Some thoughts and discussions from me.
Having trouble activating your glutes? Try these two glute activation drills
Having trouble activating the glutes? I’d love to share my two favorite drills for getting those glutes to fire before your next workout.
A warm up should be comprised of three factors:
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- core temperature elevation
- activating the working muscle groups
- increasing range of motion (to a point)
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In all of my clients’ programs and online boot camps, we focus on all 3 of those factors, as well as foam rolling.
Today, we’re specifically going to talk about #2. But if you’d like to learn about all three, you can watch this quick video I filmed with Sierra Trading Post earlier this summer:
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Ok, so let’s talk glute activation.
The reason why activation is a crucial part of the warm up – for any muscle group – is to maximize the effectiveness of your workout. If your goal is to work your glutes, you want your glutes working at their fullest capacity, right?
I mean, if you’ve only got 60 minutes, 3-5 times a week to work out, you want your time to count.
By performing movements that get maximum contraction at the beginning of your workout, you’re priming those muscles for the work ahead.
Today we’re specifically talking glutes, but I do activation work for single muscle group that I or my clients are going to perform that day. Coincidentally, glutes are one of the four common muscle groups in women that tend to become weaker with age. All the more reason to get them working to their full potential!
There are many different ways to activate the glutes, but as long as you activate them across all three directions and sections – the gluteus maximus, minimus, and medius, you’re good to go. Here are two of my favorites, that are sure to turn on – or to get that 10 out of 10 contraction as my trainer would say – that we’re looking for.
Lateral Band Walks
This is one exercise I am loo-loving at the moment. Not only to kick off my workout, but also as a finisher, because given the right band, this exercise can make those glutes scream – in the best way possible, of course.
A couple notes:
1) The band is around my ankles. This is because studies have shown the having the band across the ankles, rather than the knees, results in a bigger glute min and med contraction. I can attest to that myself – try it out! In fact, sometimes I’ll even go for as long as I can around my ankles, and then move it up to my knees for those last few reps.
2) My feet never come too close together. I cue my clients to take a big step out with their left foot, and a slightly less big step in with their right. Constant tension, my friends.
3) My feet are either pointed directly forward, or slightly inward. A common mistake is to allow external rotation in the toes, however, this should be avoided as it takes away recruitment of the glutes, and puts it in the hip flexors.
Glute Bridge Press Downs
I actually learned this drill at a conference from Ingrid Marcum, but I use it with my clients all of the time now. This is a great drill if you really don’t feel your glutes working during your workout. In fact, this is also a great drill to be performed between exercises, if needed, as well.
Some tips:
-if you feel it in your quads, move your feet away from you an inch
-if you feel it in your hamstrings, move your feet toward you an inch
-pull your tailbone toward your chest, and squeeze the glutes as hard as you can
One more glute activation drill I like to use with clients is the isometric banded hip thrust, which can really burn a good fire where it counts.
Another big hitter when it comes to firing the glutes is proper execution, which is why I make sure to not only cue form in my video demonstrations, but also in the text below, so that my clients know how – and what to do – to really feel it where they’re supposed to feel it. If you’d like more information about my Lean Body training & nutrition online boot camp, you can learn more or sign up here.
I hope you found this at least a little bit helpful! If you did, please share it with someone else who might also find it helpful in their training! XO
Have a great week,
Paige