How do you activate your glutes? How can you be sure your glutes are activating?

Great video!

Thanks for sharing!!

TheAviator1997 wrote:

zzzz wrote:

I didn't make the connection at the time, but last fall, I started having some knee instability. A knee would almost feel like it was giving out unexpectedly at times. I got a tip from my GF on knee stability exercises, basically variations of tensing your quad muscles.

Can you explain some of these exercises and what you did to strengthen and begin firing the glute? I've been having tons of issues with random valgus collapse on my right side, which is the side that has a very weak glute compared to the left.

Look up Athlean-x on glute strengthening, especially the one on gluteus medius, where he has you drop your hip down towards the wall on the contralateral side, and lift it with your glute med and SQUEEZE it slowly. It helps tremendously.

George213 wrote:

TheAviator1997 wrote:

Can you explain some of these exercises and what you did to strengthen and begin firing the glute? I've been having tons of issues with random valgus collapse on my right side, which is the side that has a very weak glute compared to the left.

Look up Athlean-x on glute strengthening, especially the one on gluteus medius, where he has you drop your hip down towards the wall on the contralateral side, and lift it with your glute med and SQUEEZE it slowly. It helps tremendously.

There you go.

The people who preach “glute activation” don’t know what they are talking about. With every step you take—walking or running—your glutes activate. The only time you need “glute activation” exercises is if one glute is stronger than the other. Generally speaking what you need for more “activation” is really just better ROM. To get this you should be using foam rollers to work out adhesions and tightness in your quads and glute med/min a few times a day.

The common cause of glutes not firing is tight hip flexors in front, which is caused by too much sitting. The hip should be a two way hinge but if the hip flexors are too tight it can't swing backward very well, causing overstride and locking out glutes. The calves are forced to work overtime. Calves are stabilizing muscles, not the big main power muscles like the glutes and quads.

To feel what it's like for glutes to activate walk around for a minute with your knees locked and your hands on your butt. Looks silly but you can feel them working. Try to make them do that when you run.

1. Sit less. Get a standing desk if you have the option.

2. Do lunges. Keep your butt tucked under you and do lunges where you can feel the stretch in the hip flexors. Keep your pelvis upright like it's a bowl of cereal that you don't want to spill over the front.

Reference Jonathan Beverly's book "Your Best Stride"

I did this so well I think I started using my glutes too much and they were getting too sore. Then I invited my quads back to the party and instant relief. Always be a student of the sport and constantly work to improve your form.

yOu CaNt TeLL mE wHaT tO dO?! wrote:

ihaveaquestion wrote:

Then what is the point of glute activation exercises?

to activate your glutes better

most of the time when talk about activating a specific muscle group it is for 2 reasons. 1) physical therapy to strengthen an area after being immobilized for a period of time(like a cast on a broken leg), or because a muscle imbalance. 2) cosmetic reason like body building. A person wants their glutes to look bigger so they do lifts that isolate or "activate" that area.

Trust me, “your gluts aren’t firing” is a myth like many other myths of all kinds of coaches mainly on YouTube who come to people who run perfectly fine and invent some phrase to to deceive people so they can prescribe for them all kinds of nonsense. Running is a natural basic thing that all humans do. Exactly like walking. Have you ever heard someone asking for tips about walking form?

There is NO secret that elite runners have and once we’re on that secret (like how to fire the gluts while running) immediately we’ll all be running like Bekele and Kipchoge. If you feel comfortable while running, that means everything works fine- including the gluts. The biggest scam by the way, is pose-running.

But as I said before if you do squats, deadlifts and hip thrusts plus sprints at least twice a week and also plyometrics will give you incredible boost

Short hill sprints are also great. Feel the muscles working.

bartholomew_maxwell wrote:

Train like Mattie Rogers:

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-pzSkPB1gY/

Why doesn't she extend her legs all the way up?

Your glutes will activate if you have good form. There is nothing else to it. That doesn't mean lifting or other work isn't good.

+1

Ggggg wrote:

The biggest scam by the way, is pose-running.

Yessssssss

If your glutes didnt activate you couldnt walk, much less run.

It's just yet again some physical therapy modalities used by personal trainers to make money.

Runners tend to have highly developed glutes.

Alan

George213 wrote:

There you go.

]

Outstanding! Those are some fantastic exercises; I tried them and can already feel how they're going to help. Thanks a lot, man!

"Glute activation" is an example of the fallacy of rationalism, i.e. a concept dreamed up is one's head that is not anchored to reality. Either there is no such thing, or the term is redundant since it it impossible to ambulate without activating the glutes. The idea that you can improve performance by focusing on the glutes to make them more "active" is bullsh!t. You might well improve performance by making them stronger or better conditioned, but that can be achieved by simple weight training and running, and the glutes neither need nor deserve any more attention than any other propulsive muscle. Any time you hear a coach, trainer, or internet "expert" mention "glute activation," realize you're dealing with an idiot .

The problem is that some of spend 20-30 years running with great success and then suddenly we can't go 15 GD minutes with a calf cramp. or a hamstring spasm, or knee pain. You say that elites don't have any secrets that we don't, except for the fact that they have access to massage and physical therapy that they use all the time.

Running might be a natural activity but aging, body type, and the demands of everyday life (driving, sitting, etc.) can make that natural activity pretty damn hard. You can say glute activation and other keys used by PT folk are all BS, but I can tell you it works for a lot of people. I personally became a believer when my PT put a needle in my ass, ran some current through there, and the calf cramping I'd had for literally three years vanished in two weeks. But you do you.

To the OP, run like you're trying to pinch a penny in your buttcheeks and see if that helps.

Another easy exercise is to put a band around your legs just above your knees and side step one direction around 15 reps then back again. You can also do partial squats with that same band in place, pushing knees slightly apart. Worked like a charm for that mysterious pain I had on the inner aspect of my knee.

Twerking.