Glutes Muscle Strengthening

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    Overview

    It is vital for individuals to have strong glutes and incorporate strengthening exercises into training programmes. Strong glute muscles ensure the correct pelvic alignment and can help reduce lower back pain. Also reducing injuries sustained to the hip, knee and ankle joints. Strong glutes aid in balance, improved posture, single leg limb support and reduced back pain when lifting heavy weights.

    Anatomy

    The gluteal region is an anatomical area located posteriorly to the pelvic bone at the proximal end of the femur. The muscles in this region move the lower limb at the hip joint. The main glute muscles are glute maximus, medius and minus.

    Glute Maximus – This muscle is the biggest out of all the glutes. It is the most superficial and makes up most of the shape of the glutes on the body. This muscle helps perform extension and lateral rotation of the hip.

    Glute Medius – This muscle lies between the maximus and the minus. Movements such as abduction and medial rotation occur here.

    Glute Minus – The minus is the smallest and deepest of the superficial glute muscles. This also helps movements such as abduction and medial rotation. When in movement this muscle helps secure the pelvis, preventing any pelvic drop.

    Glute Anatomy

    Importance of Glute Strengthening

    1. Strong Glutes help prevent injuries – It is so important to have strong glute muscles and muscles surrounding the hip as this will add support to the lower back, knees and ankles. This is due to the alignment of the body being in the correct positioning and reducing the amount of stress on certain joints in the body.

    2. Enhanced Athletic performance – Basic movements such as jumping, running, driving and twisting are all performed through the hips and legs. This aids an athlete performance by increasing their agility levels and strength when carrying out the movements.

    3. Improved posture and balance – Having strong Glute muscles will improve your posture and balance within the body. When the hip, glutes and core are stable it will reduce the amount dysfunctional movements in the body. When the hips are aligned, it will keep the neck shoulders and back in a further stable position, improving posture.

    Glute Activation & Exercises

    Firstly, to activate the glutes you need to stretch. The main area that needs to be stretched is the hip flexors. Stretches such as a kneeling lunges and banded split squats could be really helpful to loosen up the area.

    A few glute bridges can be performed to start the activation of the glutes, these exercises will get the glutes warmed up, ready then for people to move onto the heavier weights. This is so important because you do not want to go in straight away with the heavy weights, as this could cause injury and strain to the glute muscles.

    Here is a list of exercises that could be used for glute activation:

    Exercises

    • Donkey kicks
    • Fire hydrants
    • Lateral walks
    • Glute bridge with abduction
    • Clams
    • Plank jacks with resistance band

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