Hey Chicago!
A lot of you might be training for upcoming spring races or have just been spending more time on the treadmill these days with the weather being so beautiful! If so, you may be feeling pain in your knees, hips or lower back. A lot of injuries occur because of over-use of muscles, tendons and joints in one direction. Running occurs in one direction, which means you're using the same muscles every time you run.
In running, your quadricep muscles get used the most and get over-worked to the point where your knees, hips and lower back can start to hurt. One area to focus on to help balance out all the work your quadriceps get from running are your glute (butt) muscles.
Strengthening your glute muscles helps stabilize the knee during running, helps move you forward while you run, helps stabilize your hip complex and will take some pressure off of your lower back while running. Strengthening your glute muscles can be as easy as a few simple exercises that you can do at home.
Check out these 5 glute exercises you can easily do at home in the video below. In the video I use a resistance band during three of the exercises but you can even do these exercises without a resistance band, you just have to be diligent in really squeezing those butt muscles when you perform the exercise.
Filed under: Exercise Videos, Fitness
Tags: Glute exercises, over-use, running exercises, strengthening your butt, strengthening your glute muscles
