We kid you not, Dead Butt Syndrom is a real thing and it is something you should promise yourself to never have. “Dead Butt Syndrome,” or gluteal amnesia, is a condition that occurs when your gluteus medius gets inflamed and literally forgets how to function normally. What the H***? We already know that sitting too long can cause a whole laundry list problems, but it can literally forget how to function too! How crazy is that!?
Americans are sitting too long to where their butts fall asleep day after day. Our glutes were not designed to handle that much weight for long periods of time. Sitting too long can restrict the blood flow which causes the gluteal amnesia. Gluteal amnesia can lead to hip pain, lower back pain and problems steaming all the way down to your ankles. Plus, the glutes will fail to fire properly even when performing exercises targeting the glutes–now if that isn’t a wake-up call then we don’t know what will get people to stop sitting so much!
Defeating Dead Butt Syndrome isn’t just the idea of working out the glutes. You have to make sure you are working out the glutes and that they are firing during the movements. If your glutes are firing during the glute exercises, then the smaller muscles around the glutes are going to take over or even your back and hamstrings. A great way to tell if your glutes are not firing in a workout is if you feel your lower back or quads a lot more sore than your butt after deadlifts or squatting, but specifically deadlifting.
While at work, a good rule of thumb is that if you sit all day, you should walk around 10 minutes for every hour of sitting. This is best when done throughout the day and not adding up all of your 10-minute increments into one chunk at the end of your day.
Now in the gym, the gluteus maximus needs to be challenged with power and speed, think of things like squatting, sprinting, running, lunging, climbing and walking to keep it in tip-top shape. This all really just comes down to being active and healthy while trying to not sit for prolonged periods of time but if you do remember the 1:10 rule from above.
