They are designed to generate forces to control the movement throughout the range of motion, and especially at end ranges. The glutes maximus, medius and minimus are phasic muscles, meaning they turn on and off (bear in mind that it’s just a simplified explanation, they don’t turn off completely as we have mentioned earlier). To answer this question, I like to go back to the anatomy of the muscles: what type of fibers are they made off mostly, what is their action and how do they interact as a system. That’s the first reason, we are better off avoiding to cue ‘squeezing the glutes’ when standing. Remember, your stance and alignment should be giving you freedom to move, not restriction. This is not very ballet like! It will also restrict the movements available at your hips and this is why you feel so ‘constrained’ or ‘tight’ and unable to move freely. When you stand and you squeeze your glutes, the resulting movement – if not mindfully controlled – is a tuck of the pelvis as demonstrated here. When you are standing, the femur is the stable part and the hips are the mobile part. When you stand with both feet on the ground, your femur is not mobile anymore. The movements we have just listed only apply when the femur is the mobile end moving. It also turns in AND turns out your thigh. Lifts it to the back in extension (arabesque). Turns in your thigh (dreadful en-dedans). Lifts it forward in flexion (a retiré in parallel) and Part of the muscle also brings your leg back from the side to under you (close in 1st or 5th).īrings your leg to the side in abduction (dégagé seconde), It turns out your femur in lateral rotation (turnout) andīrings it to the side in abduction (dégagé seconde). Lifts your leg to the back in extension (arabesque), Does it matter? Not really: it is a huge and powerful muscle! In reality, it is the second largest muscles of your body when defined in volume as total amount of muscular tissue in cubic units. The glute maximus (bottom left) is often thought as the largest muscle in our body. If you are standing on one leg and contracting the standing leg’s glutes or standing on both legs: things are changed a bit and we will see that in the next section. If you are standing on one leg and contracting the non standing leg’s glutes then again the femur is the part that will move. If you are lying on the floor, then the more mobile end is your femur and movements of your femur will occur. Like any muscle: they move bones! Whenever muscle fibers contract, they create a pulling force toward its center and they move the more mobile of the muscle ends. There are also 6 deep smaller muscles: Piriformis, gemellus superior, obturator internus, gemellus inferior, quadratus femoris and the obturator externus which are not pictured here and are your turn out muscles (hip lateral rotation in anatomical terms). When we say glutes we often talk about the 3 major muscles of your bottom: maximus (bottom left), medius (top right) and minimus (bottom right). So let’s dive in the wonderful world of the glutes. That said to squeeze a muscle is a conscious decision to recruit their fibers and their force. Your muscles don’t sleep off and suddenly wake up to move an arm or a leg. Gravity is at play, even a motion-less stance requires your muscles and fascia to hold your body in space. Yes! First of all, most of your muscles are always somewhat engaged and have some amount of work. Are your glutes engaged when you’re standing?
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