Gluteus Maximus

The winner of the most fave muscle award for the past several years - the gluteus maximus! This multi-tasker does a lot, it extends your thigh bone behind you, it can squeeze your thigh bones together AND spread your thigh bones apart, it stabilizes your hip via connection to the IT band, and rotates your thigh outward. Strength and use of this muscle in dance, sport, and life can help prevent back pain and knee pain. So, it’s important to strengthen... but don’t forget there are little muscles under this one that also help stabilize the hip joint and turn the leg out.

For strengthening, I love shoulder bridging and crawling kicks (aka bird dog) because they are relatively simple to learn and relatively difficult to mess up.

Disclaimer: The information provided is for educational purposes only and does not take the place of medical advice.