• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

  • Fitness
  • Workouts
    • Best Shoulder Workouts
    • Best Chest Workouts
    • Best Leg Workouts
    • Best Leg Exercises
    • Best Biceps Exercises
    • Best Kettlebell Exercises
    • Best Back Workouts
    • Best HIIT Workouts
    • Best Triceps Exercises
    • Best Arm Workouts
  • Reviews
    • Supplements
      • Best Pre-Workout
      • Best BCAAs
      • Best Testosterone Boosters
      • Best Bodybuilding Supplements
      • Best Creatine
      • Best Supplements for Weight Loss
      • Best Multivitamins
      • Best Collagen Supplement
      • Best Probiotic
      • Best Non-Stim Pre-Workout
      • Best Greens Powder
      • Best Magnesium Supplements
    • Protein
      • Best Protein Powder
      • Best Whey Protein
      • Best Protein Powders for Muscle Gain
      • Best Tasting Protein Powder
      • Best Vegan Protein
      • Best Mass Gainer
      • Best Protein Shakes
      • Best Organic Protein Powder
      • Best Pea Protein Powder
      • Best Protein Bars
    • Strength Equipment
      • Best Home Gym Equipment
      • Best Squat Racks
      • Best Barbells
      • Best Weightlifting Belts
      • Best Weight Benches
      • Best Functional Trainers
      • Best Dumbbells
      • Best Adjustable Dumbbells
      • Best Kettlebells
      • Best Resistance Bands
      • Best Trap Bars
    • Cardio Equipment
      • Best Cardio Machines
      • Best Rowing Machines
      • Best Treadmills
      • Best Weighted Vests
      • Concept2 RowErg Review
      • Hydrow Wave Review
      • Best Jump Ropes
  • News
  • Exercise Guides
    • Legs
      • Back Squat
      • Bulgarian Split Squat
      • Goblet Squat
      • Zercher Squat
      • Standing Calf Raise
      • Hack Squat
    • Chest
      • Bench Press
      • Dumbbell Bench Press
      • Close-Grip Bench Press
      • Incline Bench Press
    • Shoulders
      • Overhead Dumbbell Press
      • Lateral Raise
    • Arms
      • Chin-Up
      • Weighted Pull-Up
      • Triceps Pushdown
    • Back
      • Deadlift
      • Trap Bar Deadlift
      • Lat Pulldown
      • Inverted Row
      • Bent-Over Barbell Row
      • Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
      • Pendlay Row
Fitness

The Butt of a Backbend: A Lesson in Gluteal Anatomy

Squeezing the gluteal muscles in a backbend or not squeezing them all might not even be an option. Here's why.

Rachel Hector

Written by Rachel Hector Last updated on Nov 22, 2021

To clarify the ambiguity of a teaching technique for a common yoga posture, a group of yogis will sometimes employ the good ol’ democratic vote.

To clarify the ambiguity of a teaching technique for a common yoga posture, a group of yogis will sometimes employ the good ol’ democratic vote.

Hands up if you’ve been taught to squeeze your glutes in backbends. Count ‘em up. Hands up if you’ve been taught to let ‘em hang. Count again. Turns out yoga teachers are split down the middle on this issue.

Why Can’t We Be Friends?

The reason we can’t find common ground is not because there isn’t a clear answer (there pretty much is), but because our individual hindquarter habits and our individual interpretations of the English language differ. Big time. Let’s start where we can all agree: anatomy.

The glutes are made up of three muscles, four if you count the tensor fasciae latae (TFL), and, like silverware, each of these muscles works towards a similar goal but functions slightly differently. The main function of gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus, and the TFL is management – both of stability and movement – of the relationship between the femur and the pelvis.

  • Glute max extends and externally rotates the leg.
  • Glute med abducts and can both internally and externally rotate the leg.
  • Glute min and TFL abduct and internally rotate the leg.

Gluteal Anatomy

Hopefully, by reading those functions, the main thing you got was that not all glutes were created to do the same job. So, squeezing them or not squeezing them all at the same time might not even be an option.

A Gluteal Experiment

Now, let’s experiment and see what your very own group of glutes can do. All you’ll need is a thick book (think phone book) and a free hand (yours). Place the book flat on the floor. Step aboard with your right foot and level your hips. This means your left foot should be hovering a phone book’s distance away from the floor. Place your left hand on your left guteal region. It’s there so you can palpate and feel what’s happening under the skin.

Moving the leg to the side, back, and front

First, take the left leg directly out to the side so it is about two feet away from the right leg. If you move your hand slightly to the outer portion of the hip, you’ll feel glute med, glute min, and TFL helping you out. Notice what the tissue feels like as you hold the leg here.

Now, notice what glute max feels like by sliding your hand back to the rear side of your rear end. In this movement, glute max is probably not doing much. This makes sense as glute max isn’t really in the business of abduction.

Next, allow the leg to return to neutral and take the left leg back behind you a foot or so. Now you’ll feel the action of glute max and partial action of glute med. You might also notice that your leg turned out just slightly. Recall that glute max can externally rotate the hip a bit, and this is important when considering our original question.

“The glutes are made up of three muscles, four if you count the tensor fasciae latae (TFL), and, like silverware, each of these muscles works towards a similar goal but functions slightly differently.”

Lastly, take the leg about a foot in front of you, still feeling glute max with your hand. Suddenly it is like Jell-O! With the leg out front, externally rotate the leg by turning the knee and toes to the left. Feel the glute. There’s not much action here in glute max, but if you press more you’ll feel the deep external rotators are active.

Now we have all the pieces of the puzzle and the glute med, glute min, and TFL on your right leg are probably pretty sore from stabilizing your pelvis while you stood on one leg. So, you might want to run this whole experiment again on the other side.

The Butt and the Backbend

Now, how does this relate to back bends? Well, in most backbends the hip extends, and glute max is needed for this action. Because glute max can create slight external rotation, its action often gets lumped in with the deeper group of external rotators, including the piriformis. When these deep rotators are engaged during backbends, lumbar lordosis and instability increase, the knees bow out, and the anterior hip socket becomes more vulnerable.

Yogis know this, so they focus on lighting up the inner thighs to keep the external rotators from creating this turnout. The trick is that this can be done without completely quieting the glutes, which are needed to both aid in pelvic stability and to counter an anterior tilt created by tight hip flexors.

But some of us are naturally more externally rotated. This rotation may be structural or, as is often the case in yogis and dancers, may be a matter of habit. As a habit, constant turnout of the leg encourages the use of the deep external rotators, which, as I mentioned, can be the bane of backbends. So teachers who are shaped like this or who have this experience tell us all to power down our entire backsides leaving us literally hanging.

And our language – what does squeeze mean? If your response to the cue squeeze the glutes is to try to pinch a penny between them, then you’ll find the external rotators kick in in addition to glute max. As you saw on the block, engagement can be more nuanced than squeezing this way.

How to Fix Your Glutes

If your glutes are going through an identity crisis now, don’t worry, but do experiment. Try out backbend poses that have the femurs nearly parallel to the floor. For example: cobra, locust, or bridge pose. Take that block or book from before and put it between your thighs. This way your adductors will tone and the external rotators won’t monopolize.

Then experiment with pressing down more through your foundation as opposed to arbitrarily squeezing anything. Make sure you don’t turn the knees and toes out. See what happens. My guess is your glutes will be right there to help you, toned but not gripping. If you really want to see what they can do, consider lifting one foot off the ground in either pose (block still somewhat in place) and watch the glutes go. That ought to fire ‘em up.

In the future, save the squeezing for fresh fruit and full sponges, but when you do backbends be sure to engage your backside.

Rachel Hector

About Rachel Hector

Rachel Hector,ERYT-500, has been teaching yoga since 2002. She holds a Master’s degree in kinesiologyfrom theUniversity of Texasat Austin, where she is currently completing her doctoral degree with a focus in yoga-related research.

Thanks to the guidance of an aunt, Rachel was introduced to a book of hatha yoga techniques at the age of sixteen as a method of physical pain management. Like many chronic pain sufferers, she battled depression and found yoga to be a key ingredient in her treatment. At nineteen, Rachel found the practice of Ashtanga and began training to become a teacher.

After many years of teaching and practicing, Rachel began to notice differences in body types and the prevalence of injuries as related to those differences. She stepped away from teaching for a summer and reset her intention. Rachel returned with a focus to reduce injuries and to improve integrated, effective movement in her students.

Rachel began training teachers after eight years of full-time teaching. In 2011, she led the first hatha flow teacher training at Yoga Yoga, an Austin-based studio. The success of that program offered her an opportunity to begin a more targeted teacher training for healthcare professionals. Rachel spent the summer of 2012 studying withDr. Timothy McCall, author of Yoga as Medicine andNischala Joy Devi. She has completed Nischala’s Yoga of the Heart program geared towards individuals with cancer and heart disease.

At the university level, Rachel studies anatomy, physiology, psychology, biomechanics, and neuroscience. She went back to school at 28 for the explicit purpose of bringing yoga techniques into modern society via research. Her master’s work focuses heavily on inversion techniques and mechanics while her upcoming research tackles yoga as a vehicle for positive behavior changes. Although she is interested in the science behind yoga, she concedes that the magic of it is what keeps her coming to the mat.

Rachel leads trainings with Yoga Yoga, Global Yoga Shala, and Zingara Yoga. You can find out more by visiting her website.

View All Articles

Related Posts

Fergus Crawley 5K Run Tips Photo
Fergus Crawley Shares 5 Tips For Running a Better 5K
Actor Chris Hemsworth in gym performing dumbbell row
Chris Hemsworth Diagrams a Killer Upper Body Workout Fit For an Action Star
Hugh Jackman Deadpool 3 Workouts Spring:Winter 2023
Hugh Jackman Returns to Wolverine Condition in Workouts for “Deadpool 3”
Method Man Incline Dumbbell Presses December 2022
Check Out Rapper Method Man Cruising Through 120-Pound Incline Dumbbell Presses for 10 Reps

Primary Sidebar

Latest Articles

New Year’s Fitness Sales (2025)

XWERKS Motion BCAA Review (2025): A Registered Dietitian’s Honest Thoughts

Assault Fitness AssaultBike Pro X Review (2025): Assault’s Best Bike Yet?

13 Best Exercise Bikes for Home Gyms (2025)

Transparent Labs BCAA Glutamine Review (2025): The Key to Post-Workout Recovery?

Latest Reviews

Element 26 Hybrid Leather Weightlifting Belt

Element 26 Hybrid Leather Weightlifting Belt Review (2025)

Omre NMN + Resveratrol, Lifeforce Peak NMN, and partiQlar NMN on a red background

Best NMN Supplement: Fountain of Youth in a Bottle? (2025)

The Titan Series Adjustable Bench on a red background

Titan Series Adjustable Bench Review (2025)

A photo of the NordicTrack Select-a-Weight Dumbbells on a red background

NordicTrack Adjustable Dumbbell Review (2025): Are These Value Dumbbells Worth It?

woman lifting barbell

Be the smartest person in your gym

The Breaking Muscle newsletter is everything you need to know about strength in a 3 minute read.

I WANT IN!

Breaking Muscle is the fitness world’s preeminent destination for timely, high-quality information on exercise, fitness, health, and nutrition. Our audience encompasses the entire spectrum of the fitness community: consumers, aficionados, fitness professionals, and business owners. We seek to inform, educate and advocate for this community.

  • Reviews
  • Healthy Eating
  • Workouts
  • Fitness
  • News

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed

© 2025 · Breaking Muscle · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Affiliate Disclaimer · Accessibility · About