On average in the US, most people sit for more than 8 hours a day. And we all know sitting for that long is not good for our health. Sitting for that much time actually makes your buttocks or hips muscles weak and also leads to many problems related to the spine.
But one question that always comes to many people’s minds is how can they grow their hips by adopting some kind of sitting position. Does sitting position help you build your glutes?
If you have these types of questions in your mind then don’t worry in this article I will cover all these questions and put the end to this discussion. So, let’s start…
Does sitting position help in achieving bigger hips?
Well, sitting in some kind of position will not make your hips grow. Lifting weights is the only way to achieve some muscles around your hips. You can activate the hip muscles by squeezing your glutes, but you can not grow them.
If you’re not genetically gifted with rounded and big hips, then the only thing that is going to help you achieve some mass around your hips is training your glutes specifically twice a week.
If you sit for too long somewhere it can actually make your glutes even flatter. But you can stop this from happening by following some things that I’m going to discuss further in this article.
But before that let’s discuss what are some negative aspects of sitting on your hips.
Related: Signs Your Glutes Are Not Growing
Negative aspects of sitting on your hips
Firstly, if you sit for too long every day, it can lead to muscle atrophy. It is the condition where your hips or glutes muscles will become inactive and weak. This also means the muscle mass on your glutes will start decreasing if you maintain the same routine.
Weak glute muscles mean you will not only see the negative impact on the size of your hips but it can also make your glute muscles weak. And when you want to go to the gym to train your glutes. It will be more difficult for you to engage your glute muscles.
You can easily prevent this by standing up and from the chair every 30 minutes and taking a walk. If 30 minutes is not possible then at least take a small break for the washroom after 1 hour. This will maintain the blood flow in your glutes.
Blood flow is very important to experience muscle development. So, it is your duty to make sure you maintain good blood flow in your glutes.
Many people, sit for many hours on chairs without taking a break. This is wrong on many levels, it will not only prevent blood flow but also put pressure on your spine.
Moreover, you will deposit more fat around your abdomen and thighs rather than your buttocks. This means it will be a bad distribution of fat. And nobody wants more fat on their thighs than their buttocks.
How to activate your hips while sitting
Though it is impossible to grow your hips while sitting but you can surely activate your hips while sitting.
This will prevent your glute muscles from getting weak and also helps in maintaining a good blood flow. It is good exercise if you work somewhere, where taking small breaks is not allowed.
- First, you have to come forward and sit on the edge of the chair. Make sure you sit comfortably but your thighs and hamstrings are not on the chair.
- Now, sit straight with your chin up. Look straight with your shoulder straight.
- Make sure your legs are making a 90-degree angle while you sitting on a chair.
- Contract your core muscles, and push the ground hard with your feet. And as you are pushing the ground, make sure you are squeezing the hips.
- Hold the squeeze as long as you can and do it again. You will start feeling the burn in your hips.
- If you do this squeeze 10 times after a few hours, you will not going to hit muscle atrophy and will be able to maintain a good blood flow in your glutes.
You can also activate your hamstrings and thighs while sitting.
To do that, maintain the same position explained above, but instead of pushing your feet to the ground pick one leg up while the other is still on the ground.
It is just like leg extension. But make sure you squeeze the thighs and hips when you lift the leg up. Do the same for both legs and repeat the same for 12 reps for at least 3 sets.
If you do this daily, you might get toned hips and legs if not big. The only way to make muscle big is by breaking the muscle tissue and that is possible with more weight. You can also do it with less weight but you have to do more reps.
Moreover, diet and rest are also the key components for the growth of any muscle.
Related: Glute Activation Exercises at Home
Exercises that can help you build hips
As discussed the only way to increase your hips is by doing exercise. The early you start the better results you get.
If your glute muscles get weak by sitting for longer hours then first you have to make sure that your glute muscles get engaged while doing a workout. You can become quad-dominant if you sit for long hours.
It means, most work is done by your quads. Your quads will do more work and less work is done by your hips.
This is not good for your hips as you will find it difficult to engage your glutes while squatting, or doing lunges.
The best way to grow your hips is by training all three muscles of the glutes i.e glute maximum,
The best exercises are Bulgarian split squats for lower glutes. As they are hard to perform. So it is a good idea if you do them at the start of your workout.
To Target all muscle groups, hip thrust is found to be the best exercise. You can also do squats if you find them easy.
Cable kickback is the best exercise to Target the upper glutes.
To know more about the best exercises for hip growth, you can watch this video –
