• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

Breaking Muscle

  • Fitness
  • Workouts
    • Best Shoulder Workouts
    • Best Chest Workouts
    • Best Leg Workouts
    • Best Leg Exercises
    • Best Biceps Exercises
    • Best Kettlebell Exercises
    • Best Back Workouts
    • Best HIIT Workouts
    • Best Triceps Exercises
    • Best Arm Workouts
  • Reviews
    • Supplements
      • Best Pre-Workouts
      • Best Whey Protein
      • Best Creatine
    • Equipment
      • Best Adjustable Dumbbells
      • Best Home Gym Machines
    • Certifications
      • ISSA Review
  • News
  • Exercise Guides
    • Legs
      • Back Squat
      • Bulgarian Split Squat
      • Goblet Squat
      • Zercher Squat
      • Standing Calf Raise
      • Hack Squat
    • Chest
      • Bench Press
      • Dumbbell Bench Press
      • Close-Grip Bench Press
      • Incline Bench Press
    • Shoulders
      • Overhead Dumbbell Press
      • Lateral Raise
    • Arms
      • Chin-Up
      • Weighted Pull-Up
      • Triceps Pushdown
    • Back
      • Deadlift
      • Trap Bar Deadlift
      • Lat Pulldown
      • Inverted Row
      • Bent-Over Barbell Row
      • Single-Arm Dumbbell Row
      • Pendlay Row
Fitness

The Case for Specialized Glute Training

Isolation movements have fallen from favor, but should an exception be made for glutes?

Craig Marker

Written by Craig Marker Last updated on May 2, 2016

Strength coaches like complex movements that recruit multiple muscle groups. These movements are closer to athletic skills and may transfer to the playing field better than isolation exercises. So when an athlete wants to focus on his or her glutes, they are often advised to perform kettlebell swings, deadlifts, and low bar back squats.

But is there a case for a dedicated glute exercise?

For athletes who struggle with glute activation, isolation exercises like the hip thruster may prove useful.

When Isolation Makes Sense

Greg Dea wrote a recent article arguing against using isolation exercises, specifically the calf machine. He argues that our calves are built to act as springs to absorb shock and propel us forward, and that performing slow calf raises can decrease reactive abilities over time. His thought process against using specialized equipment is shared by many strength coaches, whose ultimate goal is to create high-performing athletes.

But Charles Staley makes the case that isolation machines can sometimes be beneficial to athletes if the exercise has these two qualities:

  • Efficiency — the exercise does not divert resources away from movements more beneficial to sports performance.
  • Positive Transfer — the exercise improves the sport-specific skill or activity by improving strength.

For quad-dominant athletes, isolation training of the glutes might provide that positive transfer. Research has shown that explosive movements and heavier weights activate the glutes well.1 In slower movements, such as squats, the glutes are also prime movers, but not for everyone. Athletes who lift in a more upright position (with less hip hinge) recruit their thighs to do the bulk of the work, while their glutes remain less active. For these athletes, it might be helpful to do more specific training to learn how to turn on their glutes.

A Test and a Solution for Sleeping Glutes

With a partner, lay down flat on your stomach. Lift your heel toward your butt and raise your leg off the ground. Have your partner press your hamstring toward the ground. If you can resist your partner pressing down, then you can activate your glutes well. If your partner can press your leg back down, you might have a problem waking up your glutes, otherwise known as gluteal amnesia.

The hip thruster is an excellent movement to combat glute activation issues because it isolates the hip joint so that there is little knee movement. It is usually done with the feet planted on the floor and the knees bent and thrusting your hips into the air by contracting your glutes.

One method for adding weight to this movement is to place a barbell on your hip bone and put your back on a bench. By raising the upper body, you prevent the bar from rolling down onto your face. When using a barbell, wrap a squat pad or towel around the bar to protect your hip bones. Over time, you should be able to lift 1.2 to 2 times your body weight, so protecting the hip bones is important.

A traditional bench is often too high and unstable for this exercise. It can be difficult to get up onto the bench using heavier weights. Recently, I tested a machine built specifically for hip thrusters. The bench is shorter and it is connected to the platform. This unit also has pins so that bands can be used to place more demand on the top of the movement where you squeeze the glutes (i.e., Compensatory Acceleration Training).

Is the Hip Thruster Worth Your Time?

Does the hip thruster fulfill Charles Staley’s requirements for usefulness, namely efficiency and positive transfer? Yes. It is an efficient use of time as it is working multiple glute muscles at once. Adding this movement to your training routine will create positive transfer for your squat and deadlift. Many newer athletes would benefit from this machine to learn how to use their glutes properly, and it patterns the proper movement needed in deadlifts and kettlebell swings.

The hip thruster is also a tool that might have uses beyond specific glute training. I have heard of someone using the hip thruster for rehabilitation after a knee injury because they could not do squats. Once he returned to squatting, he found that he had not lost much strength and had new power in his glutes.

A Place for Isolation in Athletic Training

I do not have a great deal of space for unnecessary equipment, but the hip thruster is important enough to make room. Deadlifts and kettlebell swings are great movements for building strong glute muscles, but the hip thruster isolates the glutes in a way that can teach athletes how to hinge properly, and with weight. Complex movements are generally the most efficient and transfer to athletic endeavors, but the hip thruster is one isolation exercise that I would recommend for athletes at all levels.

More on Glute Training:

  • 4 Simple Exercises to Get Your Glutes Fired Up
  • The Physics of Lifting: Don’t Forget to Hinge
  • Butt-ology 101: How to Enhance Your Gluteal Muscles
  • New on Breaking Muscle Today

Photo courtesy of CrossFit.

Reference:

1. Beardsley, Chris, and Bret Contreras. “The Increasing Role of the Hip Extensor Musculature With Heavier Compound Lower-Body Movements and More Explosive Sport Actions.” Strength and Conditioning Journal 36, no. 2 (2014): 49-55. doi:10.1519/ssc.0000000000000047. 

Craig Marker

About Craig Marker

Craig Marker, Ph.D. CSCS, StrongFirst Senior Instructor, is a fitness enthusiast who has spent his life trying to help people improve their lives. He is an Associate Professor at Mercer University teaching psychology and research methods. He works with students on how best to understand research and place it into context. He has published over fifty articles on psychology and research methods. As a researcher, he understands the latest cutting-edge research on fat loss, muscle gain, sports performance, and nutrition.

As a psychologist, Craig has focused on research and treatment of anxiety disorders, which positions him to understand motivation and the fear of making life changes. His upcoming book, the AntiFragile Self, takes on the topic of building a stronger person in the mental and physical domains.

As a certified StrongFirst Kettlebell Instructor, Craig views kettlebells as one tool in the trade of forging a better person. He also has certifications in CrossFit, CrossFit Mobility, and CrossFit Gymnastics. He uses the Functional Movement Screen and multiple corrective movements to make sure his students are performing at their best for the rest of their lives. You can visit him in person at CrossFit Empirical in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

View All Articles

Recommended Articles

shutterstock_83526733
The Do it All Exercise to Go From Dead Butt to Active Arse
Hugh Jackman Deadpool 3 Workouts Spring:Winter 2023
Hugh Jackman Returns to Wolverine Condition in Workouts for “Deadpool 3”
Method Man Incline Dumbbell Presses December 2022
Check Out Rapper Method Man Cruising Through 120-Pound Incline Dumbbell Presses for 10 Reps
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Leg Workout
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson Crushes 5 “Monster Sets” of a Leg Workout

Primary Sidebar

Latest Articles

9 Best Adjustable Dumbbells for Home Gyms of 2023

10-Year-Old Rory van Ulft Reaches New Milestone Squatting Triple Her Body Weight

Arnold Schwarzenegger Shares His Recent Killer Arm and Shoulder Workout 

11 Best Creatine Supplements For Building Muscle, Cutting, and More

Latest Reviews

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

ISSA Personal Trainer Certification Review

Best Whey Proteins for Packing on Muscle, Shredding Down, Meal Replacement, and More

Best Pre-Workouts for Building Muscle, Running, Taste, and More

Best Home Gym Machines

Best Home Gym Machines

woman lifting barbell

Be the smartest person in your gym

The Breaking Muscle newsletter is everything you need to know about strength in a 3 minute read.

I WANT IN!

Breaking Muscle is the fitness world’s preeminent destination for timely, high-quality information on exercise, fitness, health, and nutrition. Our audience encompasses the entire spectrum of the fitness community: consumers, aficionados, fitness professionals, and business owners. We seek to inform, educate and advocate for this community.

  • Reviews
  • Healthy Eating
  • Workouts
  • Fitness
  • News

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS Feed

© 2023 · Breaking Muscle · Terms of Use · Privacy Policy · Affiliate Disclaimer · Accessibility · About