Ah, the beautiful bum. One of my favourite subjects; you’ll often hear me cue the buttocks in class. Have you noticed? “Mid-buttocks forward, spread the buttock flesh, wrap the buttock under, touch your buttocks!” What am I referring to when I speak of buttocks, exactly?

Glorious Glutes

Though outwardly, they create the curvaceous silhouette of our backside and a comfy cushion upon which to perch, the superficial muscles that comprise your behind are ones you may have heard of referred to as ‘the Glutes’. The largest buttock muscle is the Gluteus Maximus, overlying the smaller muscles of the Glute family - Medius and Minimus.

This family of muscles are amongst others that work efficiently to assist the movement of the hip joint. They help us maintain an upright standing position in our posture; they are essential for stabilising the pelvis and moving the leg in all directions at the hip. In everyday life, they are vital for walking, running, climbing stairs, and balancing on one leg.

Sit to Stand

Someone made what sounded like the most innocuous comment the other day, which I took as the biggest compliment. As they watched me stand up from Sukhasana, someone said, “Hey, you get up from the floor so effortlessly!” It made me smile so broadly, as this is something to be proud of and attempt never ever to lose. Getting up from the floor without using your hands (and without thinking about it) becomes harder the weaker and less coordinated we are, especially in the proximal muscles - the large muscle groups closest to the central torso. You need power and coordination in your legs, core, back, and those mighty buttocks to rise effortlessly. Getting up with ease at any age is a fantastic thing to aim for and a real functional win for a practice like yoga.

There is something called a sit-to-stand test in Medicine. It’s where you watch and time someone get up from sitting (from a seat, typically) without using their hands, which crudely tests this proximal muscle strength. When this simple action becomes difficult, it’s a sign of frailty and directly correlates with a person’s risk of falling (nobody wants to fall). The more sedentary we are - i.e. the more we sit - the harder it becomes to mobilise or get up without assistance. This kind of frailty and loss of independence happens surprisingly quickly with inactivity.

Get off your arse!

If you work on a computer, you might sit on your arse for most of the day (no offence intended, it’s just the truth!) unless you’ve got yourself a standing desk, in which case your glutes are somewhat switched on to keep your posture upright for more extended periods of the day.

In the everyday sense, sitting all the time, lack of exercise and subsequent weakness in the buttocks is a serious problem - it’s thought to be a significant contributor to common issues that arise elsewhere - pain that presents in the lower back, knees and hips (to highlight some of the most common complaints).

I Like Big Butts, and I Cannot Lie

I can remember when I used to hide my bum under long cardigans. I disliked my capacious bottom so much - I always thought I had a huge arse - what a silly billy. But, lucky for me, big butt appreciation appears to be here to stay… and I’m so delighted. Not just because the human form can and should be appreciated in all forms and shapes, but because if owning a ‘yoga butt’ is a goal, and by consequence, more people are doing yoga and pilates to achieve it; hallelujah!

“Nothing good comes out of having weak Glutes!” - Jason Crandell

So many of our yoga asanas target the gluteal muscles. Physical yoga is kind of like a covert Legs, Bums and Tums workout (shhh, don’t quote me!) All standing poses, for example, to some degree, focus on serious pelvic stability and control and ramp up our lower limb horsepower. I can’t think of any pose category that doesn’t involve recruiting these crucial muscles. Squats, bridges, warriors, balancings, and even back arches actively ask the buttocks to stop sitting flaccidly, wake up and start working.

Are you inspired to get off your backside yet? Take an opportunity to develop a yoga butt of your own - neither too soft and squidgy nor rock hard - no, we plump for firm and peachy as summer approaches!

Let’s practise.