The Gluteus Maximus, your amazing butt muscles that oftentimes forget how to work and cause you low back pain. When these big beautiful muscles forget how to work the little back muscles right above them decide they are going to do all the work and you get….back pain. Your glutes are a key muscle in protecting your back and keeping it strong. From squatting to walking, jogging, and everyday lifting (kids, groceries, suitcases), these muscles need to work to support your back.
An excellent exercise to teach these muscles how to work is the prone glute squeeze. It is easy and highly effective. I just used this exercise recently to help a baseball player who had a lot of back pain because he wasn’t recruiting his butt muscles the way he needed to along with his core. One week later, with a lot of bodywork as well, he is out of pain and pitching great.
Give it a try and let me know what you think. Below is a free PDF of my go to stretches and exercises to reduce or even eliminate back pain.
Prone Glute Squeeze
Directions:
- Lie on your stomach with your forehead resting on your arms.
- First, lift one leg off the floor as you tap your butt muscles to activate them. Up for 2 seconds, hold for 2 seconds, and lower for 2 seconds. Repeat this with the other side. Do this 2-3x or until you feel the butt muscles engage.
- Once you feel the butt muscles working well, squeeze both buttocks tight and lift both legs off the ground for 2 seconds, hold for 2 seconds, and slowly lower for 2 seconds.
- Repeat 10-20 times. This can often be done pain-free when you have back pain with other back extension exercises.
If you experience pain with the double-leg lift go back to the single-leg lift. If this doesn’t help, let me know and we can find a different exercise for you.
Click Here For Your Free PDF of Back Stretches and Exercises
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