Among the muscles worked in the Pilates method exercises, emphasis is placed on activating the Gluteus Maximus (GM), due to its role in pelvic stabilization during functional activities. An ineffective activation of the GM can contribute to lumbopelvic instability and generate overload on the lumbar spine and other joints of the lower limb. In this way, exercises with an emphasis on GM activation are essential for clinical practice in the prevention and rehabilitation of different musculoskeletal disorders, becoming part of the Pilates method and of conventional exercises.

To compare the level of muscle activation of the gluteus maximus during Pilates method exercises in relation to conventional exercise.

This is a cross-sectional study. All participants signed an informed consent form. The following were eligible for the study: women between 18 and 30 years old; without the presence of degenerative diseases in the hip joints and history of injury or trauma in the lower limbs and lumbar spine. Pain in the pelvis and lumbar spine were considered as a criterion for non-eligibility. Personal and anthropometric data from the participants were collected, followed by an exercise protocol associated with the assessment of electromyographic signals from the GM. The Pilates method exercise protocol included: superman, bird dog and pelvic elevation. The squat exercise was performed as part of the conventional protocol. A familiarization of each exercise was performed, followed by three valid executions with an interval of 40 seconds between each repetition and five minutes between each set of exercises. There was a verbal stimulus in relation to the contraction of the GM muscle during the execution. Electromyographic data were performed during the four exercises using Surface Electromyography (EMG). The electrodes were positioned following the SENIAM rules. For the analysis of the electromyographic data, specific routines were used in a Matlab environment, with the mean value of the linear envelope of the three attempts of each exercise and normalized by the activation peak. After verifying the normality of the data, the One-way Anova test was applied and a significance level of α<0.05 was adopted.

There was no statistically significant difference for GM muscle activation during the proposed exercises (α=0.715).

It is possible to conclude that the proposed exercises with an emphasis on the muscle activation of the GM both in the Pilates method and in the conventional exercise protocol, present the same magnitude of muscle recruitment.

The Pilates method has occupied a prominent place in the prevention and rehabilitation of musculoskeletal disorders of the lumbar spine and other lower limb joints. The squat exercise is also present in clinical practice in conventional rehabilitation protocols, and it was possible to conclude that it has the same muscle activation as the gluteus maximus muscle. Therefore, both methods can be applied as a way of activating and strengthening this musculature with the objective of lumbopelvic stabilization, mainly during functional activities.