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Free Pilates Buttocks Exercises Buttocks Exercises

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Free Pilates Exercises Online
Glossary of Terms
Buttocks Exercises(1) While Standing, Start Position:-
  1. Stand upright and relaxed with your feet hip width apart and your toes pointing slightly outwards and unlock your knees.
  2. Your pelvis should be in "neutral".
  3. Gently zip and hollow your lower abdomen.
Action:-
  1. Tense your gluteals, & hold for 3 seconds - you can check that the Gluteus maximus has engaged by placing a hand over the relevant area (see picture below) - repeat 3-5 times.
Monitoring for Gluteal Engagement
Gluteal Anatomy
Start position for free standing buttock muscle exercise 		Monitoring Gluteus activity
Monitoring firming during Gluteus maximus workouts.



(Walking exercises thighs as well as buttocks Scroll right >>..)
Buttocks Exercises(2) At "Heel Strike":-
  1. Stand as for "Engage Gluteus maximus while Standing".
  2. Start walking: Each time your foot lands, engage your Gluteus maximus on that side.
Buttocks Exercises(3) Walking on Sharp Pebbles
  1. Make sure that you are in bare feet, and imagine that you are walking on sharp, painful pebbles! You should find that -
    • Your foot lands very gently!
    • Heal and toe land at the same time!
    • Knee over foot, not behind it!
  2. Pause just after your foot has landed and at the moment that you are standing on one foot, and take note whether your Gluteus maximus is engaging! - (2-4 minutes is a good workout).
Buttocks Exercises(4) While bare Foot Running on Tar Seal:-
(Not for the faint hearted!) Engage the Gluteus maximus as the foot touches the ground, and land your foot quietly, with the knees and hips bending a little more than you are used to. Your knees should not collapse inwards: The kneecap looks straight over the second toe of your foot. One minute to start with: don't overdo it!
Solve your lower back pain! - Learn to walk like the Kalahari Bushman...
 Bushman: Firm Buttocks
Comment (1) - What Gluteus maximus Contraction Does:
It takes rough surface walking to "trigger" the latent stabilizing power of the Gluteus. With "Walking on Sharp Pebbles", you will have noticed that your Gluteus maximus tended to engage, your knees tended not to collapse inwards, and your foot arches found it easy to form just as they are supposed to. Modern shoeing and smooth sidewalks have taken away this natural "buttocks firming" stimulus. Worse still, the "lazy Gluteus" is even lazier when the back is sore or the ankle is sprained(3). The laziness of this lower back & hip stabilizer is a disaster for modern musculo-skeletal health(1,2). Hence the need for Gluteus maximus engagement with exercises to firm the buttocks!
Comment (2) - Buttocks firming is definitely part of the traditional Pilates workout! -
- just listen to Mari Winsor in her phenomenally successful Pilates Video Series ('Sculpt your Body Slim') as she describes the Roll Up: ("Squeeze your tushe and engage your power house"!)
Comment (3): The Gluteus maximus is a dynamic stabilizer! -
Only engage the Gluteus maximus at heel strike, when squatting, bending forward or climbing stairs! Keep it relaxed at all other times.
  1. Shirley A Sahrman: "Movement Impairment Syndromes" Publ. Mosby, 2002 ISBN 0-8016-7205-8
  2. Bruce Thomson: Engage Gluteus maximus!
  3. Bullock-Saxton JE; Janda V; Bullock MI:Int J Sports Med 1994; 15 (6) Aug: 330–334
(Exercises, thighs, buttocks, & © Bruce Thomson, EasyVigour Project)