At the ripe age of 37 I am a little surprised by how much enjoyment I get out of strengthening and engaging my glutes. Intentionally working my backside has done wonders for me! Gone are the days of sporadic back pain. Gone are the days of severe pain in my hamstrings from years of constantly hanging out in my forward folds. At least it’s gone for now.

I wish I knew, back in the day, the power of glute activation.

For a very long time I used to encourage students to relax their glutes in Bridge Pose.

As you lift your hips, relax your glutes.

Why did I say that for so long?

Because that’s what all the teachers around me were saying!

And many of them would add something about harming your SI (sacroiliac joint) if you did engage your glutes. Since I had no intention to hurt my students, you better believe I told my students to let their butt muscles soften while they lifted their hips into Bridge.

With time I studied more anatomy, biomechanics, and physiology and learned that my cue was pretty misinformed.

Let’s think about it. The action of lifting your hips typically involves the engagement of your gluteus maximus, abductors, and your hamstrings. Depending on how you explore the shape, there’s a chance you’re recruiting your hamstrings more than your glutes, but it’s not like the glutes are totally inactive in the shape.

And will you absolutely destroy your SI joint if you engage your glutes?

Nah!

Unless you have an existing SI joint or some other lower back/pelvis injury or limitation, the chances of you blowing up your SI joint when you engage your butt muscles in Bridge Pose is pretty much nill.

Now if you are still a little uncertain about engaging your backside in Bridge Pose or if it just doesn’t feel right in your body, you might approach the shape in a different way. Rather than just squeezing your butt as you jam your pelvis toward the ceiling, consider drawing your frontal hip bones toward your lower ribs at the top of your Bridge Pose and strongly press your feet down into the floor.

Give it a shot! Especially if you’ve always relaxed your glutes in Bridge Pose, let me know how it feels to engage your glutes in the shape.

Side note: My physical therapy friends often tell me they’ll forever have a job because majority of the general population doesn’t know how to effectively engage their glutes. So there’s actually a really good chance you’re not really engaging your glutes in Bridge Pose all that much even when you try. But you definitely don’t have to go out of your way to relax your glutes.