buttocks

Over the decades that our students have gotten out of pain by learning the Gokhale Method®, it has become clear that healthy glutes are essential in this. Well-functioning glutes hold the key to unlocking many poor postural habits, and contribute to better biomechanics and movement. Good glute function will often solve pain and enable healing in apparently unconnected areas of the body. Let’s take a look at some of the common, and sometimes surprising, aches and pains that respond to our glute training…

If you tire easily in walking 

The gluteus maximus is designed to be the largest muscle in the body. You want these muscles to be well developed, rounded, and pert, rather than weak, flat, and droopy. You also want your glutes positioned behind you—that’s why it’s called your behind!—rather than underneath you because you tuck your pelvis.

Tucking the pelvis under the torso makes for weak, flat glutes.

The glutes power us from behind.

In a posterior position your glutes work to pull your thigh bones back, like little jets that efficiently propel you forward. And healthy glutes look good, too!

Do you have poor balance or a waddling gait?

With advancing years people sometimes experience new difficulty maintaining an easy balance in walking. Or they may be told that they have started to waddle from side to side—not ideal. The likely culprit here is a weakness in the gluteus medius muscle, located in the upper, outer quadrant of the buttocks. It plays an important role in balance as it controls the relative positions of the pelvis and leg. This muscle gets a lot of attention in our offerings—the in-person Gokhale Foundations course, one-day Gokhale Immersion Pop-up course, our online Gokhale Elements course, plus our Gokhale Active program.

Lower back pain

If the gluteal muscles are not powering your stride from behind, you will be overly reliant on the psoas, quads, and other anterior chain muscles pulling you forward. An overly tight, shortened psoas can cause a lot of trouble, including pulling on the lumbar vertebrae, causing a sway back with compression of the area’s discs, nerves, soft tissues, and bones. A stiff lower back in the morning can be a sign of a tight psoas muscle.

A tight and shortened psoas muscle can pull on the vertebrae, causing a swayed back and compression in the lumbar spine.

Can my glutes really affect my knee and hip?

It’s said that everything’s connected, and that’s true here…Weak glutes give rise to a tight psoas that can restrict and compact the hip because the psoas runs from above to below that joint—this span makes it a key hip flexor. Other anterior chain tissues, including the quadriceps muscle and iliotibial band, may also become chronically tight if they are compensating for weak glutes. This can cause compression, wear and tear, or inflammation at various points between the hip and lower knee.

What about SI joint and pelvic instability?

While there are many factors involved in lower back pain and the instability and spasms that can affect this area, the vast majority of students who come to us suffering in this way see improvements. The pelvis and spine are stabilized by the inner corset and the glutes, as they learn to work in harmony.

Sciatic pain from piriformis syndrome

Your piriformis muscles lie deep under the buttocks running from the sacrum to the hips. If the glutes are weak, the piriformis will try to step up to do their job—often resulting in chronic contraction. In this state, the piriformis can press on the sciatic nerve, which passes alongside or, in some people, through it. A “knotty” piriformis is that sore spot that a massage therapist may dig into with their elbow to release—but the lasting solution is to recondition the glutes.

Weak glutes can cause deeper muscles alongside the sciatic nerve to become hypertonic and impinge on the nerve. Image from Thinkstock

Power up your glutes, be kind to your feet

A weak and poorly well-coordinated glute pack is unlikely to be able to maintain the pelvis and legs in the right position, and so walking becomes a series of thuds on the ground. Harsh landings may well result in jarring and damage all the way through to the neck; but your feet are first in line and most prone to suffer, with issues like plantar fasciitis, heel spurs, and tendonitis.

Introduce your glutes to glidewalking

To remedy, or even better, prevent these problems, we love to introduce our students to glorious glutes and the pleasures of glidewalking. Glidewalking describes the strong but smooth natural gait pattern which emerges as the glutes learn to contract and release powerfully and rhythmically.

Students find their glutes respond well to hands-on cues—both from a teacher, and from what they can learn to do for themselves.

Join us for our special Spring into Action free online workshops for newcomers

We encourage newcomers to enjoy Esther’s special, free, Put a Spring in Your Step: Glidewalk your Way to Healthy, Pain-Free Movement Gokhale Method beginner workshop, this Saturday, April 26, 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. (PST). Esther will be teaching glidewalking techniques you can start practicing straight away. The workshop will also launch a special, free 5-Day Glidewalking challenge to help you develop your walking power! Find out more, and sign up here.

Best next action steps 

If you would like help boosting your glutes through healthy posture, get started by booking a Gokhale Consultation, online or in person, with one of our teachers.

You can sign up below to join any one of our upcoming FREE Online Workshops…

In surveys of what people find physically attractive in a partner, a shapely butt is often highly rated. Perhaps it’s no surprise, but if you want, there are even apps to help! So, are good-looking glutes all about sex appeal and filling out our clothing in a flattering fashion? While these concerns may be valid, it is also true that well-toned glutes have many other, profound, but less widely recognized attributes. 

This blog post takes a look at the bigger picture of glute function. You may be surprised to find out just how much your glutes can contribute to healthy posture and a pain-free body.  

Glorious glutes—not just a “nice to have”

Your glutes potentially form the largest muscle group and have the largest impact. Most of us realize at some point in our lives, perhaps due to overdone squats or steep hill climbing, that the glutes are major players in sports and exercise. But if we don’t need them for competitive sports or challenging hiking, is it still worth investing in them for better returns? Let’s take a look at the dividends.

Reduce stress on your lower back

Glutes have a crucial role in offloading stress from the lower back and sacroiliac joints. When the glutes are weak, the lower back muscles work harder to try and stabilize the pelvis and trunk, leading to overuse and pain. When the glutes are strong, along with the inner corset, they steady the pelvis and lower back. This reduces the risk of wear and tear to discs and bones, nerve pain, and muscle spasm in the area.

Vigorous and/or repetitive movement, without the gluteal strength and pelvic stability shown here, leaves the back and spine more vulnerable to damage. (Photographs by Eadweard Muybridge, 1872–​​1885)

Avoid sciatica and piriformis syndrome 

True sciatica occurs when there is pressure on the sciatic nerve, usually from a herniated disc or degenerative changes in the spinal joints. The symptoms may be numbness, tingling, burning and/or electrical shock-like pain. It usually extends from the buttock down the leg, and sometimes the foot, on one side. The Gokhale Method helps by restoring the anteverted position of the pelvis, and decompressing the lumbar spine where the sciatic nerve roots exit. We call the resulting natural alignment a J-spine.

Piriformis Syndrome is a condition characterized by pain, tingling, or numbness in the buttocks and often down the leg. It occurs when the piriformis muscle compresses or irritates the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve passes under (or, in some individuals, through) the piriformis muscle, and is particularly prone to overwork and disturb the sciatic nerve if its neighbor, gluteus medius, is not doing its duty. The Gokhale Method encourages healthy pelvic positioning and gluteal function to allow the sciatic nerve free passage through the area. 

The profile view (right) shows swayed, leaning back posture, which causes problematic tightening in the posterior chain muscles and compresses the lower spine, including its discs and nerves. 

Make your movement strong, flexible, and stable

Your glutes are the powerhouse muscles that propel you in climbing, squatting, running, jumping, and more. They also work to control those movements, and are key to maintaining your balance. But glutes are not just for vigorous exercise…

In walking, it is your glutes that enable you to correctly achieve forward motion, rather than relying overly on your psoas and quads, shuffling, or falling forward. Glute activation brings a natural smoothness and grace to walking that we call glidewalking. Glidewalking allows your front foot to meet the ground deliberately but lightly, which is gentle on your joints; it also stretches your psoas with every step. 

Long jumper Khaddi Sagnia of Sweden uses her glutes to power the run up and propel her amazing jumping…and also to glidewalk away.

Muscles support a healthy metabolism 

The muscular system plays an integral role in our body’s metabolism. Well-used muscles will be larger, helping to burn calories rather than store them. This can help to keep insulin levels low in the blood and can contribute to a healthy metabolism and weight range. 

Well-toned glutes contribute to a healthy muscular and metabolic system. Man at His Bath by Gustave Caillebotte, 1884.

The foremost antiaging strategy—beautiful buttocks!

Never mind face yoga, cosmetic lifts, or surgical implants. Rather than costly interventions that do nothing to stop you losing your balance, strength, and mobility, embrace the art and science of how to rejuvenate your body by learning to move as you are meant to. Healthy posture can greatly improve your body’s architecture, self-confidence, health span—and your appearance as a bonus!

 
As infants (left) we instinctively align ourselves well, making good use of our muscles. In our society, adopting poor postural habits as we go through life results in lack of healthy muscle tone, like “glute amnesia”—flat, wasted muscles that have forgotten how to work (right).

Best next action steps

We invite you to join us for a themed Free Online Workshop: Wake Up Your Glutes, They Snooze, You Lose, on Friday, September 6 at 12:30 pm PST, in which you will learn how to make every step a rep! A replay will be available over the weekend if you cannot join live. So sign up, and you will also receive a special offer.

This workshop launches our 21-day Strong Glutes, Strong Body Gokhale Fitness challenge, which will run from Sept 9–29, to help you continue to build strength and improve your posture.