One of my mentors used to say that squeezing your butt cheeks together for exercise was the “kiss of death” for the SI (sacroiliac) joint and pelvic floor.

This sounds dramatic I know, but squeezing your cheeks together for glute strength, at best prevents you from doing what you think you’re doing, gaining tone and functional glute strength, and at worst exacerbates (and even creates) issues in the pelvic floor and SI joint.

I totally get why glute squeezing is taught though. Many people have sleeping glutes, and the only way they feel their glutes is to squeeze them.

This was certainly my case, compounded by my standing habits which caused me to unconsciously grip my glutes all the time.

(You can learn more about what happens when you squeeze your glutes here: How to Activate Your Glutes without Tucking Your Pelvis.)

So, how in the world do you build a well-functioning and toned derrière without squeezing your cheeks together?

Step one, don’t squeeze your cheeks.

Step two, practice my absolute favorite glute-strengthening, sacrum-stabilizing, and balance-building exercise in today’s video!

With love and active glutes,
Sydney

P.S. Here are the links to the two posts I mention in the video:

• The Pelvic List for standing on one leg
• The Hip Hinge for chronically tight hamstrings