Gluteus Medius

I thought I would start my Glut (pron. gloot) review with one of the lesser-known butt muscles, the Gluteus Medius. It is very important for pelvic stabilization.

Here are some additional functions: We use it to push the leg to the side, away from our midline, and it also works when we move the leg back into our midline. We can access it when we internally rotate our leg (anterior fibers) and when we push the legs away from our body in external rotation (posterior fibers).

In Pilates we focus on core stabilization so I watch people walk and look for hip movement. There definitely needs to be some hip movement because of the weight transfer, but it is important to look at the quality of the weight transfer. See diagram above. When we move forward while walking or running the Gluteus Medius makes sure we don't waddle side to side. It works together with the inner thigh adductor muscles to keep balance on one leg. Walking and running is the body's way of propelling ourselves in space by balancing on one leg and then another leg. When we walk we are balancing and then we fall forward and catch ourselves with the opposite leg. It is pretty amazing that most of us don't mess up the process more often.

The Gluteus medius helps us from swaying our hips so we don't pull on our joints and bones which can cause a lot of pain over time. There are exercises we do to isolate the Gluteus Medius but if you already know your butt the way that many of my clients do, see if you can work the muscle while standing on it, keeping your anatomy lesson of the day functional.