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8 Glute Activation Exercises (Improve Hip Stability)

8 Glute Activation Exercises (Improve Hip Stability)

by | Jun 12, 2022 | Blog, Butt, Core, Exercises, Push Ups

If you want to help prevent lower back, hip or knee pain and improve your lifting, running and riding, you need to include glute activation in your workout routine.

Glute activation exercises are movement generally done with little to no weight and for higher reps (15-25). They are isolation exercises meant to really target the glutes so you can feel them working before you even go into your compound exercises.

And you want to use these moves to strengthen all of actions the glute muscles perform – from abduction to extension to external rotation and even hip hyperextension.

That’s why I wanted to share 8 glute activation moves you can do with minimal equipment in a wide range of postures and positions. These moves will help you truly build functional strong glutes to improve your hip stability!

(Video demoing all moves below this 👇)

1: 3-Way Standing Hip Circles

Everything is connected. If you want better glute engagement, you can’t ignore your feet and ankles. And if you want better balance and foot and ankle stability, you can’t ignore your glutes!

That’s why standing moves like the 3-Way Standing Hip Circles are so key to include. They work on improving your balance while activating your glutes.

And with this move, you’ll activate your glute max with the hip extension kicking back, your glute medius with the abduction or knee raised out to the side and even your abs with the knee tuck in and forward.

Make sure to move slowly as you cycle through those moves while focusing on your other foot’s connection to the ground.

And do not lean or rock away to increase the range of motion. Focus on those glutes really working to lift the leg and your abs working to pull the knee in!

2: Hip Airplanes

When working on glute activation, we want to address all joint actions this muscle group contributes to, which is why I love to use Hip Airplanes.

This standing glute move will improve that balance and hip stability while helping you learn to engage the glutes to stabilize as you work through internal and external rotation – targeting all three gluteal muscles (the maximus, medius and minimus)

While you can do this move without your hands on a chair or box, I like to add in that little stabilizing element to start so you can work through a full range of motion.

Really focus on rotating from the hip, feeling your glute work over just allowing your spine to twist. You will not get the full benefit if you don’t focus on that rotation going from your head to your raise foot.

You want to rotate open from your standing leg fully, then rotate back closed toward that standing leg, even dropping the hip of the raised leg toward the ground.

Make sure as you do rotate, your standing foot is firmly pressed fully into the ground and you do not rock out on your foot.

If you have Piriformis issues, be careful with this movement, especially the external rotation.

3: Mini Band Pulse Squats

Many of us have heard the phrase “Squat for a better butt.”

But squats, especially weighted squats, partly because they are a compound movement, really aren’t that great for glute activation. You’re definitely going to feel those quads and adductors even as well.

However, how much we target and activate a muscle is also based on the range of motion and equipment we use with that movement.

By changing the full squat to a pulse squat while adding a band, we can make the squat an amazing glute focused movement that creates metabolic stress so you really feel that pump in those glutes to establish that mind-body connection.

When you do this move, you can add loads, but start with the mini band right below or above your knees. You want the band just above or below your knees to use it to help you really focus on pressing out to activate your glute medius. This will improve your hip stability and actually better activate your glute max as well.

You then want to make sure you’re sitting back as you pulse right around parallel while sitting in that squat. Stay controlled and make sure you’re heels are firmly pressed down into the ground without rocking back.

To modify you can do this move holding on to a suspension trainer or even hovering over a bench!

4: Bench 2-Way Leg Raises

Often with glute activation, we think we have to get down on the ground to do it. And while quadruped moves are an amazing way to target and activate those glutes, you can easily modify all of those movements off a bench if you need extra padding on your knees or simple don’t want to get down on the ground.

And the added bonus of using a bench is that you can even increase the range of motion you work through on many moves because your knee is raised off the ground.

That’s why I love Bench 2-Way Leg Raises. You can work your glutes through both hip extension and abduction and a larger range of motion.

When you do this move, make sure not to bend your arms or lean away. You want to even feel the glute medius or side butt on that leg that is down stabilizing your body as you lift the other leg to work.

Focus on even almost trying to stop the movement with your glute instead of just swinging the leg up higher. Focus on feeling that glute on that kickback stop the leg at about parallel to the ground. Do not arch your lower back to kick up higher. And really feel the side of your butt on that lateral raise. Do not rotate your toe open toward the ceiling as you raise.

To add a bit of progression to this movement, you can even wear ankle weights. But focus more on that mind-body connection over adding loads!

5: Lying Jacks

Often when we include abduction movements or lateral raise movements to work our glute medius, we are standing or seated. But by doing this abduction movement lying down, we can work our glutes while in hip hyperextension even.

We have to remember that by changing the degree of hip flexion involved in the abduction movement we can target different portions of the glute medius, addressing more anterior or posterior fibers!

We will also work our glute max to maintain the reverse hyper position.

When you do this move, you want to focus on pressing out against the band while not just rotating your toes out and open.

You also want to think about your glutes holding your legs up as you press your hips down. Be very conscious you aren’t feeling your lower back compensate to raise your legs up higher!

If you feel your lower back taking over, try a Y Reverse Hyper instead of holding the position as you perform the abduction.

6: Side Plank Clams

Planks are a great core move that you can use to also target your glutes, side planks especially. And often the side plank with leg raise is the one you see being used.

But that move is not only far more advanced than we give it credit for, it also often will lead to fatigue of the muscle over simply helping us prep the muscle for more work.

That’s why I like the side plank clam variation. It can also include more external rotation or be a straight abduction move based on your foot positioning.

However, like the basic clam it is also often misused. Make sure you don’t let your TFL compensate by turning your top toe down toward the ground. And make sure as you lift you drive your hips forward.

If you did want to remove the external rotation, say if you have Piriformis issues, you could actually lift the top leg straight up during the movement, keeping the knee bent, over keeping the foot down which will force external rotation.

Both can be great variations to include and you may alternate which you used based on what you’re trying to target!

Just make sure that, while you’re focusing on the side of your butt, you keep your elbow stacked under your shoulder and your back engaged to support it. You want this move to benefit your entire core, including those obliques as well!

7: Figure 4 Glides

It can be easy to cheat with moves when we struggle to activate a muscle correctly. We call on other muscles to not only assist but we will seek out mobility from other joints. Often with lateral raise movements we will even try to swing the leg up higher as we lean away.

That’s why I love the Figure 4 move, especially with these glides.

This is a very small movement and can allow you to easily focus on that glute working. It can be easy also to feel yourself trying to cheat because you are holding in this raised position as you allow that leg to glide forward and backward.

It also engages the glute medius through hip flexion and extension.

Focus on sitting up nice and tall as you raise that leg on the side up. Think about keeping it level as you allow it to glide forward and backward slowly. You can even watch it to stay conscious of what is working.

And if you really struggle with wanting to lean away, you can put your shoulder against a wall as you set up.

But because you’re holding this position, do that easy assessment every once in awhile to make sure you aren’t leaning away!

8: 80/20 Glute Bridges

Often injuries and aches and pains aren’t just due to weakness but also an imbalance between sides and muscles. That means that often we need to do imbalance prehab, working only one side and even doing more reps on that side.

That’s why unilateral or single sided movements are key.

It’s why most of the moves included here are unilateral. However, unilateral moves can also be super challenging and serve as advancements for bilateral exercises as they add more instability and require to move the load or your own bodyweight with only one side.

That’s why I love these 80/20 Glute Bridges though. They force each side to work more but add in the assistance of your other leg to help you focus on the glutes working.

If you’ve struggled with the single leg glute bridge and feel your hamstrings compensating or lower back engaging in that movement, you can try this 80/20 variation to get that same benefit but with a move you can truly control.

Sometimes we need to regress to progress.

Make sure with this move that you stagger one foot out further so the foot that is closer in does 80% of the work. And then focus on that posterior pelvic tilt as you bridge, driving your knee toward your toe as you press up so you get your glute to power the movement over your hamstrings compensating.

SUMMARY:

Now how do you include these moves in your routine? The great part is there are a ton of different ways! But you want to probably only pick 1-3 to include as your activation in your warm ups for just 1-2 rounds. 15-25 reps or even about 30 seconds per move is often good.

The goal isn’t to fatigue your glutes but simply feel them start to work and establish that mind-body connection before your full workout.

If you are using them simply as a prehab routine, you may add another move or two on and do 3 rounds instead!

Need more glute activation series? Check out my Booty Burners…

–> The Booty Burner Challenge

FHP 423 – Can You Give More?

FHP 423 – Can You Give More?

by | Jun 7, 2022 | podcast

Raise your hand as high as you can.

Go ahead…do it right now.

Now raise your hand higher….

You did didn’t you?

Funny how I told you to raise your hand as high as you can and yet you could still raise it higher when I said to….

Funny how it didn’t take really much more effort to raise it a bit higher either….

Why do I mention all of this?

Because A. Often we don’t realize we can give more until we are asked to.

And B. So often we don’t necessarily do everything we can even though those little tweaks, doing just a little bit more, doesn’t take much more effort.

It isn’t that we are lazy either. Or that we don’t care or want to give our all.

We do. 

But I think sometimes we just don’t realize how much we are truly capable of. We don’t realize the little bit more we can get out of things with just a very small bit of extra effort.

Sometimes we need that extra outside push.

That outside perspective.

We need to be shown that our limiting beliefs are false and that more is possible.

Heck sometimes we just even need someone making us aware that this could be happening like I have done right now asking you to raise your hand.

But how can you do this on a continual basis?

How can you not let yourself “get away with things” and be held back by your first impression of your attempt at something?

I wanted to share 3 ways to reflect on your effort and always get a little bit more out of yourself…

1: Simply ask yourself, is this really all I can do?

Often we don’t question if we are giving our all. We simply FEEL like we are and go with it. But always question yourself. Believe you can always push your boundaries.

This isn’t telling yourself that you aren’t doing enough, it is simply believing that as you learn and as you work through things you are then possible of MORE than you believed to start.

As things become habit, we can often get even more out of them. As you improve your running, you can push the pace, go a bit longer.

But the key is ASKING OURSELVES TO! We need to be able to question our own limits and do it often. Maybe each week reflect on your habits, rate yourself and your implementation. Set a goal of doing something to improve the next week!

2: Look for extra small tweaks. Think oil on the machine not adding another cog to it.

Often we look for a part to ADD when we think about doing more, improving something. But that’s like adding a cog to a machine where no cog is needed. It could just be pointless, it could end up breaking the machine or it could simply make something more complicated than necessary to operate.

Instead we want to think about changes as adding oil to a machine that could function a bit more smoothly. That maybe is getting squeaky.

When you make changes, when you look at where you could do more, think about where you could oil your well laid out plan. What is something small you could do to make what you’re already doing easier, more efficient, produce a better result without really adding more to your plate?

3: Don’t be afraid to set STRETCH goals.

So I like to set goals that are realistic. It’s super disheartening if you always set super aggressive goals and never reach them. 

However, I like to have a realistic goal for each week, each month, each year but also what I consider a STRETCH goal.

And I often use these on short term goals strategically when first making a change. 

These goals are a little extra aggressive and asking a little more out of myself than I sort of believe is possible.

They’re doable, but asking me to find that extra reach out of raising my hand.

And I set them knowing I may not hit them but that in seeking to, I’ll move beyond the basic goal outlined. And I do set a prize for myself if I reach them. I mean, I’m competitive and know that so set something that makes it feel extra like winning.

But don’t be afraid to challenge yourself with a stretch goal and call it that. Sometimes we have to ask more of ourselves to get ourselves to crush the true goal we want to accomplish.

Too often we end up just planning to hit the basic goal falling short when if we plan to go beyond it we truly succeed at hitting what we initially wanted!

And I don’t know about you, but the “doubts” especially if I even write down my own, add a little chip to my shoulder making me want to achieve it even more!

SUMMARY:

Sometimes we have to force ourselves to question whether or not we are truly giving something our all. We have to be willing to test our own boundaries.

And while it can be helpful to have that outside perspective and push, you can be there to support yourself using these 3 tips!

Can’t Get Down On The Ground? Try These Core Exercises!

Can’t Get Down On The Ground? Try These Core Exercises!

by | Jun 5, 2022 | Blog, Core, Exercises

Whether we want to simply mix things up, or it’s due to injury or health concerns, there are reasons why floor core work may not be right for us. But that doesn’t mean we don’t want to, or can’t, train hard and really challenge our core from all angles.

And actually there are a ton of core exercises that don’t require us to get down on the ground that are extremely beneficial even if we can do floor core work!

We can use non-floor core moves to work everything from our shoulders to our knees down our frontside and our backside.

We can literally work our entire core with a variety of tools and both rotational and anti-rotational moves.

And these 3 moves are a great way to work everything without getting down on the ground no matter your fitness level.

But first I do just want to mention the importance of that mind-body connection and being intentional with these moves.

If you just rush through these movements without focusing on what you feel working, you will not get the full benefit.

Focus on the push and pull of muscles. Focus on powering rotation and decelerating the movement. Focus on fighting rotation.

Really focus on what you feel working.

And if you feel your lower back taking over during any of these moves, do not be afraid to regress to progress.

Too often we just DO moves, we train harder, without focusing on what is actually working.

This is what perpetuates overload and injury. It’s what can make us super frustrated we aren’t seeing results while working really hard.

It’s because it’s not just enough to work hard and sweat and feel tired.

We do not want to waste effort!

So really focus on what you feel working and don’t get ego in advancing too quickly.

If you don’t feel your abs or obliques or glutes working, but instead your lower back, it’s time to step back or even change how you cue the move to yourself!

So what are the 3 amazing non-floor core moves to really target those abs, obliques, glutes, quads and even back?

 

3 Killer Core Moves You Don’t Need To Get Down On The Ground To Do….

#1: Rotational Swing

Standing core moves are a great option if you can’t get down on the ground. And you can do some amazing rotational exercises while standing to target those abs, obliques and even your glutes.

Rotational moves, like the rotational swing, are key to include because you aren’t just learning how to accelerate rotation but also DECELERATE and stop it.

It’s key we learn how to control rotation so that we avoid injury in everyday life and can prevent unwanted twisting through our spine.

The Rotational Swing is a great variation of that traditional hip hinge that targets the abs and obliques even more while still working the glutes and training that hip hinge movement pattern.

To do the Rotational Swing, you can use a Dumbbell or Kettlebell. Hold the weight in both hands while standing tall with your feet about hip-width apart.

Hinge at your hips to hike the weight back between your legs to start the swing.

Squeeze your glutes as you push the ground away and stand up tall, swinging the weight out in front of you.

Do not pull the weight forward with your arms. Use the glute drive to power the swing.

Then as the weight begins to lower back down, hinge at your hips, slightly pulling the weight outside one hip.

Rotate your torso slightly to allow the weight to swing outside one hip. Sit your butt back as you hinge over to swing the weight back. Make sure you do NOT round over as you hinge back.

After hinging over, swing the weight back and around front and then hinge over again as the weight swings back outside your other hip.

Make sure to squeeze your glutes and push the ground away each time you stand up to propel the weight up and over to the other side.

As you allow the weight to come back outside your hip, make sure to hinge over really sitting your butt back to load your glutes. Brace your abs to avoid twisting further than you need to just come outside your hip and do not let your spine round.

Move quickly with this swing starting light to make sure you can control the weight!

You may start with even a band version of this swing to help you learn to load those glutes and rotate to twist the weight outside your hips. This will apply resistance in a different way but require less control to decelerate the rotation.

#2: Bench V-Ups

Often when we can’t get down to the ground we feel stuck with only standing core moves. And while they are fabulous, we can still do lying and seated core work by using a bench!

So often we forget that we can use other tools to make it easy to lie down and even do seated exercises!

Not to mention using a bench can be a great way to progress and vary the range of motion we can work through to match our needs and goals.

Even if you can get down on the ground, the Bench V-Up is a killer core exercise that allows you to extend that range of motion you would use doing it off the ground.

This exercise is a great ab, hip and quad movement. Just make sure you slightly round your spine using the c-sit or creating a c curve so you aren’t just relying on your hip flexors.

While any ab exercise that uses hip flexion will engage those hip flexors, we want to make sure our abs are working to brace!

To do this move, sit on the front edge of your bench with your legs out straight in front of you and lean back to rest your hands on the bench behind you. You can place your hands over the back edge of the bench with your elbows bent to just slightly support and balance you.

As you lean back, slightly tuck your hips up toward your ribs and lift your heels just off the ground.

Then sit up forward as you lift your legs straight up toward the ceiling. You can use your hands to balance but try not to push off of them too much.

Think about pulling everything together with your abs, crunching your torso up as you lift your legs.

Then lean back and lower your legs so that your heels over just off the ground. Move at a controlled pace and focus on feeling those abs.

If you feel your lower back, you need to modify the movement.

The more you lean back and really use that extended range of motion, the harder this move will be.

To modify, you can do a single leg raise, even bending your knee or start by taking the lower body out of it completely to work on just that hinge back and the ab engagement to control that spinal flexion and c-sit movement!

#3: Anti-Rotational Overhead Press

One essential standing core move, that’s extremely popular, is the Pallof Press or stability press.

This is a great anti-rotational core move.

Anti-Rotational core work is so key so we have that stability and strength to avoid unwanted or unnecessary rotation during movement.

It helps us protect our spine and hips especially. But it can also help us improve our SHOULDER health.

And that’s why I love this overhead press variation of the stability press.

This move is a great way to target those obliques and abs while also working your glute medius, back and shoulders.

To do the Anti-Rotational Overhead Press, anchor a band to the side of you below your waist.

Walk away from the anchor point, holding the band in both hands up at the middle of your chest with your side to the anchor point. You want to feel the band trying to pull you to rotate toward the anchor point with your hands at your chest and feet about hip-width apart.

The wider your feet, the more support you’ll have so by narrowing your stance, you can make the move harder. But only do so if you can actually control the move and fight the rotation.

Engage your abs and obliques as well as upper back to unshrug your shoulders and press your chest out. Flex your quads and squeeze your glutes so you fight the urge to rotate.

Keeping everything engaged, slowly press up overhead without rotating. Then lower back down and repeat.

Move slowly to avoid rotating toward the anchor point as you extend your arms up overhead and bring them back down.

If you want to rotate toward that anchor point, go with a lighter band or move in slightly. You want tension in the band throughout the movement BUT can adjust how much it forces you to work by how far out you step.

You can also make the move harder by bringing your feet closer together for less of a base of support.

If you struggle with the proper thoracic extension to press overhead, you can also perform a chest press straight out instead!

SUMMARY:

Using these 3 moves you can really work your entire core using different planes of motion without getting down on the ground.

You can even combine these moves into a quick burner, performing 30 seconds of work per move or per side for a couple of rounds!

Want more amazing moves and workouts? Follow me on Instagram!

And shoot me a message to let me know what goals you’re working toward. I’d love to help!

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