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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

Hate Step Ups? Try this move instead!

Hate Step Ups? Try this move instead!

by | May 9, 2022 | Blog, Bodyweight, Butt, Exercises, Functional Fitness

Not every variation of every move is going to be right for you.

Especially if you’ve had injuries in the past you’re rebuilding from.

If you’ve struggled with knee or hip pain, especially on one side, you may want to focus on unilateral moves.

Unilateral, or one sided moves, can help you correct imbalances while making sure that your stronger side isn’t taking over and compensating.

They can allow you to rebuild that weaker side while also avoiding overloading the weaker side by doing a move that your weaker side can’t keep up on.

But what if you’re including unilateral moves like the step up and they are still a struggle? What if you want to target your glutes more because you tend to be quad dominant?

Well then this variation is exactly what you need…

THE STEP DOWN!

Sometimes it is small tweaks to moves that really add up. These adjustments can help us target specific muscles more and work better with our builds and current mind-body connection.

With the Step Down, this top down approach, can help you better focus on the hip hinge and only work through the range of motion you can truly control.

It is a great way to focus more on your glutes than your quads.

And you can really limit the range of motion to exactly what you can control without being able to cheat and push off your other foot.

It can also work well if you don’t have a range of box heights because you are so in control of how far you lower down.

So how do you do this great step up variation to improve your balance and target your glutes more?

How To Do The Step Down:

To do this move, start standing on top of a box to one side of the box. You want to place the opposite foot from the side you’re standing closest to close to the edge so the foot on that same side can actually hang off the box.

Press that foot on the edge into the box. This can help you better balance as you lower down, especially if you struggle.

Make sure you push the foot on top of the box solidly down into the box. Too often we don’t focus on that foundation to help us better activate muscles up our leg and even improve our stability.

Think of your foot as a tripod and push the two points in the ball of your foot and one in your heel down into the box.

Then begin to push your butt back. You want to start by hinging at the hips as you then bend your knee to lower your foot off the box to the ground. Do not be afraid to slightly lean forward as you lower.

You do not want to round your spine as you hinge.

Lower down only as far as you can control.

If you can lightly graze your toe on the ground, great. BUT you don’t want any weight to shift to the foot lowering down if it does touch the ground.

You will then drive back up to standing off the foot on top of the box. Stand tall at the top and squeeze that standing glute before repeating the move.

You can increase the height of the box as needed or even lower only half way down on the box if needed to start.

But you want to lower down only as far as you can control.

Because of the hip hinge with this movement over the traditional step up, you will be able to target your glutes more while still working your quads and hamstrings.

Make sure as you do this move, your knee stays in line with your hip and ankle. You do not want your knee caving in or bowing out.

Part of keeping everything in line relates back to you also focusing on that foot. Push through the entire foot and be conscious if you do feel yourself starting to rock in or out.

Modifications:

To modify this move, you may start with a smaller range of motion and increase as you build up. You can even start standing on a plate weight or only lower a few inches down on a taller box if that is what you have.

You can also create a balance assist by holding on to a pole or suspension trainer in front of you.

If you really struggle with your knee caving in, to help you better activate that glute medius to stabilize the hip and knee, you can also anchor a very light band to the opposite side of your standing leg and put it around your leg.

This gives you tension to push out against to activate the glute medius or that side butt muscle that stabilizes your hip and will improve that knee alignment. Just go light so you have that reminder but it doesn’t pull you into an incorrect position.

To advance the step down, you can hold a weight in close at your chest or even increase the height of the box to increase the range of motion.

Using This Move:

This is a great unilateral accessory exercise to include and most often will be done for 10-20 reps, although if you are adding loads you may find you do try to create a challenge at 8 reps.

Use it for higher reps if you are just starting out and doing more bodyweight based training!

Ready to design workouts AND dial in your nutrition to match YOUR needs and goals?

Check out my SIMPLE recipe for results…

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The Most Underrated Dumbbell Glute Exercise

The Most Underrated Dumbbell Glute Exercise

by | Jan 16, 2022 | Blog, Butt, Exercises, Functional Fitness

I’ve never been a fan of the whole squat for a better butt thing. I think squats are honestly overrated as a glute move, but that’s a video for another day.

And while I do think you need a diversity of movements to really get the best results for any muscle group, I wanted to share one of my favorite dumbbell glute exercises that I think is often forgotten about and overlooked.

It’s the Dumbbell Skier Swing.

The kettlebell swing is an amazing hip hinge exercise to work on that explosive glute power or even your strength endurance based on how you implement it.

It’s not only a great move to improve your conditioning but also your strength.

But if we don’t have a kettlebell, we often then don’t think about utilizing this amazing move.

That’s why I wanted to share a great way to use dumbbells to perform a swing and include this great move in your routine!

However I do just want to mention, before breaking down this movement, how key it is we learn to hip hinge correctly first.

Often swings are blamed for lower back pain. And while swings are NOT bad for your back, they do require core control and proper recruitment patterns during hip hinging to make sure they don’t result in overload or injury.

Because of the fact that they are a more explosive, faster paced movement, you do want to make sure you can properly load those glutes and hamstrings and brace your abs during hip hinging before you included this exercise.

Remember that when you are performing a hip hinge, you are NOT simply leaning forward.

The hinge should be initiated by sitting your butt back as if reaching your butt back toward a wall behind you.

And then, while your knees may soften, you aren’t focused on active knee flexion. You do not want to turn this into a squat.

Feel those glutes and hamstrings load and avoid arching your lower back in an attempt to keep your chest up. Brace your abs and think a nice neutral back.

Focus on this hip hinge as you introduce the swing and do not let your arms try to take over or the speed cause you to shift your weight forward so you aren’t properly loading your posterior chain.

How Do You Do The Dumbbell Skier Swing?

To do Dumbbell Skier Swings, stand with your feet about hip-width apart. Hold a dumbbell in each hand down by your sides.

Start by slightly swinging your arms back toward the wall behind you. As you do, hinge over in response to help balance and build up that spring to propel the weights forward as you stand up.

You will lean forward as you push your butt back to swing the weights up outside your hips. You are leaning forward only in response to help counterbalance your weight.

As you hinge over, your knees should be soft. Focus on pushing your butt back, but not on squatting down.

Then drive the ground away as you squeeze your glutes to explosively come back up to standing, propelling the weights forward and up.

Focus on that exhale as you propel the weights up to further help you brace your abs.

Straighten your legs as you stand tall at the top, squeezing your glutes to extend your hips. Watch your urge to lean back at the top as this can load your lower back.

Let the weights swing up propelled by your legs. Do not try to pull them up higher with your arms. They may come to shoulder height or slightly below but do not focus on the height.

To protect your back and control the move, be patient and wait for the weights to come back down and force you to hinge back over and sit your butt back.

You do not want to hinge over before the weights truly lower down as this can cause overload of your lower back.

As you hinge back over with the weights swinging back outside your hips, your torso will lean forward to counterbalance.

Think about being explosive with each drive back up to standing to propel those weights up as you are patient with the hinge back over to reload. You aren’t slowing the weights down with your arms, you just are only hinging over in response to the weights.

If you’re struggling with the explosive hip hinge and controlling both weights, you may start with a single dumbbell even held between your legs in both hands. This will more closely mimic the basic kettlebell swing.

Using two dumbbells in this skier style swing can be a great way to go heavier though if limited by the weights you have especially.

If you find you struggle with loading your glutes and the weights get too far away from your body causing your lower back to become overloaded as you hinge, you can also start with a Band Hip Hinge.

This move is a great way to learn how to explosively perform the hip hinge while really targeting those glutes.

The pull of the band backward will also help you control that hip hinge to load your glutes while teaching you to truly sit back!

SUMMARY:

If you’ve been looking for a great strength and conditioning move to target those glutes, and even your hamstrings, but don’t have a kettlebell, give this Dumbbell Skier Swing a try!

Just remember to focus on what you feel working so you get the full benefit of every exercise you include!

Learn to train according to YOUR needs and goals.

Book a call to learn how Redefining Strength can help you dial in your workouts and your nutrition for better results faster…

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the Most Underrated Glute Exercise

the Most Underrated Glute Exercise

by | May 12, 2021 | Blog, Bodyweight, Butt, Core, Exercises, Pain Relief, Warm Up

The stronger your mind-body connection is?

The more you can lift, the faster you can run and the further you can cycle!

Basically the STRONGER YOU ARE!

Strength is not just about brute force but also about neuromuscular efficiency – how quickly can you recruit the CORRECT muscles to perform a movement and produce force.

That’s why it is key we include exercises to really improve that mind-body connection and make sure we are able to engage the correct muscles whenever we need.

Because as much as we focus on form, proper form does NOT always mean you’re engaging the correct muscles.

Actually often the more experienced a lifter you are and the more athletic you are, the more you can mimic a proper looking movement pattern while compensating and recruiting the incorrect muscles to do so.

This can not only result in injury but often holds us back from lifting as much as we truly can.

It prevents us from being as strong as possible because we aren’t using muscles efficiently together. We aren’t making the correct muscles pull their own weight.

That’s why you need to include some isolation moves to activate those underactive muscles and make sure you’re engaging the correct muscles at the proper times.

One muscle that often needs to be the focus of our activation work is our GLUTES.

Our glutes are commonly underactive due to our modern lifestyle.

So focused activation work can help us improve our mind-body connection to better recruit our glutes during compound lifts and when we run or cycle.

One of my favorite moves, and a very basic and often underutilized move, is the Single Leg Bent-Knee Reverse Hyper.

This move is fundamental if you want to improve your hip extension and focus on isolating those glutes.

And it’s a really great way to test if your hamstrings tend to want to take over and compensate for your glutes.

Often our hamstrings can become synergistically dominant for underactive glutes and that can result in hamstrings strains, lower back, hip and knee pain.

So if you tend to feel your hamstrings even during moves like glute bridges? You need to give this reverse hyper variation a try.

To first test your glute activation, lie face down on the ground. You can relax your chin on your hands as you straighten both legs out. Then bend one knee to about 90 degrees. Flex that foot. Do not curl the heel in toward your butt as this will engage your hamstrings.

Then drive your heel toward the ceiling and extend your hip.

What do you feel firing first? Do you feel your hamstring first or your glute?

Do you feel both? Or can you just isolate your glute?

If you can just isolate your glute fabulous! Do 15-20 reps and pause at the top to really establish that mind-body connection and even get a little pump going.

If you can’t feel your glutes, try adjusting how you’re cueing and performing the move.

Here are a few tweaks to try.

#1: Focus on driving your hip down into the ground as you drive the heel back so you don’t rotate open. Think about almost pushing your hip bone down into the ground instead of just lifting up.

#2: Think about STOPPING the lift with your glute over just trying to lift up higher. You want to focus on that glute engagement over the movement itself.

#3: Kick just slightly out as you lift. Remember not to curl your heel in toward your butt. Our hamstrings are worked by that knee flexion so avoiding it can help. However, going too straight with your leg can also make it harder for some to focus on their glutes.

#4: Slightly abduct your knee or move it out to the side before you lift. This can better engage the glute medius to help engage that glute max. Just be careful you don’t rotate your hip open. Just slightly move the knee out to the side.

Try one of these tweaks at a time to see what helps. You may even find you need to combine all the cues to get that glute firing without the hamstring trying to take over.

As silly as it may seem, sometimes just changing how we cue ourselves to perform a movement with a very slight adjustment can really help us better establish that mind-body connection when we’ve struggled in the past.

Just don’t rush through the movement. Pause and assess. Be intentional with the exercise over just trying to get through the reps.

Doing the “right moves” without feeling the correct muscles working won’t get you the results you want.

Focus on activating your glutes.

SUMMARY:

Use this underrated glute isolation move as both an activation exercise but also a test of hamstring compensation. It is a great way to make sure your hamstrings aren’t trying to take over and work when your glutes truly should be.

Be conscious of what you feel working during your workouts and do not simply go through the motions.

The more we can truly create proper recruitment patterns and use the correct muscles efficiently and effectively, the stronger we will be.

Sometimes we need to take things back to basics to get results.

We are never above those simple fundamentals!

Working to improve your glute activation?

Check out my Booty Burner Program!

–> LEARN MORE

Build A Strong Core With This Bodyweight Unilateral Core Burner

Build A Strong Core With This Bodyweight Unilateral Core Burner

by | Mar 22, 2018 | Blog, Bodyweight, Butt, Core, Workouts

Building a strong core means getting your abs and glutes firing properly. It means using moves that target your abs and glutes in a way that you can focus on them working before integrating them into more compound moves.

BUT it isn’t just about activating and then integrating.

It is also key that you correct imbalances to make sure your lumbo-pelvic-hip complex is stable and you can prevent compensations and injury!

That is why using some unilateral movements in your core training is so key.

If you’re ready to build a strong, stable core, try this Bodyweight Unilateral Core Burner. It uses 3 simple moves to get your abs, glutes and obliques firing!

The Bodyweight Unilateral Core Burner

This quick workout focused on unilateral moves is just under 15 minutes and can be shortened and used as part of your warm up or even as a burnout to end your workout! Or if you’re short on time, it’s the perfect quick workout to do ANYWHERE!

WORKOUT:

Set a timer for 30 second intervals of work with about 3 seconds to transition from move to move. Do not rest during the 30 seconds of work. Modify if needed to keep moving. Make sure you feel your abs, obliques and glutes working. If your lower back takes over, modify the move. Do not just push through. If you want results, you NEED to get the right muscles working! Complete 2-4 rounds. Beginners may rest up to 30 seconds between rounds.

CIRCUIT:
30 seconds per side Side Plank Clams
30 seconds per side Mountain Climber Turkish Bridge
30 seconds Glute Bridge with March

More advanced exercisers can even sub in the Single Leg Glute Bridge, but this is an advanced move and you don’t want your lower back or hamstrings to take over for your glutes. Moves like the Glute Bridge with March are a great way to get the benefits of a unilateral move without fully having to do a unilateral move!

Ready to build a bulletproof core and get flat abs using just your own bodyweight?

Learn more about my 28 day Core Burner!