Why Does My Butt Stay Cold During A Run?

SHAPE—January 18, 2015

Let's be frank for a second: There are so many wonderful products designed to keep runners warm so we can battle the elements on even the coldest of day. Hand and foot warmers that heat up, gaiters you can pull up around your nose and mouth...the list goes on and on. Yet it seems few runners talk about your other cheeks—the ones on your behind.

So, we wanted to find out, first, why they get so darn cold (when your glutes are such a powerhouse muscle covered in what we'd think to be insulating fat) and, second, what we can do about it. "Though there is typically a significant layer of fat over the glutes, fat is inactive tissue that does not generate heat," explains Polly de Mille, Exercise Physiologist at Hospital for Special Surgery. "Fat also has very few blood vessels in it, so while you're running, circulation to your muscles increases but not to your fat—that tissue would actually cool down when exposed to the cold."

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