Why train your glutes?
Some years back before I became a personal trainer I was struggling my way up a rather steep hill with my now-husband. He was then, what I refer to as one of those annoying ‘natural runners’ – the type that springs along almost floating in the air like a newborn gazelle. In an attempt, he claimed, to encourage me he said that I should play to my strengths and use my backside to power my way up….”After all, you are more carthorse than racehorse”. My immediate response was annoyance obviously, how dare he make such an unflattering analogy, but then as I started to run on I thought about it and realised he might have a point. I have always been bottom-heavy – something I am at ease with and actually have come to appreciate – I think of it as my powerhouse and my best tool in preventing injury, ensuring I can stay strong.
The glutes are the largest and most powerful muscle in the body and are essential for all functional movement. They help you lift heavier, jump higher, sprint faster, swing harder, and prevent a multitude of injuries associated with your lower back, knees, and hips. If you fail to train your glutes properly (and I am not just talking squats and deadlifts) you risk other muscle groups overcompensating for the glute weakness and potentially causing injuries and inhibiting strength gains.
ANATOMY OF YOUR GLUTES
There are 3 muscles in each butt cheek – the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and the gluteus minimus all of which perform specific functions. It is important to create balance but it is sometimes quite challenging to target the smaller muscles of the glute medius and minimus or to know which are being recruited during a specific movement so it is better to simply learn a range of exercises that can challenge the glutes as a whole. Not all exercises need to be fully loaded, in order to improve the mind-muscle connection performing activation exercises alongside loaded exercises is a useful training tool to ultimately making glute gains. Performing lateral band walks, frog glute thrusts, side-lying hip abductions, and making subtle changes to positions can be extremely beneficial.
FUNCTION OF THE GLUTES
In brief, the glutes provide stability for the lower limbs and the trunk. They are critical in maintaining hip and pelvic stability and as such weak glutes can result in postural issues and more importantly pain particularly in the lower back, knees, and hips.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR GLUTES?
There are a few elements to optimal glute training. If you have tight/ shortened hip flexors they will inhibit the glutes so using a foam roller to release the hip flexors and stretching them in a dynamic way should be a key element of any warm-up. Once completed activation via band work/ bodyweight glute thrusts, donkey kicks from all 4s position, fire hydrants can all be used to get the muscles ‘switched on’. Many people perform exercises without actually fully activating the glutes, bearing load during squats for example, in the back, as a prime example. By all means perform deadlifts, squats, lunges as all recruit the glutes but increasing evidence suggests that targeted exercises such as glute thrusts that enable end-range hip extension are better at increasing glute strength than the exercises mentioned above.
MY OWN EXPERIENCE
Due to my own physiology, I have always had an interest in making my butt work for me. It forms a significant part of my physique and as the largest muscle in my body, I know that working it hard will result in greater calorie burn when I’m not training (EPOC*/ afterburn). As a result of my rowing and more recently Pilates training I have long believed core and glute strength are of paramount importance to maintaining a strong and injury-free body. I like to test theories out and have been working specifically on my glute strength for the past couple of months. During this time I have added glute thrusts/ single-leg squats and a lot of band work to my training and as a result, I have noticed an improvement in my deadlifting/ squatting and running speed. Every year I like to have a training goal, this year it was a single leg or pistol squats – something I previously found impossible. I am 4 weeks into my latest training programme and am happily able to do 3 sets of 10 on each leg, the only thing I have altered is glute specific exercises. The carthorse appears to still be going strong, whilst the gazelle I mentioned earlier is slightly lame with knee and hip injuries! Perhaps my husband should have listened to his own advice all those years ago….just saying!
Brooke x
*EPOC - effectively burns more calories at rest so it is very effective for weight management/loss.