A fitness expert has warned that sitting down for too long will leave you with a ‘sloppy bottom’ – as she revealed how to prevent a sagging behind.
Belinda Norton, 41,revealed in her blog that a droopy rear can be tackled by doing a few gym workouts.
The mom-of-two, who is a fitness author and PE teacher, warned that sitting down for long periods of time means our muscles aren’t being used enough.
Our gluteal – bottom – muscle is the most important of them all, and is used for “strength, power, mobility, stability, posture, and athletic performance”.
Norton, from Australia’s Gold Coast, said: “With a large percentage of our population spending the majority of their day sitting, we are developing what has become known as ‘sloppy bottom’.”
Staying on our bottom for hours on end sees our hip muscles tighten up, meaning we can’t move our pelvis as normal.
As well as squashing the nerves in our bottom, the lack of movement in our pelvis means our hips can’t rotate forward – leading to back pain.
And poor posture caused by excessive sitting can also lead to pain in the lower back, hips, knees or ankles as our other muscles compensate.
“There is a strong link between lower back pain and weak glute muscles. If your glutes are not strong, your entire lower body alignment may fall out of balance. Weak glutes lead to lower back problems,”Norton said.
“If you are finding yourself feeling sore in your legs, back or both for even a short period then weak and inactive glutes could possibly be contributing to your back problems.”
But she said that you don’t need to spend hours at the gym to prevent a sloppy bottom.
“The more that you use your gluteus maximus, the less your back and knees will suffer. Having strong glutes is key to being pain-free, ” Norton added.
Norton recommended doing specific exercise which “isolate and target” the glutes, such as deep squats or lunges.
And she said it was particularly important for women and new moms to have healthy glutes.
“Strengthening your glutes can help improve posture which is especially important for women and mother’s postpartum, as we spend time sitting down feeding, standing with baby, picking up heavy objects and climbing stairs as well as other household or work chores,” Norton explained.