back pain

Butt Workouts

For optimal posture, we need a strong glute muscle!

Your gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in your body. A strong, healthy butt muscle is also important for upright posture, reducing lower back pain, and overall healthy movement. When we sit all day the glute max gets stretched out and often weakened. We need to incorporate butt workouts into our regular movement routine.

Here are some tips for working your butt workouts:

To Work the Glutes You Need the Abs!

Very often when we try to work that largest muscle in our backside, we end up really moving from the back and straining over time. When you start doing a butt workout, you want to make sure your abs are engaged to keep the back safe.

Notice What You Feel

When you start to do any traditional butt exercises, check in with your body. Do you feel the glutes doing the work? Do you feel the back doing the work? Are you unsure? What can you change to the movement in order to feel the glutes? Hint: try engaging your abs.

Small Movements

When your leg and torso are in a straight line, your glutes are already working. […]

Butt WorkoutsMaggie Downie2019-07-17T12:25:11-04:00

Fascia & Chronic Low Back Pain

Supporting the legs will often make it easier to do a pelvic tilt from the abs.

If you are prone to low back pain, you might want to consider fascia as the culprit, especially if an X-ray and MRI reveal that nothing is wrong.

Fascia is the connective tissue that runs along and encapsulates everything in our body. Research has shown that people with chronic low back pain have lumbar fascia that is about 25% thicker than people without pain.

What should you do if the lumbar (low back) fascia might be causing your pain?

1) Massage

Find a qualified good massage therapist. An effective massage does not have to feel like torture. You don’t have to opt for a sport massage, unless that’s up you alley.

2) Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate

Like most of our body our fascia needs […]

Fascia & Chronic Low Back PainMaggie Downie2018-04-27T06:57:45-04:00

Why You Really Want a Toned Butt

This is not a picture of my butt, but it is a picture of me hiking. And without my butt, I wouldn’t go hiking!

No doubt many of us would like a lifted and toned butt. The look is appealing, but strong glutes (those are our butt muscles) are important for more than aesthetics.

Standing & Posture

Our glutes have an important role in keep us upright all day. We often take that for granted. The back and butt work together to hold us up straight. Our tendency to sit and slump makes their job even harder. Daily glute exercises would be a great habit to get into. They are large muscles. They can take daily workouts.

Strength

The glute max is the largest muscle in the body. It’s the back of the butt. When you think of the butt, you are thinking of the glute max. The muscle is a major mover in propelling us forward with every step. If you are an athlete you need your butt to propel you forward and up in nearly every movement you do. Athlete or not, if you walk or jog your butt is required so that […]

Why You Really Want a Toned ButtMaggie Downie2018-02-09T14:42:25-05:00

Glute activation exercises.

We take our butts for granted, but they help us stand up all day. The largest muscle of our body, the glute max, should push us upstairs and propel us forward when we walk or run. When it gets lackadaisical our lower back sometimes takes over some of the glutes workload. Then our back gets achy, sore, overworked, and under appreciated. This is when we need glute activation exercises.

So we need to fire those glutes. It’s not always as easy as it seems. It’s actually fairly common for the low back to do the work of the butt. So we need our abs to help us out. The abs can help us keep the back stabile while we try to get our butt muscles to fire.

Experiment with this exercise to help make sure you can feel the butt. Remember, the movement will be small because the glutes are already working simply to get the foot off the floor. They are doing a lot already.

Generally in life, start to notice when you feel your butt. Do you feel it working when you go […]

Glute activation exercises.Maggie Downie2018-02-14T16:08:18-05:00

Exercise of Life

We can exercise, which I highly recommend, but it’s hard for one hour a day of exercise to unravel eight hours in a chair. Even if your day isn’t spent in a chair, however you spend most of your time will start to be reflected in your body. In addition to making specific time to move every day, considering your body in space throughout the day can help you feel better in your own skin. Check in at different moments. If your back hurts when you are doing something is there a simple change you can make to relieve the pain? If you neck hurts can you make a subtle adjustment? Exercise yes. But make movement and noticing your body during simple movement the exercise of life.

Try to notice your body in the following scenarios:

When you brush your teeth, do your shoulders crunch up to your ears?

While washing dishes does your pelvis bump up against the sink?

When you bend over to scrunch your hair, do you tuck your tailbone?

When […]

Exercise of LifeMaggie Downie2018-02-14T16:49:03-05:00