Posted on: July 26, 2007
The Bottom Line
A perky rear end is a sign of good fitness. Don’t accept sagging as inevitable. Here’s what to do
By David Jakubiak
CTW Features
As a teenager, 69-year-old Sheila Cluff loved figure skating. She was good at it, too. So good that at 18 she toured internationally. But as she aged, she moved away from ice.
Figure skating was a sport for the young. She went on to become a fitness expert and eventually opened The Oaks at Ojai, a California fitness and destination spa. But when she started taking one of her grandchildren skating six months ago she learned her local rink had a senior skating group. “I thought, well I’m a senior,” she chuckles. “I didn’t realize the most senior ice skater was 35, but I became the senior skater’s grandmother.”
Now she’s back in the game.
“I’m doing single jumps, tangos and waltzes. Nothing too advanced, but I’m having fun.”
But after only a few times out on the ice something became very clear.
“I could not have done it if I had not kept the glutes strong.”
While not everyone on the cusp of their 70th birthday will rediscover their inner Peggy Fleming, Cluff’s experience holds an important message: A toned butt means a lot more than filling out jeans. A great butt can improve self-confidence, make a person look younger, help a person get around and can even alleviate some kinds of lower back and knee pain.
The bottom line
The gluteus muscle group comprises three main muscles: the gluteus maximus, the gluteus minimus and the gluteus medius. Together these muscles serve a wide range of functions, from serving as a foundation for our spine, to allowing us to walk up stairs.
“The gluteus muscle group is the biggest muscle group that keeps us standing tall,” says San Francisco-based wellness consultant Julnar Rizk.
The butt also helps to support our knees.
“We have no muscle groups that support our knee joint along the sides of our legs,” Rizk says. “The gluteus medius is the muscle that supports the lateral stability of the knee joint.”
As we age many factors weigh on our butts — gravity pulls on them, connective tissue ages, genetic factors begin to take hold. But lifestyle has the greatest impact.
“Most of the time we are sitting. In a seated posture, our spines start to form in a position that shortens everything in the front. So muscles in the front of the hip get shortened and the muscles in the butt get lengthened. Lengthened muscles are atrophied muscles,” Rizk says. And atrophied butt muscles can cause real pain.
“What I consistently see from people who suffer from lower back pain, and have suffered from lower back pain from a long time, is very atrophied butt muscles,” Rizk says.
Conversely, “the pain that comes from having fatigued back muscles is alleviated by having strong butt muscles.”
Butt honestly
Lynn Anastasia says there is only one way to a tighter, younger-looking, healthier butt: diet and exercise.
“And you’re never too old to start, I have clients in their 80s.”
But not everyone can be Jennifer Lopez.
“Certain people are just predisposed to deposit more fat in the rear end,” says Cluff. “That’s genetics. But if you’re one of those people, you still want to tone that area and watch your body fat.”
Anastasia agrees. “If your mother held her fat in her hips, then most likely you’ll carry your fat cells in your hip.
“But if you do your fitness training with your diet, you can do something about it,” she says. “If you overeat, the fat cells will take those extra calories, that’s their job.”
Understanding that all bodies are different means programs will work differently for different people, so patience with your butt is important.
“It’s also real important to be clear on why you are doing what you are doing. If it’s because ‘I’m going to fit into these jeans’ or ‘I’m going to fit into this bikini,’ if it’s for real health issues, patience will come much more easily. An exercise program becomes so much easier if the reason for that program is more than vanity.”
Shaping bottoms up
Before working on your butt, Cluff recommends this universal truth: “Everything is connected.”
So, while spot reduction is impossible, that’s not a bad thing. Most exercises that tighten the butt will strengthen the hips, the thighs and the lower back.
Experts also recommend designing an exercise regimen that holds real meaning.
Rizk suggests “functional exercises.” For example, squats mimic the action of getting out of chair, which can be difficult for some people. Bridges are similar to the action of moving in a bed. Lunges are like getting up from a kneeling position. Cluff says exercises aren’t the only way to a tighter butt.
“People not inclined to formal exercise can play sports that use those glutes. Right now, for me, that’s figure skating. But it could also be jazz dancing, snow skiing, or tennis.”
No exercise program should be started, however before consulting a doctor.
“Check with a doctor to make sure you are in the proper positions to avoid back pain. And if you can, work with a personal trainer,” Anastasia says.
To Cluff, the benefits of a tight butt are innumerable. There are health benefits and vanity benefits.
“We want to look just as good from behind as we do from the front.”
Not to mention, shopping is more fun when you can find clothes that fit.
“It can be very discouraging when the designers design for the 20s and you’re over 40,” she says. “But the more toned you are the easier it is to find clothes that fit.”
And she adds, “you build your own personal girdle when you strengthen those muscles.”
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