It seems everyone pays attention to their face and neck for signs of aging. But did you ever sit in your car in the Walmart parking lot and check out people’s backsides? Or check out your own rear view in the mirror? Let me tell you, you can tell an older person from the back by their pancake flat butt. Pants bagging. Stiff gait. You know the visual.

It’s true. Unfortunately, as we age we lose some of those fat deposites that make us curvy in back. Especially if we have graduated into a desk job. Our fat pads lessen, our glutes stretch out and thus get thinner, and our hip flexors tighten and pull our hips in to an unnatural position. Along with weak glutes comes back and hip pain, balance problems, and susceptibility to falls and injury.

Are you interested in filling out the back of your pants again and gaining strength and building muscle to burn calories? Add some glute strengthening exercises to your daily routine. Squats, stair climbing, hill climbing, lunges, hip bridges are all in the top tier of glute enhancing exercises. Add them into your mix along with a hip flexor stretch or two to do your hips and lower back a huge favor. Plus, I guarantee your pants will not bag in the butt anymore!

My favorite hip flexor stretch: Lay on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Now cross one ankle over the opposite knee and pull that knee towards your chest with your hands or a towel or have a partner push that knee in towards your chest. Stretch it out and repeat with the opposite side.

Trouble with squats? Place a yoga ball between the wall and your back and go ahead and squat. The yoga ball will give you added support and a sense of security and allow you to really get in a nice deep squat.

Thanks for reading the Platinum Muse! Squat away and have a great week!