5 minute glute activation routine

Recently, I covered the general how-tos of warming up and why it benefits athletes to take extra time to rev up their bodies before tough sessions. This post tags along with those presented concepts. In short, the warmup raises heart rate and body temperature safely to reduce injury risk and system shock from going 0 to 100 in quick succession.

Warmups also activated certain muscle groups that may otherwise stay sleepy and cause overcompensation elsewhere. The gluteal muscles are a common region of complaint for runners, and I have personal experience with lackadaisical glutes that don’t fire properly and hence disrupt my efficiency and catalyze niggles in other parts of my kinetic chain. Weak glutes means less power in the leg drive and, hence, less speed.

The gluteus maximus drives hip extension and helps stabilize the pelvis during movement. The gluteus medius (side butt) and minimus rotated the leg away from the midline (abduction). Goes without saying, then, that deficiencies in any of these muscles compromises some stage of motion, forcing muscles less equipped for the job to take over the star roles and potentially open a runner up for severe overuse injuries. One of the easiest ways to identify if the glutes aren’t activated is if soreness and fatigue pops up in other parts of the leg, especially the hip flexors and hamstrings.

The Exercises

While general strength training and running drills ultimately develop the glute strength required for healthy running, these quick and efficient exercises prime the glutes for continual and/or explosive motion. The routine takes 3-5 minutes and is perfect to incorporate after an easy 1-2 mile warmup jog and before starting intervals or repeats.

How to: Repeat lateral lunges and lateral lifts 10x per side, and squat pulses 20x total.

1. Lateral lunges: Gluteus maximus, adductor (inner thigh) muscles, quadriceps

2. Squat with pulse: Gluteus maximus, quadriceps, calves

3. Lateral lift: Gluteus medius