Today’s 411 is nothing but butt--all about the largest muscle you own, your gluteus maximus (see image at right) and friends. Yes, there’s more to your bum than just your “glutes” as the gluteus maximus is commonly called. Few people realize that lurking beneath this highly visible swath of might are a merry band of other supporting muscles, discussed later.
The glute max is a very important muscle for a number of reasons besides just appearance. There’s many functional considerations, and since it is such a large muscle, it even impacts your metabolic rate. Remember: strength muscles require calories for maintenance, and the bigger and stronger they are, the more calories they require.
In terms of function, it’s one of the strongest muscles in your body, and when it contacts it extends your upper leg & hip rearward and works to you get up our of a chair, climb stairs, & similar actions. It also rotates the upper leg outward (away from the front/center of your body) and serves a stabilizing role in maintaining your upright posture (hopefully…). If you’re having difficulty with any of these actions, your glutes could use some attention of the focused strengthening variety. Variations of squats, deadlifts, and my personal favorite, lunges, all work to keep this important group strong and able to do its good work.
Unfortunately, in addition to being the largest and potentially strongest muscle, along with the other lower body muscles, it’s also among the first to degrade from the ravages of sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is the natural loss of Type II (strength) muscle that begins its insidious creep around age 30 if you’re not doing regular resistance training and not taking in adequate amounts of protein. Ever wonder why some older folks have problems getting up out of chairs, climbing stairs, squatting down to pick something up off the floor and more importantly, rising back up again? THAT’S why--a loss of glute strength and stability, mostly from disuse and a lack of maintenance. Fortunately, it’s quite preventable and reversible with a bit of consistent and appropriate action following the time-honored gym wisdom of the “use it or lose it” principle.
As noted earlier, your glute max is accompanied by an array of friends that lurk beneath it. The 2 larger of these, depicted at right, are the gluteus medius (upper right side of image) and underneath it, the glute minimus (left side of the image, middle). These muscles serve a couple of different functions depending on which portion (anterior/front or posterior/back) of the muscle is contracted. Since this gets a bit complicated due to the opposing nature of the movements, I won’t elaborate to avoid mental meltdowns among readers. The point is that there are other muscle groups layered under your glute max, and that movements of the hip involve more than just glute max action.
Also clustered beneath your glutes and below (but not underneath) the glute medius and minimus are 5 smaller bands of muscle (see image at left, middle of image) including the pesky piriformis (more on this later). I won’t name them all for the sake of brevity and reader sanity but these smaller bands are all involved in external rotation of the hip and upper leg (a couple have multiple functions). The piriformis is notable due to its proximity to the sciatic nerve, which runs right under it (see the pic at, right).
When this muscle become irritated (all too common) it puts pressure on the sciatic nerve which results in one of the more nagging, burning, and depending on the level of inflammation and compression, radiating pains one can experience. Unfortunately for us modern folks, prolonged sitting is one of the more common triggers of this annoying event, so frequent bouts of upright movement are strongly advised!
To recap, when we talk about your hip muscles or “your glutes”, there’s more to consider than just the top layer, your gluteus maximus. Beneath this large, strong muscle, towards the top of your hip, there’s also your gluteus medius and layered beneath it, your gluteus minimus. Situated below those, in the middle of the hip, are smaller bands of 5 (mostly) external rotators, including the piriformis. These 8 muscles, large and small, all function together in performing many movements of your hip and upper leg. These movements are important in terms of everyday life, so use these muscles often, or lose them and compromise your functional capacity; translation: lose your ability to effectively do the stuff you want/need to do!
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