weak and lazy. As our world has evolved, we spend an enormous amount of time sitting. Whether that be for our jobs, traveling, or binge watching our favorite shows, we have involuntarily given our backside “Lazy Butt Syndrome”.
Once our glutes stop firing, our hip flexors can get tight and lead to several other health and mobility issues. Building a stronger backside will provide you with many health and mobility benefits.
Here are the facts of a few benefits you can expect:
When our glute muscles are strong and firing correctly, they are able to do their job. Stress and pressure is relieved from our lower back, spine, and other muscles, as they do not need to pick up the slack. When they do need to step in, that is when we experience back pain and injuries. Our glutes are the largest muscles in our body and they should be worked!
Strong glutes help with proper alignment between the hip, knee and ankle. When firing correctly, strong glutes protect your hips, knees, and ankles from injuries that can occur during everyday tasks or during athletic activities. After having knee pain my entire life, and two knee surgeries before the age of 16, I knew my quads and lower back were being overworked and my glutes were underworked.
We never want to be in a situation where we can’t get up. Or where we cannot walk or run without pain or fear of falling. But this can become very real as we age. Our glutes are the powerhouse of our body’s ability to walk, run, and elevate. Many exercises that are used to train balance call upon the muscles in the glutes, trunk, and hips to provide stability.
Increased sitting means inactive glutes and “lazy butt syndrome” becomes a reality. When glutes become inactive, our posture suffers due to muscle atrophy (when muscles waste away due to lack of activity). By ensuring our glute muscles are strong, this will allow the pelvis to stabilize and support the spine, which is essential for better posture.
The booty is so powerful! It is essential in almost every athletic sport and activity. When strong, your glutes will improve your performance in: jumping, running, accelerating, decelerating, quick changes in direction, lateral movements, rotating, throwing, squatting, pulling, agility,… I could go on forever! It is simply proven that strong glutes perform better.
If you want to strengthen your glutes with Pilates to improve your health and mobility, I am here for you! Let me teach you proper core and glute activation so we can decrease your body pains and increase your athletic abilities.
I offer virtual and in-person studio Pilates Sessions, On-Demand Pilates Class Workouts on my App (think, The “Netflix” of Pilates), and I also create On-Demand Pilates Programs that you can do at your own pace anywhere, anytime with Lifetime Access.
Also, on September 7th, I have a NEW 8-Week Complete Core + Booty Challenge starting! 100% online with On-Demand workout videos, I lead you through low-impact Pilates exercises and movements to achieve a stronger core and stronger glutes. 30-minute workouts, 6-days a week, minimal equipment needed, no gym required. Enjoy your daily life and athletic activities again. Claim your spot today!
If you have any questions, learned something new about your glutes, or have a favorite part about this blog post, leave me a comment below – I’d love to hear from you!
Your Friend & Pilates Expert,
Kayla Brugger
Founder of PILATESBODY by Kayla
Founder of PILATESBODY On-Demand
Hi, I'm Kayla Brugger. Certified Pilates Instructor & Minnesota Mama of 2.
My sister would liek to lose a couple of pounds which is why she’s thinking of trying Pilates exercise. Well, thank you for sharing here that this may help strengthen her back too. I also agree with you that this will help increase her balance.
Thank you for reading my blog post! I hope your sister gives Pilates a try. There are so many health benefits other than loosing weight, that’s just an added bonus! I’d love to invite you to one of my May Zoom Ab Blast classes at no cost using promo code: MAYABS
I love the app and the 8 week challenge! I’ve noticed a whole body improvement.
I am so glad to hear you have noticed a difference and improvement with Pilates, Eden! I am so glad you love the new PILATESBODY On-Demans App for Pilates classes too! Thank you!!
I love how informative you are! I have always been nervous about doing Pilates but you make it look fun and it is actually enjoyable! I have a hard time with weight and working out and this looks like exactly what I am looking for!!
You are so kind, that makes me so happy to hear! I really do love Pilates, and it really is fun and enjoyable! What I love about Pilates is it is low-impact exercises that use your body weight as the only “equipment” unless you want to incorporate simple things like resistance bands, booty bands, etc. It is a total-body workout that involves cardio without running (I dislike running myself). I hope you give Pilates a try! I recommend starting with my 10-Day Core + Ab Challenge ($15 down, 100% refund for finishing) or my 8-Week Complete Core + Booty Challenge (the next challenge group starts September 7th and we go through it together!). I also do Virtual Sessions or Studio Sessions, if you are local. Please reach out to me if you have any questions about Pilates and I would be happy to chat!
Very informative! Looking to def add Pilates into my routine to help with knee troubles I’m going through!
I am so glad you enjoyed my blog post! My knee pain and back pain from my previous career is what brought me to try Pilates, and with it I have been able to manage my pain. I definitely recommend trying my 10-Day Core + Ab Challenge to get started with Pilates! $15 down and I give you 100% refund just for finishing. You will learn fundamental core movements, breathing, and more. Please reach out if you have any questions and I would be happy to chat!
Love Pilates! This gives a lot of good info for people old and new to Pilates. Thanks for sharing!
I am so glad you enjoyed my blog post! I love to not only coach Pilates, but to teach and educate as well. Thank you for stopping by!
Very Amazing way to get better at strengthening your muscles and to discipline yourself.
Definitely! You can develop a great mind-body connection with Pilates. Thanks for stopping by the blog!
would Pilates be hard for someone who is significantly overweight?
Pilates will be challenging when first getting started, but that is the same for all Pilates beginners! Pilates is a great form of exercise to start with because a lot of the exercises and movements use your body weight as “equipment”, and you learn proper body mechanics and movements to prevent injuries. Please reach out if you have any other questions! I’d be happy to chat!
Improving things like body balance and athletic ability really sounds important for my family. My kids have been looking to get into their school sports teams, and my wife really wants us to do what we can to support them so they can grow up with a healthy body frame for those kinds of activities. I’ll take your advice and look for any pilates studios we can go to as a family and start learning that exercise routine.