Learn how a strong butt (Glutes) will help your hip pain and how to improve your joint function, muscle mass, and bone density
By Cheryl Coppa
It’s definitely no secret or no surprise that your joints start to ache once you hit 40 and beyond. So many women will even describe it as all of sudden. The symptoms of aging just seem to be felt all of a sudden with the pain, the weight gain, the lack of sleep, and decreased energy. But the good news for you is there is a solution. There is a way to move and work your body that is not jumping and not putting too much pressure on your joints. In fact, we do it every day at Ola Ka Ola! You can absolutely improve your joint function, muscle mass, and bone density with low-impact activities, strength training, and low-impact training/classes. You do not have to do jumps and burpees or any of the crazy. Let’s break it down.
Inactivity Will Make Your Joint Pain Worse Especially in the Hips and Knees
There are low-impact activities that you can do immediately that don’t require any guidance, like walking or swimming. This is great for your joints. It is easy to feel or fall into the thinking that you need to rest or move less because you hurt! This is so far from the truth. Inactivity will make the joint pain worse. Inactivity will increase the stiffness, especially in the hips and knees. At the same time, it is important to be guided. Not every group fitness class you walk into will know how to work with joint issues. And really, it’s not something you want to ‘work around’. You want to work WITH! For example, if you come to me with knee pain we are not going to avoid lower body exercises and just do upper body exercises, this will not do anything for WHY you are having pain in the first place. We might avoid lunges and deep squats, but more importantly, we will work on getting your body stronger and moving better so you no longer have pain or at least have less pain. This would be the difference between working around and working with. It’s also important to note not to ‘push through’ or ‘work through’ the pain. When your body is giving you signals, you listen.
98% of Posture Assessments Show Misaligned Hips
You can get started on feeling better immediately! With no sweat and no burn. A nice easy, slow, steady, and safe start! The best place to start would be your hips. Hips are a very common area where women experience tightness, stiffness, and pain. When this is left unaddressed, it just continues along the chain of the body to more aches and pains. Good news! You can correct this by learning how to carry your hips in neutral alignment. Chances are, your hips are misaligned. In 98% of the posture assessments I have done, hips have been misaligned. The other 2% were good because they had prior therapy/education. The great thing is, we can correct this immediately just by educating you. Once you know, you will always be aware. This in itself has been so powerful and healing for women, just this one easy step. Check out this video here and give it a try:
A Strong Butt Will Help You Keep Your Hips in Their Proper Place
After learning your alignment, you are in a safe and productive position to work your body and improve strength and joints. One of the top exercises I like to give is the glute bridge for building strength in the muscles which will support the joints. This is going to work in the center of the body (the glute muscles). Having a strong butt is going to help you keep your hips in their proper place. This will also take so much pressure off your knees and your lower back. A major contributor to why one might experience knee pain/injuries is because the glute muscles are simply not working. The checkout makes other muscles work more and even other joints work harder. So time to wake up that booty, vacation is over :)
Give This Exercise a Try:
Lie on the ground.
Make sure your torso is nice and long.
Make sure your ankles are directly under your knees, if they are too close in, your quad muscles will do the work and not the booty.
Exhale and just lift your hips off the ground, and repeat!
Inhale when you come down, and exhale when you thrust up.
Do as many as you can until you feel that burn, then stay there for 10 more reps. As this muscle gets stronger, you do more reps or add a booty band. The great thing about this exercise is you can be productive without having to use any weight. Just you and your body can get it done.
This is another fear or concern that comes up when one is dealing with joint concerns. The fear of heavy weights. And you are right! This is not a place to start, that would be down the road as your body recovers and gets stronger. Start with the alignment, take it even slower, and learn more about your core and pelvic floor health. This will only set you up for success long term. This will also give you tremendous confidence and in-tune with your body. Then ease into guided aerobic and strength training with light weights. Be sure to work with a trainer that is educated on joint health. The combination of aerobic and strength training will start to get your joints feeling better and more confident to progress as they are ready.
Your takeaway - Start moving with the basics! Go for a walk or a swim. Get a guide, this will ultimately save you so much time, money, research and effort.
Trying to work without an educated guide, especially in your age range and condition, is like attempting to bake a cake without a recipe. You might throw in the ingredients, but the final result could be a mess or worse, a disappointment.
Not sure if Ola Ka Ola is a fit for you? Schedule your free consultation to see if this is the best solution for you.
About Cheryl Coppa
✔️ A certified Core Confidence Specialist (Core and Pelvic Floor retraining)
✔️ A certified Personal Trainer specializing in women's fitness over 40
✔️ Low-Pressure Fitness / Hypopressive certified by creator Dr. Tamara Rial
✔️ Pre/postnatal corrective exercise specialist
✔️Instructor of the Pelvic Floor Health program, Ola Ka Ola
✔️ 40 years young, wife & mother of 3
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