The Glutes!
Booty, butt, bum, buns or backside? Whatever!! Let’s introduce the Glutes!
Image courtesy of anatomyinfo.com
The Glutes are a strong team of three legionnaires - maximus, medius and minimus – working well in harmony together, but no prizes for guessing which one is the commanding officer at the hip! Gluteus maximus is, of course, quite the butt muscle. Once considered undesirable if it was too large or bulky, (think ‘does my bum look big in this?’), the role of maximus has since been promoted up the ranks and is now associated with power, strength and beauty. Maximus holds court as the most popular muscle nowadays that we work into greater shape, with squats and lunges usually being the exercises of choice. So what is so special about maximus and what of the other two glutes? Read on and you’ll find out!
Maximus rules!
Excuse the pun but where would we be without this leader of the hips. Probably folded over at the middle walking on our hands and knees! Gluteus maximus isn’t just an aesthetic muscle, it has a huge role in allowing us to stand up straight - something other mammals aren’t able to achieve for any long duration. By stabilizing the hip on the thigh, maximus also propels us upwards, uphill and upstairs. By extending the hip, it is highly active when we are jumping, sprinting and lunging giving us the all-powerful lower limb thrust required for most ballistic sports. The coarse bulky muscle fibres of gluteus maximus themselves signify the strong forces we demand of one of the body’s largest muscles. Shaped like a quadrilateral, maximus is tough but this doesn’t stop at just hip extension. Abduction and lateral rotation of the hip - bringing the leg out to the side and twisting the leg outermost, are also functions of maximus. But let’s not forget, maximus although ruler of the hip is useless without the rest of the team for support.
Medius and minimus - not retired just yet!
Image courtesy of Gandbhir et al (2021)
Not usually made a big fuss of, medius and minimus are also important muscles of the glutes group. Medius has a prime role as a hip abductor – moving the forward facing leg outwards from the midline of the body – but there is another critical version of this movement – one that we need every day during normal walking. A weak medius can dramatically affect our gait, demonstrating what is known as a positive Trendelenburg sign, where the hip dips with each standing step due to reduced hip stability. Not only is this an inefficient walking gait, but places undue stresses on the lumbar spine which is forced to compensate.
Minimus also has an important stabilizing function- being the deepest gluteal muscle - and that is to help keep the hip firmly in place! Stability at the hip is something we often don’t consider when working out with the glutes. Although we tend to concentrate on generating muscle bulk and creating the power in maximus, we must also take care to not neglect minimus our stabilizer and medius to keep our pelvis in alignment. So how can we keep pelvic stability AND help shape our glorious gluteus maximus? Keep on reading!
Muscle fibres dictate the goal
As we know the glutes have two functions – stability requiring a long duration low-grade form of muscle activity, and explosive strength, which is powered by fast-twitch muscle fibres promoting muscle volume. Let’s consider endurance first for the glutes. So which glutes are mostly made up of endurance fibres? That would be the stabilizing glutes, mostly minimus and medius (although maximus does have both fibres) – overall those which keep a certain tone throughout the day for constant hip control as we are moving around. Using the diPulse 55 minutes Endurance program or perhaps the diPulse 27 minute Resistance program in conjunction with the diPulse SMARTTIGHTS can place extra demand on those Type I glutes fibres and work on deep hip stability where it counts.
But when we decide to take it up a level, increase our activity for running up a flight of steps, playing a game of tennis or going all out in a sprint, how should we best work our buttock muscles? The diPulse 32 minutes Explosive Strength program will help with your ballistic sports training, activating the fibres we need to charge into action with immediate power. Or maybe the 31 minutes Hypertrophy program to develop strength and muscle bulk while also defining the gluteus maximus to look its best! The choice is always yours!
So now you are armed with glutes muscle knowledge, you should always know that whether you are looking to improve muscle power, performance, stability or beauty, diPulse has you covered.
References:
Anatomy Info Gluteal Muscles: Attachment, Nerve Supply and Action, accessed on May 6th 2021 at https://anatomyinfo.com/gluteal-muscles/
Gandbhir, VN, Lam J,C and Rayi, A, (2021) Trendelenberg Gait, in NCBI, StatPearls Publishing LLC.
