What Does "Yoga Butt" Mean? Settling the Age-Old Question

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Have you ever heard of the term "yoga butt"? If so, do you know what it means? In my experience, this term is a bit confusing because it has two different definitions that are both commonly used in the yoga world.

YOGA BUTT DEFINITION #1

The first definition has to do with the idea that the practice of yoga gives yogis firm, attractive backsides - the appearance of which is often colloquially referred to as "yoga butt".

[Side note: I find this first definition ironic because in all honesty, traditional yoga does not challenge the glutes enough to create very firm and toned backsides in the first place. It really doesn't! But that's another topic for another blog post - and if you happen to be a yogi who is interested in some actual focused glute work within a yoga context, consider trying my "Recruit the Glutes" practice in my online yoga class library! It's a great class that does have a good chance of helping yogis to create a yoga butt, if that's something they desire. :) ]

YOGA BUTT DEFINITION #2

This first definition for "yoga butt" was all that I knew throughout my earlier yoga days. But later on, I started hearing about a new, alternative definition of the term. "Yoga butt" had also come to be known as a nagging, irritating pain that many yogis experienced in their "butt" area - specifically at the very top of their hamstrings, where these muscles attach to the sitting bones (or ischial tuberosities in anatomy-speak).

This "yoga butt" pain is often exacerbated when yogis fold forward or perform a "hip hinge" type movement like uttanasana (standing forward fold), paschimottanasana (seated forward fold), or virabhadrasana III (warrior 3). And this yoga butt pain is surprisingly common in the yoga world. In fact, it's rare to meet a long-time yogi who has either never experienced this version of yoga butt or doesn't know someone who has.

SETTLING THE AGE-OLD QUESTION

Because there are clearly two different definitions for the same term being used concurrently in the yoga world, I decided to put out an "anatomy geeky" survey on my Instagram page last week that asked:

What does "yoga butt" mean? A) an aesthetically-pleasing gluteus maximus or B) proximal hamstring tendinopathy?

Because the "cute butt" definition was the one that I personally had known long before I learned about the "hamstring pain" definition, my prediction was that the majority of votes would be for option A. But to my surprise, these were the results of the poll:

Clearly, the hamstring pain definition was the winner by a wide margin. (77% to 23% - in politics that would be a huge landslide!) The fact that so many more yogis associate the term "yoga butt" with pain than with a cute derriere reveals just how widespread the problem of high hamstring tendinopathy truly is in the yoga community.

And luckily, my brand new online program "5 Weeks to Strong, Flexible Hamstrings" is designed to address this exact issue! Why, you might ask?

HOW DOES HAMSTRING STRENGTHENING HELP YOGA BUTT?

Well, the main reason that so many yogis experience pain at their proximal hamstrings tendons is that although yoga is full of a high amount of passive hamstring stretching in forward bend positions (which repetitively compresses the hamstrings tendons on the bony protrusion of the sitting bones), yoga includes very few, if any, hamstring-strengthening moves.

We know that in order for our hamstrings and their tendons to be resilient and healthy, they need to have a high capacity for load tolerance. And the only way we can increase our hamstrings' capacity to tolerate load is to strengthen them. (Passive stretching and other passive techniques like self-massage and rolling do not load tissues enough to ask them to adapt.)

And this is why we make it a priority to include hamstring strengthening in our Strength for Yoga Remote Group Training program! Join us to make your hamstrings extra happy with you! 😃