Wrong muscles

MedeaKay

So, here's a problem I'm having at the gym... When I use the glute machine, or any other machine that works the glutes, I feel the burn in my legs only. I am making sure to press with my heels, and people have told me that my form looks correct. I am getting nice strong legs, but my butt is.... pretty much non-existent. Is my body just compensating for the lack of muscle there, by using different muscles to move the weights? And if so, what can I do to make sure that doesn't happen?

VioletRojo

Learn to activate your glutes. Here are few suggestions, breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/4-simple-exercises-to-get-your-glutes-fired-up

mamasmaltz3

Have you ever tried free weight exercises like barbell/dumbbell hip thrusts, Glute ham raises, deadlifts etc...?

hec1985

Try squats and Romanian deadlifts

SonyaCele

you need to focus on engaging your glutes and using them to power the lifts. and also it takes a long time to notice a visual change in glutes, its a long slow process to build glutes.

Noelani1503

Oh man this was my problem for a long time. No matter how much I concentrated, I couldn't recruit my glutes for squats and other lifts. Even glute bridges were felt only in my low back and legs. I did Strong Curves. The progression really helped me learn how to activate glutes and hamstrings, but it's a full body lifting program too.

Fflpnari

squats and deadlifts

lemmie177

Agree with the others that you need to learn to activate/engage the glutes. Doing low load activation exercises (like @VioletRojo recommended) as a warmup helps. I do bodyweight single-leg hip thrusts during warmup and really focus on the muscle. When you're properly engaging, you'll feel it.

Noelani1503

I have to change my form for a lot of stuff because I have disproportionately long legs. So for something like squats, I have to have a super wide, turned out stance and go pretty deep for it to feel like a natural movement. My glutes aren't hit as hard (though I can at least activate them some since Strong Curves) as they would be if my legs were more proportional and I could sit back without having a ton of forward lean. If I really want to work my glutes I still have to do weighted glute bridges and hip thrusts. I don't know how that would translate to the machines you're using, but it might be worth considering. I know there are other things that affect your form and which muscles do the majority of the work (ankle/hip flexibility etc), but I'm not knowledgeable enough on those to be able to tell you specifics.

lemurcat12

Check out Strong Curves.

MedeaKay

Thank you all so much for the replies. I can't do free weights (unless closely watched) because I have hypermobility, so deadlifts are out for me. But I am going to try some modified squats. In the past, I have tried squats, but only felt it in my legs. However, like Noelani1503, my legs are pretty long. So I'm going to try tweaking the move just a bit and see if that helps. I wonder if there's some relation between long legs and weak glutes.. hmm.. something to look into. I like the idea of the activation/warmup exercises as well. Thanks again for the suggestions.

hamilton8560

Most people have over active quads from having flexed knees in the seated position all day. Experiment with rollers on your quads before a workout to relax them

ninerbuff

Some people don't know the feeling of how to activate their glutes. So here's a way to figure out if you do know how.

Stand with feet about shoulder with apart. Now as if you had to do a no.2 but had no where close to go but didn't want it to come out, slightly push your hips forward and squeeze to keep from pooping on yourself.
If you did it right, then you'll feel your glutes activate. Lol, I do this with clients to make it easy to understand and also keep our sessions funny.

Can't wait to hear the responses.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

sammyliftsandeats

ninerbuff wrote: »

Some people don't know the feeling of how to activate their glutes. So here's a way to figure out if you do know how.

Stand with feet about shoulder with apart. Now as if you had to do a no.2 but had no where close to go but didn't want it to come out, slightly push your hips forward and squeeze to keep from pooping on yourself.
If you did it right, then you'll feel your glutes activate. Lol, I do this with clients to make it easy to understand and also keep our sessions funny.

Can't wait to hear the responses.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Hahaha...my colleagues were probably wondering why I randomly got up and then sat down three seconds later, but it worked!

robininfl

MedeaKay wrote: »

Thank you all so much for the replies. I can't do free weights (unless closely watched) because I have hypermobility, so deadlifts are out for me. But I am going to try some modified squats. In the past, I have tried squats, but only felt it in my legs. However, like Noelani1503, my legs are pretty long. So I'm going to try tweaking the move just a bit and see if that helps. I wonder if there's some relation between long legs and weak glutes.. hmm.. something to look into. I like the idea of the activation/warmup exercises as well. Thanks again for the suggestions.

jogging backwards can help you find the muscles; leg lifts to the back, pulling up with your butt. Do the exercises that help you feel your glutes working, then actively try to recruit those muscles when doing the regular exercises. Stretch your quads and hip flexors (if that is safe for you, with the hypermobility)

And, it's a long shot, but are you very thin? I had killer legs but no butt until I reached over 20 BMI. Sometimes just a lack of fat means a lack of shape back there, even if you are doing the right things exercise-wise.

hamilton8560

The glute machine is a lot of knee extension anyway. Glute bridges really effective and easy. Deadlifting roperly will be a lot more of a hip extension as well.

rainbowbow

What you're experiencing is something called synergistic dominance. Your glutes are either too weak, you lack neuromuscular efficiency, or both and the synergist (in this case, the quadriceps) is taking over the load of the prime mover. You likely also have tight psoas.

There are several ways to fix this issue, but first and foremost if you're squatting right now.... STOP!

This might seem counter productive, but you want to stop movements in which you're body is currently inhibiting the glutes that might be reinforcing bad muscular adaptations or postural problems. Most people with this particular problem have some sort of anterior pelvic tilt.

First and foremost, you need to train your brain to FIRE the glutes during exercise. This can be done with a combination of very deep stretching, foam rolling (or other self myofascial release techniques), and isolated movements. The more efficient your body becomes at activating the glutes the easier it will be to consciously activate the glutes during movement.

So the progress goes: Force glutes to activate -> activate glutes consciously -> glutes activate unconsciously


Some excellent movements for this would be:
Deep V Stretch against a wall


Hamstring and hip flexor stretch:


(p.s. if you do this on a bench and let your bottom leg lay over the edge it's best, in the picture below you can see she's doing it with a foam roller for the same effects)



hip flexor stretch:


Foam rolling the glutes:



foam rolling the IT band:



Massage ball in the glutes on the floor version:



Or (This is a picture of me) ball against the wall:






As far as exercises go, some great ones i would start with are:
single leg glute bridge
crab band walks
split squats
stairs/steps
clamshells with a resistance band

I would go with no weight and VERY high volume (somewhere in the range of 50-ish repititions) and i would do it a minimum of 3-4 times a week.

In about 6 weeks or so I would re-evaluate glute activation, and if ready, move on to conciously activating the glutes throughout certain movements.

rainbowbow

ninerbuff wrote: »

Some people don't know the feeling of how to activate their glutes. So here's a way to figure out if you do know how.

Stand with feet about shoulder with apart. Now as if you had to do a no.2 but had no where close to go but didn't want it to come out, slightly push your hips forward and squeeze to keep from pooping on yourself.
If you did it right, then you'll feel your glutes activate. Lol, I do this with clients to make it easy to understand and also keep our sessions funny.

Can't wait to hear the responses.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

i do something similar, but i employ the "poke" method (with permission, of course).


I ask them to activate the glutes as hard as they can and i'll give each cheek a firm poke. It seems to really help them feel where they're being activated, and if they start to waiver, it reminds them to squeeze harder.


This is actually something that used to happen to us as gymnasts as part of our conditioning. We would have to go up on our tip toes, legs tight, glutes tight, arms tightly to the side, on the balance beam. We would have to hold this position for 30 seconds and our coach would come around, poke us to make sure we're active, and then give us a little "push" to make sure we're actively stabilizing and keeping everything tight.