Following up from our last post about releasing the quadriceps muscles, this post will focus on building glute strength. I always recommend pairing these two concepts together because you can’t have one without the other. If you have really tight hip flexors and quadriceps, they will compromise the ability to contract and strengthen the glutes. If you have weak glutes, they will promote you quadriceps and hip flexor muscles to be over worked. So you can see a restrictive cycle happening here… sort of like the chicken and the egg.
We want to help you create a more ideal scenario for both these areas to function at a more optimal level.
We can use this as a starting point anyways.
When you want to increase strength in the glute muscles, you have to work the glute muscles. Sounds obvious, right? Well, not really. There are literally thousands of glute exercises that you’ll find in gyms and online, however a lot of these exercises target other muscles as well. For example: squats and lunges are great exercises that involve the glutes, but they aren’t the primary muscles responsible for those movements.
Your other muscles, such as Quads and Hamstrings, will dominate over your WEAK GLUTES.
The same goes for most exercises: if your body can find an easier way to do the movement, it will! Our weak glutes get overpowered by stronger muscles and even though we are doing the movement, we aren’t necessarily doing it correctly with the right muscles doing the right job.
These 2 exercises are some of the staples I use with clients and my own training. Both exercises cover hip extension and lateral hip stability, 2 areas that are generally weak in most people. Give them a try today!
Hip Bridges / Glute Activation
- Lie on your back with the knees bent at 90 degrees and feet flat on the floor.
- Begin with a slight posterior pelvic tilt (flattening the lower back against the floor) and engage the glutes to lift the hips up.
- Once up, make sure to draw the rib cage inwards so they do not flare open to the ceiling. Abs are pulled in, and the glutes should be on.
- Re-engage the posterior pelvic tilt to maintain glute activation and minimise your lower back muscles trying to dominate. This is NOT a lower back exercise. You should be lifting with the glutes.
- Hold for 2 seconds at the top before lowering. Repeat x 15.
Half Kneeling Side Plank with Leg Extension and Abduction
- This exercise will challenge your entire core (and yes, glutes included!)
- Get into the a half-kneeling side plank as shown in the video below. Ensure your bottom elbow lines up the the bottom knee and your hips are flat through the front. Pull the ribs in.
- Straighten your top leg, and slowly lift it up and down in a slow, controlled manner (second video).
- Make sure to keep the trunk solid without any movement. Keep your toes pointed straight ahead, they will want to point to the ceiling but don’t let them.
- Repeat 8-10reps on each side, for 2 sets.
Let us know how you went with these exercises, they are just 2 ways to train for stronger glutes and stronger core.
