Sore glutes suck – they make walking upstairs an effort and sitting down a chore. So here’s how to relax yours in two simple moves brought to you by Coach’s new yoga teacher, Shona Vertue.
To warm up your glutes, activate them with glute bridges. You can then jump straight into threading the needle, a stretch that will loosen them up and provide that much-needed bum relief so you can crack on with a tension free, happy-arse day.
Glute bridge
- Lie flat on your back and bring the active-side foot about 30cm away from your bum.
- Raise your opposite leg and lock it at a 90° angle.
- Place your weight through the heel on your active-side foot and thrust your hips up as high as possible.
- Touch your bum (with your hand) on the active side at the top of the move to ensure it is engaged.
- Repeat 12 times, then switch sides.
Thread the needle
- Place your foot across your knee, leaving your ankle resting just above the opposite knee, locking your active leg at a 90° angle.
- Thread your arm through the 90° gap and pull your inactive knee towards your chest.
- Unless the stretch is strong enough already, push your active knee outwards to increase the intensity.
- Hold stretch for 15 seconds each side.
The aim of these videos is to provide you quickfire yoga fixes for everyday body problems, but Shona promises that making a daily habit of doing these bum exercises – whether you feel the need to or not – will give you a more powerful and dynamic set of glutes in general. We reckon a scroll through her Instagram will convince you she’s worth listening to – and check out Shona’s website for more brilliant yoga training.
