Hips don't lie. Strengthen those buns! Shakira Part two:

Tight and strong buns are the key

Following on from our last blog we wanted to give you some top strengthening exercises for those hips.

Movement and changing position frequently throughout the day is vital to keep those hips happy and healthily. So while you might be sitting there reading this, take the chance to get up and move!

Strengthening - the main focus is on the glutes (your bum), but why?

Well, sitting tightens not only your hips flexors at the front, but also your hamstrings and your glutes are your main friend to help counteract this from happening.

Glutes are one of the key stabilisers of the pelvis, hip and lower back and help hold things in balance and give you a stable base to move and exercise from.

If you have some weakness and lack of balance in these muscles then it affects the alignment of your hip and lower leg (see below for the image on the right).

Weakness in your glutes can lead your knee to track in when exercising which can predispose you to injury. So you want strong buns to work from to help prevent this.

See below for our top 3 glute strengthening exercises to do at home:

Glute strengthening

Side lying with top hand on hip and push forward to stop hip rolling back

Engage trunk muscles to stiffen the spine, then squeeze and hold glutes together

Keep hip forward with hand and raise leg

Do not allow spine to move

Pause at top for 5 seconds (very important to hold for a count of 5) and repeat

Hip bridging

Lying with knees bent and arms at sides

Engage trunk muscles to stiffen the spine, then squeeze and hold glutes together

Breath in and raise hips off the floor curling the spine up until knee hip and shoulder are in a straight line and hold up for 5 seconds

Exhale and return to start position

Glute resistance band squat

Feet shoulder width apart

Keeping back in neutral by engaging lower abdominals

Slowly “sit down” into a shallow squat position bending at hips first

Keep the weight on the heels and knee caps tracking over the 2nd toe

Perform 2 sets of 10