Is My Butt Asleep?

Several months ago, I read somewhere that many people have butt muscles that have forgotten how to engage fully during exercise because of long bouts of sitting. When I first read this, it sounded pretty ridiculous to me. I mean, your butt muscles are some of the largest in the body, if you are exercising hard, how could they not be in on the action? Then, one of my Crossfit coaches started talking about the failure to fully engage the glutes and added warm-up exercises intended to target the butt muscles (although, frankly, I did not feel like they did much for me). During an aerials seminar, the instructor also talked about sleeping butts, and how learning to engage the glutes can help with inversions and also splits. So I started to think, maybe despite all that I am working on, my butt is sleeping.

It makes some sense. Often, my quads and hamstrings get very sore and tight, as if they are doing a disproportionate amount of work, while my butt is relatively pain-free. Also, I struggle with movements like the deadlift, and occasionally have lower back issues as a result. Splits too are troublesome, especially that last bit to bring my legs flat onto the ground. Could all this be butt-related?

Still, it is a bit of a mystery to me what exactly I should be doing to wake my ass up. Maybe it is enough to simply bring awareness to relying on my butt muscles more. If checking on my cheeks helps to solve some of my performance issues, then I’m game.