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Fitness

4 Simple Exercises to Get Your Glutes Fired Up

These drills will help you move better, feel better, and kick your training up a notch.

Written by Cassie Dionne Last updated on January 20, 2015

Your glutes are an incredibly important muscle group for many reasons, including preventing injury, improving performance, and helping you fit nicely into your jeans.

This is why I want to show you some of the best exercises you can do to get your glutes properly fired up and working for you. These will help you move better, feel better, and kick your training up a notch.

RELATED: The Best Leg Workouts

Glute bridge

Most People Can’t Properly Fire Their Glutes

Almost every one of the people I see in my clinic has at least one muscle group that isn’t functioning properly. Very often, one of these muscle groups is the glutes.

Many of these people can’t even properly fire their glutes without first undergoing some teaching or activation, on one or both sides.

“Even when people train hard every day, if they spend the majority of the remainder of the day sitting down, then they are simply not using their glutes.

And I’m not talking your average desk-worker who exercises once in a while. I’m talking your five-times-a-week fitness enthusiasts, your elite-level athletes, your weekend warriors, and their sedentary friends alike.

Why Are the Glutes So Inactive?

There are many potential reasons, but I am going to keep it simple and give you just two. The first and most common reason people suffer from underactive glutes or “glute amnesia” is due to lifestyle.

Even when people train hard every day, if they spend the majority of the remainder of the day sitting down, then they are simply not using their glutes.

RELATED: The Butt of a Backbend: A Lesson in Gluteal Anatomy

And remember the old saying – if you don’t use it, you lose it. Unfortunately, this is just what happens with your glutes.

Another common reason I see glutes that aren’t working properly is due to injury. Often an injury happens that changes the mechanics and motor programming of a person’s body.

This can lead to some muscle groups becoming overactive, while others become underactive (think: compensation). This can alter things for a long time without the person even knowing it.

RELATED: Glute Activation Warm Up for Squats and Deadlifts (Video)

Enter Glute Activation

Simply put, glute activation is waking up your glutes. It makes the connection from your brain to your muscle and gets the muscle fired up and ready to do some work.

Glute activation should be done prior to your workout, but it can also be done as an active rest between sets. And trust me when I say that doing some glute activation prior to your squats, lunges, and deadlifts will result in an excellent glute workout!

“Simply put, glute activation is waking up your glutes. It makes the connection from your brain to your muscle and gets the muscle fired up and ready to do some work.”

So, how do you go about activating them prior to your workout for the best results? Check out these four awesome glute activation exercises I regularly use with my athletes.

The Modified Clamshell

I’m sure you’ve seen the clamshell before. It is a fan-fave when it comes to glute activation and glute med strengthening. However, at our studio we don’t love how this movement is typically taught.

Modified clamshell – top knee on the ground

Modified clamshell – top knee off the ground

We’ve found the traditional way the clamshell is taught ends up leading to the athletes overusing their hip flexors and not feeling the exercise where they should.

In other words, it usually just cements in already poor movement patterns. This is why we always teach a modified version.

To do this modified clamshell:

  1. Lie on your side with your head resting comfortably.
  2. Your bottom leg should be straight, with your top hip bent up to ninety degrees and your top foot resting behind your bottom knee. Your hips should be forward, and should remain in this forward position throughout the entire movement to come.
  3. Squeeze your glutes and lift your knee off the ground, keeping your top foot rested on your bottom knee (make sure your hips don’t roll back because they most certainly will try to do so).
  4. You should feel this exercise approximately where your jeans pocket would be. If you feel it here, you’re doing it right!

“We’ve found the traditional way the clamshell is taught ends up leading to the athletes overusing their hip flexors and not feeling the exercise where they should.”

The Glute Bridge

This is a great, functional exercise, and one I have written about in the past. The basic glute bridge is simple, just lay on your back with your knees bent, lifting your hips in the air.

This is an excellent starting point, but most of you will quickly need to move on to more challenging variations to really get your glutes fired up. Check out my two favorites:

The Cook Bridge/Cook Hip Lift – Developed by physical therapist Gray Cook, this exercise eliminates lumbar spine movement, forcing the work to happen at the glutes. To do this movement:

  1. Get into the bridge position.
  2. Place a tennis ball below your bottom rib on one side, and hug the same knee to your chest, pinning the ball down with your thigh.
  3. Holding onto this position, lift your hips in the air, and repeat. You’ve just done the Cook Bridge!

Cook bridge

Glute Bridge With March – This one forces you to engage all of your stabilizer muscles. To do the glute bridge with march:

  1. Get in to the bridge position and lift your hips in the air.
  2. At this top position, and without allowing any movement at your hips, slowly lift one leg off the ground and hold for two seconds.
  3. Put it down and lift the opposite leg.
  4. Repeat this about twenty times, ensuring your hips remain stable throughout the entire exercise.

RELATED: The 4 Most Important Exercises You’re Probably Not Doing

Glute bridge with march

Mini Band Walks

Mini bands are becoming more popular and with good reason. They are a great way to get the glutes geared up for a workout. The best way to do them?

Put the mini band around your feet – yes, your feet – and walk laterally, trying to move your upper body as little as possible. This is usually a pretty fail-safe way of getting a burn in that pocket muscle.

glutes, glute exercises, activation, motor patterns, clamshell, glute bridge

Mini band walks

Slider Reverse Lunge

The slider reverse lunge is simple to perform and doesn’t need much in the way of instructions. Simply grab a Valslide, or a similar tool that will allow you to move smoothly across the ground.

Put the slide under one foot, and use that foot to slide into a reverse lunge, and then return to standing. Try doing this exercise after one of the ones above, and just wait until you feel the burn!

RELATED: Product Review: The Valslide

Slider reverse lunge

Give Them a Go

There it is. Four of my best and all-time favorite glute-activation exercises. Give them a try before your normal workout and trust me when I say you will feel it tomorrow!

Photo 2 courtesy of Shutterstock.

About Cassie Dionne

Cassie is the lead physiotherapist at Taylored Training Fitness Studio in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where her goal is to change the way physiotherapy is done. Tired of hearing athletes complain about going to a therapist who gave old-school, boring (and often ineffective) exercises and put the client on a machine for twenty minutes, Cassie and the team at Taylored Training decided to do something about it.

Cassie believes that physiotherapy should be hands-on, manual, and exercise-based, with clients seeing noticeable improvements each and every session. She works closely with the coaching team, and together they show that the key to successful treatment is the integration of physiotherapy with improved physical fitness, allowing clients to succeed in achieving long-term success.

Cassie received her Masters of Science in Physical Therapy as well as her Bachelor of Physical and Health Education from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. While at school, Cassie was heavily involved with university level athletics, working as a therapist with the varsity teams at the Royal Military College of Canada and Queen’s University.

Since that time, Cassie continues to work with both recreational and competitive athletes at the local, university, provincial, national, and international levels. Cassie also has a passion for continued learning and has attended countless conferences, seminars, and courses in topics including functional rehabilitation, soft tissue release, manual therapy, and a variety of other assessment and treatment techniques.

In addition to her work, Cassie has also undergone her own physical transformation, losing over 100lbs. Being passionate about health and fitness, she wanted to make sure she was practicing the life she so strongly believed in. She therefore knows the importance of a good fitness program and qualified coaches to help you reach your goals.

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