Gluteal Exercises

Our gluteal muscles have great significance in our body’s ability to move. They are extremely important in our ability to walk and even stand up straight.

Muscles of the Glutes

There are multiple muscles we will be speaking about including:

1. Glut max
2. Glut med
3. Glut min
4. Piriformis

There are other muscles in the region, but I won’t be including individual exercises for those since they are too difficult to isolate with exercise movements.

I include the Piriformis muscle in this group because it is an important external rotator of the hip. Also, the piriformis muscle is implicated in some issues involving the sciatic nerve.

Actions of the Glutes

The gluteal muscles oversee hip motions including:

• Hip extension
• Hip abduction
• Some IR/ER
• Required for upright posture of the low back

Check out this article here for more information on the gluteal muscles. If you are interested in other postural exercises check out this blog post.

Exercises for the Glutes

Clamshells

Hip extensions

Hip thrusts

Split squat

Donkey kicks

Fire hydrants

As usual, 3 sets of 10 repetitions is what I will do. To make it harder as I need for my own workouts, I will add resistance in the form of increased weight or bands.

Because our gluteal muscles have great significance in our body’s ability to move, I will include at least one of the exercises above in a typical leg day or even in my core workouts. Also, I will choose a day every couple of weeks to focus solely on the glutes.