Do glute activation exercises work?

If I'm not mistaken, distance running is more hip flexor oriented than glute oriented.

But yeah, I think that doing something like 4 sets of 10 glute bridges will help activate your glutes. Stretching/mobility of the hip flexors before you run may help more than the glute work. But glute work is awesome so do it too.

This is a good question and I don't know the answer either. I keep getting injured and told I don't fire my glutes. All of my friends are being told the same thing and none of us know how the f*k we're supposed to make our glutes fire when we run. But a lot of us use the Jay Johnson "Myrtle" routine; a lot of those exercises are actually for glutes.

They automatically fire supporting the hip of the foot not contacting the ground to keep it from dropping. They may fire more or less based on tfl tightness or I think theory also has them possible becoming inhibited due to prolonged sitting. You really can't intentionally make them fire during running. They just do it.

For me, I notice much less hip dropping when my cadence is high and my stride shorter.

I have no idea what a "glute activation" exercise is, but the concept is simply stupid; it's impossible for your glutes not to fire when ambulating.

Yes, in my own experience they do work. My understanding of what I was doing instead of using my glutes fully is that I was using my quads, hip flexors, and lower back muscles a lot more for support and lift instead of using my lower abdominals, hamstrings, and glutes. You can see this in someone's stride when you watch them run, if you're paying attention and know what it looks like.

Also, sometimes my glutes would seize up and I would end up with back pain from the sciatic nerves. Over the past year I have been given a progression of exercises from my physiotherapist that I do every day before I run. The difference is very noticeable when I do this versus when I don't. My balance is better, I support my trunk differently and feel much stronger, and my stride is much more powerful. I also run faster while feeling like it's easier. After this long, it's reached a point where it's much easier to get everything working properly day-to-day.

Wincest! wrote:

I have no idea what a "glute activation" exercise is, but the concept is simply stupid; it's impossible for your glutes not to fire when ambulating.

quite wrong..

It's simple neuromuscular training; getting those nerves to fire to activate and recruit muscle fibers.

You have to get the glutes trained to fire and to fire before the hamstring does, otherwise the hamstring can get overloaded and over-fatigued, which can lead to a whole set of nagging problems.

Shouldn't take 15 min. 5 min max.

It's easy to tell if they're firing; just touch them.

A simple move:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4S95CSMiRc

But the way my PT had me doing it was putting the leg next to the wall higher, with the thigh parallel to the floor and the side of the quad flush with the wall. Press the raised leg into the wall and the other glue will fire immediately.

Another simple warm-up is just 'high knees walking"

Viz:

https://d2q0qd5iz04n9u.cloudfront.net/_ssl/proxy.php/http/gallery.mailchimp.com/16d3a99b2faaccba94d1cca28/images/high_knees.jpg

If you go up on your toes on the support leg, that side's glute will fire.

Another simple one is the clam shell.

Would you mind posting the routine you've been doing?

Sure. Check back in a couple of days. I'll need a bit of time to type it out for you, but I should be able to do that this weekend.

We have to go through the weekend with Passive Glutes?!

Give them a few more days of rest. Soon they will be popping and you'll want to twerk constantly.

Ha ha! What a load of crap! This is even worse than pose.

Okay, here you go. Sorry, I didn't have time to look up pictures or videos of most things, and hopefully haven't left out key details. This is all I've got time for, so hopefully good enough for those interested. They're not in the order I received them, necessarily, but I did what I could. I usually got two or three of these per monthly session. As they progressed, I did the newer one in a series and stoped doing the older ones, and sometimes I'll drop one if I'm doing something else that I find more useful. You aren't expected to do all of these every day. Like I said, I only get two or three at a time, and might keep two or three others going in addition to those.

First, keep in mind that these are specific to me, based on regular assessments by my physio and my specific biomechanics issues, but they have worked for me and I haven't had even a hint of an injury since I started doing this stuff despite increasing my mileage significantly (from 60 to 90 miles per week). I pay a little bit of attention to a few of the things noted below while I run, but mostly it's just second nature as long as the right muscles are working. I sit in an office all day, so my back and glutes can be problems and doing this stuff before running helps with that.

Second, I can't give you the feedback I get from my physio on how you're doing these exercises, I can only tell you what they are. You may want to look them up so you know what physical and visual cues you need to focus on to do them correctly, or talk to a physiotherapist if you know a good one. Also, the number of repetitions and sets in any exercise is up to you, as you can handle them.

Third, this won't necessarily help your running. It helped mine, and if you read through you'll see that some of these things get pretty close to the actual running motion, or break that motion down to focus on specific issues or muscles, mostly the glutes and trunk area. So they might help you, they might not.

1. Recruitment of transversus abdominus: Lie on your back, knees bend, back in neutral (slightly arched - you should be able to hold steady pressure on the pressure cuff if placed in the small of your back through any of these exercises where you're on your back). Place your hands on your transversus abdominis and maintain steady abdominal breathing. Activate by bringing your belly button inward and activating your pelvic floor muscles 20-30% of max contraction.

2. Stabilization ABD/ER: Lying on your back as before, activate as above. Open one leg to the side, only going as far as the point where you feel your obliques and main abs activating, then return to starting position. If you Google "stabilization abd/er" you will see diagrams of this in the first two results (both are PDFs - #1 in the first and #4 in the second). Repeat x 30.

3. Cat/camel: On all fours, hands under shoulders, knees under hips, back arched into a neutral position as though standing. Lift your head and chest simultaneously while letting your stomach sink and lower back arch (cat). Round your back and let your head and neck drop while trying to bring your head and pelvis closer together (camel). Don't force the end range of the motion. This isn't a stretch. Return to neutral position after each time doing this. It is to teach you what position your pelvis/trunk/back are in when in neutral position, which is what it will be when running. Repeat x 10.

4. Stabilization of Multifidus: Same position as cat/camel above, with back in neutral. Activate transversus abdominus as above. You are working on maintaining neutral position and not flexing your lower back muscles while you do this. You are trying to activate a small muscle along your spine called the multifidus. I was told to think of puffing up the muscle along the spine. Hold for 5 seconds. Repeat x 20. You can do this with an arm raise as well.

5. Gluteus maximus retraining: Lie on your stomach. Use a pillow under the hips if needed. Tighten your stomach muscles. Keep your toes on the floor/bed/mat. Straighten your knee without lifting your toes off the ground. Don't twist your back to do this. Activate your glutes to do it. Alternate. You can put your hands under your hip flexors and try to make sure you aren't pulling up or pressing down, but holding steady. Hold for 5 seconds. Repeat 3 sets of 10 per leg.

6. Stabilization heel slide: On your back as in #1 and #2. Hold your back in neutral arch. Place your hands on your lower abs and hips to help you pay attention to stability - they should remain steady throughout. Activate your lower abs as before. Slide one foot out until the leg is straight. Return slowly to starting position. Repeat with other leg. You should remain steady during the slide and during the transition. Your back should stay neutral at all times. If you have a pressure cuff under it, the pressure should not change. Repeat 2 sets of 20.

7. Superman: On all fours as described above, raise one arm, keeping the same neutral arch in your back throughout, and keeping your hips/pelvis stable. You are tightening your abs prior to lifting the arm. Return to neutral and repeat with opposite arm, again, staying steady. Repeat 2 x 20, hold for 5 seconds.

8. Elastic Band Hands Up Squats: Hold an elastic band attached to something around the same height as max arm extension upward. Extend your arms upward and slightly forward. The band should be tight. Keep your back straight and your abs tight and your head up. Use your glutes as you do a full squat. You should not feel it in your back if you're doing it properly. Repeat 2 x 20.

10. Superman #2: You're sliding your leg back instead of raising your arm, again staying steady and keeping your back in neutral. Once you progress enough, you're sliding your leg back with your glutes and raising it with your glutes (these actions can be separated into separate exercises as you progress), as in a running motion, but on all fours and keeping the leg straight. Hands are on the floor for this one. Hold for 5 seconds, 2 x 25.

11. Superman #3 (Bird dogs): Once that progresses far enough, you're going to start raising opposite arm and leg at the same time. Instead of raising the arm by reaching forward, you can swing it back in a running motion (bent elbow, hand swinging toward the hip, then back down). This helps you get used to keeping your back neutral and using your lower abs and your glutes while carrying through the running motion. Eventually it can progress to the same arm and same leg simultaneously, but that is quite challenging and I'm not at that point yet. You can also do this while lying with a swiss ball under your stomach, and to make it harder you can place one arm behind your back while raising the same arm/same leg.

12. Clamshells: Full extension without rotating your back/pelvis/hips, using your glutes for extension. Hold for 5 seconds at the end of the range. 2 x 25.

13. Extension: Continuation of #5. Lying on your stomach, squeeze your glutes to induce a pelvic tilt. Keep the hips pressed to the floor and actively bring your heel toward your butt until you feel a stretch at the front of the thigh/hip. Hold for 5 seconds, 2 x 20.

14. Side Plank: Slide your top leg back a little while maintaining normal side plank position and not rotating your back or hips/pelvis. This will force you to use your lower glute in addition to your obliques, etc.

15. Back Bridge: Have an elastic band around your mid-thighs. Keeping your knees hip width apart, lift your hips straight up. Keeping your hips level, hold for 10 seconds, then lower slowly. Repeat 20-30 times.

16. A-skips: Standing on a stair or raised platform on one leg with the other leg in the air hold yourself steady through the hips/pelvis, use your glute on the leg you're standing on to hold you steady, keep your back in neutral position, swing your leg up to the top of the running motion, then down, through the landing, then back up, continuously. 2-3 x 20-25 per side.

17. A-Skips: Standing on a bosu ball, do the same as above, but rather than continuously you won't be able to swing through the bosu so come back down but do not touch, then raise again. You can do this on both sides of the bosu. Make sure your hips aren't on an angle, but are steady as they would be while running. As you do these and the previous ones you should feel your glute max on the support side holding you up. If you feel your lower back doing that, you're not doing it properly. 2-3 x 20-25 per side.

18. Bosu Lunge Plyos: Place the bosu against the wall. At approximately lunge distance from the bosu, lunge one foot onto the bosu, then quickly back onto the other foot. You're doing this quickly and explosively. Make sure you keep your upper body relaxed and upright. This is to work on gluteus medius. 2-3 x 20 per side.

19. Swiss Ball: Sit on the ball. Contract your abs and glutes. Lift one leg off the ball. Swing your arms in a running motion while holding your balance. Use your abs and glutes, not your back, to hold steady. Do this for 10-30 seconds per leg, 2-3 sets. This progresses to kneeling with both knees on the swiss ball, then standing on the swiss ball.

20. A-Skips: Use an elastic band attached to something, put it around your thigh above your knee. Make sure you are far enough out that the elastic is stretched. Do A-skips in place, standing on the leg with the band around it, obviously. You should feel your glute activating to help hold you steady because the elastic is pulling on your leg. 2-3 x 20 per side.

good stuff there. thanks for taking the time to write that up.

one key is progression: moving from simple to complex, from isolation to whole body, from easy to moderate to difficult...

from my experience with glute rehab: don't expect overnight results, but if you take the time, with persistence and patience, you can get a world of improvement

glute and hamstring rehab (in that order) really made me a stronger runner, especially on hills