How to Fix “Mom Butt”
What is mom butt anyways? It is the gradual disappearance of the booty! Aka atrophy of the glute muscles. Wait, what? You’re telling me that the glute muscles actually get smaller? Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. As moms, we tend to compensate in similar ways to do the tasks that we need to do.
One of these tasks is holding our babies. When we are standing up, we tend to thrust our hips forward and sink into our low back so our baby can rest on our chest. We do this when walking around, when baby wearing, when bouncing or rocking our baby. Then they get a little older and can hold their head up and start to have a little trunk control and we throw them on one of our hips that we pop out to the side.
With this posture, you might also notice the “mommy pooch” at the bottom of your belly. Most women think this is just because they are carrying a bit of extra weight after having a baby, but it is more likely that it is due to daily habits in our posture and how we do daily activities. Or possibly due to a diastasis recti, which you can read about here.
Whether it is washing dishes, folding laundry, picking up toys, giving kids a bath, or cooking, we have a certain way of doing things. There is not one “right way” to do these things, but there are certain postures that are more helpful than others.
If we are not conscious about our movements, our body quickly figures out how it can work efficiently without having to work very hard. So we stop using our glute muscles! They stop firing because we stop calling on them. When we thrust our hips forward and lean our torsos back, we are relying on our ligaments to support us, not our muscles.
So what’s the antidote to mom butt? Glute strengthening! And not only that, but being aware of our posture during our everyday activities so we can be sure to turn the glutes on instead of bypassing them and taking the “easy” way out!
Below you will find our favorite glute exercises and a link to a youtube video where we demo these exercises.
Glute bridges
Reverse tabletop bridges
Hip hinge
RDL (single leg hinge) - use a wall to help with your position
Lateral walks with a band
Check out the video here for several tips on performing these exercises!
Now get out there and strengthen those glutes!