Bye bye butts?

Do you ever people watch and notice the details of their anatomy? Sure you notice their hair, clothes, shoes. But what about their body—how they walk, how they hold their head, the shape of their backside?

In being a keen observer of human bodies and in teaching movement for thousands of hours, a trend becomes clear—as a whole, the people of sedentary cultures like ours have lost their butts. Where have they gone?!

Tilted vs. Neutral Pelvis

When you stand on your legs, ideally the pelvis is perched atop them in what we call a “neutral pelvis.” To see if yours is neutral, place the palms of your hands on the top front of the pelvic bones (anatomically referred to as the ASIS—anterior superior iliac spine) and your finger tips onto your pubic bone making a triangle with your hands. If this triangle is perpendicular to the floor, your pelvis is neutral. If the pubic bone is forward in relation to the top of the pelvis, we call this a pelvic tilt. In this case, a posterior pelvic tilt, or what you might call a tuck. We can tilt the pelvis when standing, sitting, laying down. And when the top of the pelvis tilts back while the base of the pelvis tilts forward, the butt and all its muscles are somewhat tucked under and likely clenched. The majority of people who come to our studio lay on the reformer on day one in such a position.

Triangle hands can help you notice whether your pelvis is tipped or “neutral.”

But people haven’t just tucked their butts out of the way. They’ve pushed their pelvis forward in space and essentially hung all its weight onto the ligaments in the front of the hip and the hip flexor muscles. This alignment of the bones makes the quads grip eccentrically to keep you upright and renders the hamstrings and gluteal muscles unable to participate in keeping you up. You’ve found a way to stand without using your backside. Yay for energy conservation, bummer for the function of your joints and development of the muscles that support them.

Sitting behind the sitz bones in a posterior pelvic tilt.

Sitting Pelvis

We reinforce this pattern in the way we sit. Rather than perch atop our sitz bones, many of us roll back behind them. Again a posterior pelvic tilt, this time putting pressure and stretch on the low back as well as the hip flexors to keep us upright. We sure are fans of sagging and hanging because let’s face it, it’s easier. Until the structures of your back start to wear out (discs!), your body signals pain, and then you head to the Pilates studio for help.

Walking Pelvis

The result of the way we align our bones is that we don’t use our glutes well. If we don’t use them to stand, then when we start moving from standing to walking, we aren’t going to use them either. Rather than truly extend our hips with each step, we shuffle by pulling forward with our quads and hip flexors. I used to stand and walk this way myself. And when I touched my backside, it was always cold. Cold because I wasn’t using it and bringing blood, circulation and warmth via muscle contraction.

So where did all the butts go? We aligned our bones so that we don’t use the muscles of our backside properly. We clench them to tilt our pelvis rather than use them to extend our hips. Or said another way, we use them to shove the pelvis onto the femur, rather than hold the pelvis up and move the femur in the pelvis.

Can glute exercises solve this?

When you notice the disappearance of your backside, you may head to the gym to try to train these muscles into a nice shapely rear. Yet your biomechanical habits remain and as soon as you leave, you’re back to using them as you always have. A movement coach like a Pilates teacher may point out that your pelvis is posteriorly tilted or tucked, but unless you unwind these patterns well, you may arch your lumbar to pull your pelvis into neutral, which ultimately is very tiring for the low back.

Get Your Butt Back

First we need to align the bones, release the clench that shoved the pelvis under, find the core stability to keep the pelvis neutral, and use the hamstrings and glutes to extend the hips as intended. And voila, before you know it, you may find your butt resuming its shape (and along with it, happier, less tight hamstrings and a pelvic floor that is aligned to do its job).

But don’t come complaining to us when you need new jeans. Or better yet, toss the tight jeans for clothes you can actually move in so that you can continue to use your new strong butt to get you from here to there.

I Don't Exercise Anymore

I started exercising when I was 14.  I subscribed to Shape magazine, did their exercises at home, took aerobics classes, and as soon as I could drive, spent every week at the gym or kickboxing studio.  In college, I majored in Sports Medicine, regularly taught Tae Bo and Kickboxing classes, and sometimes spent as much as 6 days/week in the weight room for up to two hours at a time.  

First photo is from my early 20s, when I spent 6 days/week for 1-2 hours in the gym. Second photo is from my late 30s after 3 kids when all I did was Pilates and regular movement like walking and biking for transportation.

My love affair with the gym continued into my early 30s, when increasing hip and SI joint pain eventually forced me to accept that high impact exercise was hurting me more than helping me.  Desperate to keep moving somehow, I tried barre, yoga, Pilates.  Pilates proved to be the most rehabilitative and mentally stimulating with the greatest results.  I trained to become a Pilates teacher and replaced all former indoor exercise with Pilates.  I was still active outdoors, but my gym days were over.

Five years later, another shift occurred.  Slowly I had realized that Pilates wasn't exercise.  I wasn't using it the way I had used exercise before--to change the shape of my body (although it had), to burn calories, to feel healthy.  Pilates was doing something for my mind and spirit that was effectively becoming critical to my existence, my mental peace, my spirit.  The movement and attention to every joint in my body, to every breath I took, to every tissue I compressed, stretched, and twisted, was becoming part of what I needed daily to get through the challenges of my life.  Movement was like an essential amino acid--I always had to get some.  

And then I realized it.  I don't exercise anymore.  I don't tell my family that I'm going to go workout.  I tell them, "I'm going to move."  The mental shift was subtle but profound.  I didn't feel like I had to get in my quota of exercise for the day.  I felt the craving of my body to move and I listened to it.  It didn't have to be fast or hard or burn.  I just followed what my body wanted—some days that was simple prone head lifts while others I craved back bends.

This isn’t a “Pilates exercise” but my body craved it.

I have a newfound respect for the body and what it can do.  Now that I just move daily, multiple times a day, following the joints that are quietly asking for attention, I can't believe the results.  My body is awakened and ever changing, my spine is straighter and more flexible than at any time in my life I can recall, my posture is more upright without conscious thought,  I feel strong and capable, my mind is patient and at peace, my spirit satisfied.  When challenges--physical, emotional, social--present themselves, I feel resilient.  I know I have my movement practice to center me and I feel equipped to handle what life throws at me.

I now leave pieces of Pilates equipment around my house.  A small barrel rests in the center of my living room floor, a magic circle sits on a barstool in my kitchen, a foam roller is propped next to the TV.  And when I pass them, they invite me to use them.  I often do, resulting in a day filled with little bits of extra movement sprinkled throughout my waking hours.  I'm no longer exercising, but I'm moving more than I ever have in my life. And I feel healthier and fitter than ever.

What motivates you

Which of these describe why you exercise?

• You like competition and trying to win.

• You want to change the shape or performance of your body.

• You feel guilty about what you ate, or are about to eat, and are trying to “earn” it.

• You feel like it’s necessary to be healthy.

• You like movement for movement’s sake.

Depending on your motivation for exercise, you might gravitate towards different fitness options. Like competition? Sports or sports-like programs with measurable metrics. Trying to change your body? Probably something with high pain (lots of soreness the next day so you know it’s working) in hopes of high gain. Performance? Perhaps gymnastics or dance, or again a sport. Guilty about what you ate? Cardio, HIIT, something to burn lots of calories fast. Want to feel healthy? Probably a combination of modalities, likely including a mindful movement practice like that found in Pilates and Yoga.

It’s rare to find people who are moving just because they want to have a movement practice. We like to engage our mental side with books and learning. We like to engage our social side by talking to friends on the phone or going out for dinner. Some of us engage our spiritual side by attending services or reading religious books. But how do we approach our physical selves? Do we engage with our bodies in a fulfilling, meaningful way? Or are we always frustrated by it, trying to change it, and forcing ourselves through the requisite hours of exercise that we think we need to reach our goals?

One of the most fulfilling things about Pilates is that it helps you develop an intimate relationship with your body. If all other motivations fall aside, you’re left with exploring the realm of possibility with your body. What is the range of that joint? How many of these can I execute before my form changes? Look how my right side does this but my left side does that? What does it feel like in my spine when I bend this way? Can I breathe into a new part of my ribcage? Our bodies are often neglected and ignored. But a movement practice means you connect to it, pay attention to it, and therefore are better able to work with it.

As we begin a new decade, I encourage you to change the focus of your Pilates sessions. You’re not in class to whittle your core, burn off calories, or fit into that outfit. You are there to hang out with your best friend—your body—who you can’t wait to get to know better.

Cheater Cheater

“I’ve been cheating this whole time!” She was shoulder bridging and finding how her hamstring could do the work when she realized is was unlike any shoulder bridge she’d done before. And immediately, she thought she had cheated with her former versions. This is not the first time a client has said this.

This is my first swan on my first day of teacher training at The Pilates Center in 2015. That was the most extension I could get, but it was the best I could do at the time.

I need to clarify that in movement, there really is no cheating. You’re doing the best you can with the ability and knowledge you have.

Your nervous system is only capable of working within the boundaries you’ve set—the strength you have, the movements you’ve explored, the motor programs you’ve rehearsed. Then the brain brilliantly decides to use what is strong, mobile, and familiar. Thank goodness for that! In this way, movement is automated, freeing up the conscious mind so that it can focus on higher order tasks. You don’t have to think about how to get from point A to point B, but rather can think about more complex problems like what you’ll do when you get to point B.

However, in our society, we’re increasingly disconnected from our bodies. The focus is so intensely on our minds (hello standardized curriculum, so long PE!) while the tools available enable the mind to work by sacrificing the body (as I’m doing sitting here to write this post). We work the body less and less so the boundaries on our movement are increasingly narrow, even causing our bodies to signal distress via pain. Clearly our systems need re-education, and Pilates is just the tool for that.

Our job as Pilates teachers is to help bring awareness to your existing patterns and then expand your movement boundaries, teach you new possibilities, and help you reinforce new patterns. Along the way, we should use the method to also teach you self love, acceptance, and then exploration of new ways of moving and using your body. Your nervous system is doing the best it can with the resources it has. Only once you know better and practice it can you do better. But not knowing is not cheating.