Glute Activation Exercises

I’m hoping someone out there can help. I’ve been having weirs hip flexor issues when squatting, which I thought was just extreme tightness but now I am thinking it is femoral anterior glide syndrome. I have read I need to perform glute activating exercises… can someone provide some suggestions for these?

And I am reading that it is best to NOT stretch the hip flexors, as that aggravates the issue?

I used to perform partial co-contraction lunges before my squat sessions back in the days, as we used to consider that a glute activation drill. not sure if that will help you though.

SHORT step back lunges…n try to focus on the glutes…that helped me alot, but also deadlifts.

Squat.

WOOOOW!

Problem: “I’ve been having weird hip flexor issues when squatting and need to improve glute activation”

Advice: SQUAT.

I guess bodybuilding has less to do with its black sheep “cousin”, common sense after all.

[quote]tribunaldude wrote:
WOOOOW!

Problem: “I’ve been having weird hip flexor issues when squatting and need to improve glute activation”

Advice: SQUAT.

I guess bodybuilding has less to do with its black sheep “cousin”, common sense after all.

[/quote]

Shit, that’s what I get for barely skimming the post.

I’d go with Lunges or possibly One Legged Squats or Stiff Legged deadlifts.

Sorry for not reading OP thoroughly.

Split Squats are great for glutes, and maybe sumo deads?

Could you tell me a little bit more about your hip flexor problem when squatting? Because I also get a sharp little pain in my very lower back, but only when squatting and not deadlifting, and I can’t figure out what it is.

supine bridges?

Leg press with your legs high up and wide out across the platform.

GLute bridge
Fire hydrants
Clams
High Kicks
Lateral squats
X band walks

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
jp_dubya wrote:
supine bridges?

I think this is the best advice so far. Folks, if she is having trouble recruiting glutes, what makes you think she’ll be able to recruit those inhibited glutes during a complex, muti-muscle exercise like lunges or split squats?

If the glutes are inhibited, what is to stop the synergisitic muscles (hams and erecor spinae) from taking over?

Whilst I agree that lunges and split squats are great for working the glutes if they aren’t inhibited and are firing properly in a case where the glutes are inhibited, than the patient needs to work on the mind-muscle connection to try and reverse the inhibition.

To the OP: Whilst it might not be beneficial in all cases to stretch the hip flexors, every muscle has an optimal working length and if your HFs are ‘short’ then they could benefit from stretching. The other thig to consider is that the gluts may well be partially inhibited BY the tight HFs and so, stretching the HFs before any glute activation work should be beneficial. However if the HFs are not short/tight (perform a Thomas test to evaluate) then stretching them may indeed be a bad idea.

glute activation exercise: he best (IMO) glute activation exercise is this: Lie on your front, arms by your sides. Bend the left knee until the lower leg is perpendicular to the ground. Now try to push your heel up to the ceiling. Do not let your hips leave the ground! If you do, then you are over recruiting your spinal erectors. The reason for the bent leg it to remove the hamstrings from the equation. You might also consider touching your working glute for ‘biofeedback’ purposes.

Perform several reps, then on the last rep, instead of lifting the leg, drive the hip into the ground by maximally contracting that glute.

Switch sides, repeat, etc.

Now, the limitation to this is that is only recruits the glute in a hip-extended position, which is not true to real life. You can try sitting in a chair and ‘dancing’ your glutes underneath you, or you can assume the bottom position of a stepup, and focus on statically contracting the glute in the flexed position, using fingers to check for activation. If you see your knee moving from side to side, then you are (or may be) overactivating your glute medius and minimus and/or ‘short’ adductors as a compensatory mechanism.

BBB

PS - ‘anterior femoral glide syndrome’ eh? You’ve obviously been doing some reading![/quote]

This is awesome- thank you, I will try that out. A little more about the problem: My hamstrings are waaaaay stronger than my quads and I think this is what caused my issue. (as in, I can do more weight on the lying leg curl than I can front squat: major imbalance there!). When I perform squats, the first few sets feel like someone is crushing them- it is not an injury type pain- just extreme tightness. It is hard to describe the feeling.
And my hip flexors would feel “tight” all day long- still do. Especially when waking up first thing in the morning.

Would u recommend I do the glute activation exercises multiple times during the day? Or just on leg days? What are my “safest” leg exercises to perform? I have read about femoral anterior glide syndrome and it being fixed with close stance squats?

Another you can try straight out of “Magnificent Mobility”. Lay on your back. Make a 90 degree angle with one of your legs, foot flat on the floor. Cross your opposite ankle on your thigh just above the knee that’s bent. Now just contract the applicable glute to raise your hips toward the ceiling.

You don’t need to go up very high because your hamstrings will end up contracting as well, just enough to feel the glute activate. Do 5-10 and switch sides.

Lateral lunge is pretty good.

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:

glute activation exercise: he best (IMO) glute activation exercise is this: Lie on your front, arms by your sides. Bend the left knee until the lower leg is perpendicular to the ground. Now try to push your heel up to the ceiling. Do not let your hips leave the ground! If you do, then you are over recruiting your spinal erectors. The reason for the bent leg it to remove the hamstrings from the equation. You might also consider touching your working glute for ‘biofeedback’ purposes.

Perform several reps, then on the last rep, instead of lifting the leg, drive the hip into the ground by maximally contracting that glute.

Switch sides, repeat, etc.
[/quote]

Excellent! I just tried this drill as part of my pre-workout routine… very easy to take the hamstrings out of the picture, unlike supine bridges.

What does it mean if the front of my hip tightens up on one side but not the other? Tight hip flexors on that side? Poor motor control?

Donkey kicks?

[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Bend the left knee until the lower leg is perpendicular to the ground. Now try to push your heel up to the ceiling. Do not let your hips leave the ground!
BBB[/quote]

I can’t believe no one has said it yet… switch your squats out and do what would be competition depth box squats. And do them correctly. Ity’s mandatory to squeeze your glutes coming off the box.