Do you tuck your butt?

I thought I’d continue discussing the butt for this week’s ‘Mondays on the Mat’!

There’s just so much to say on the topic!

In fact, I just decided today, I’ll make this a butt talk series! hehe

So, keep a look out for more in the series over the coming weeks.

Last week in ‘Mondays on the Mat #3‘ I explained how it’s important to have a decent sized, functional butt.

Now I want to talk about why it’s important not to tuck your butt!

It’s a common thing, I see people tucking their butt when standing (both on one and two legs), during squats, when sitting, during sit ups, plus lots of other movements.

In fact, I’m one of those people who slightly tucks their butt if I slouch not paying attention to my posture, when standing.

So today lets talk about the tucked butt position in standing.

What is a tucked butt?

We often have a preferred way to stand, it could be to lean over and have our hip out to the side, to thrust out hips forward, to arch our back or tuck the butt under….

The most common 3 positions of the pelvis are named;

Neutral – Hips aligned (we will go into more detail on how to find a correct neutral pelvis in future blogs)
Posterior tilt – Tucked butt position, tailbone pointing downwards.
Anterior tilt – Arched lower back position, tailbone pointing upwards.

Our ideal pelvis position is neutral.

[bctt tweet=”‘All muscles in the body work best when our body is in neutral alignment’” username=”epilatesonline”]

What is your pelvis position on standing?

You can check in the mirror to see.

If you would like a more detailed explanation of how to check your pelvis position, head over to my Core Fit Club Membership and enjoy a full posture assessment video.

How do we get a tucked butt?

The reason we end up in either tucked butt or arched lower back positions and not in neutral, is due to the variations of our bone alignment and or muscular imbalance, and our daily habits play a huge part in this.

Muscles hold bones in position and therefore can affect and pull the bones in different positions depending on the muscle tension, or lack of.

There are some cases where our bones are in a particular position because of genetics, disease or even injury etc, and cannot be as easily affected and moved into position by the muscles.

However, in the majority of cases, our muscles do play a huge part in manipulating the position of the bones. Therefore, if muscles around our pelvis are either weak, strong, short or long it will affect the pelvis position.

If we sit for many hours in the day, this is one thing that can also affect our pelvis position. I know myself when I’ve been sitting at the computer all day, I end up slouching, rounding my back and tucking my pelvis. This can create shortened hip flexor muscles and weakened back and glutes.

If you stand with a pelvic tuck it can sometimes mean your butt/glutes will not be as active and working as well as they should be.

The tucked pelvic position also effects the lower back. It often moves into a lengthened, flattened position, which causes loss of the natural curves of the spine.

These natural curves of the spine are important for the muscles in the lower back to stay active and to also function properly.

It is also important to know that when we start to move, when the pelvis is in neutral position, our body can move more efficiently and the muscles can function at their best.

Let me know if you tuck your butt and if this blog has been useful in the comments below.

Be sure to share with anyone else you feel may find this content helpful.

Chat next week for more on the butt!

Em x

Related